CLARBOROUGH: HAMLETS OF BOLHAM AND WELHAM
THE HAMLET OF BOLHAM.
Before the conquest, Tuvert held part of the land here, and paid for the same to the Danegeld for seven bovats, afterwards it became of the fee of Roger de Busli. In Doomsday-book it is stated to be of the berue of tbe soke of Laneham, belonging to the Archbishop of York. Subsequently Gaufrey, the man (or tenant) of Roger, held at Bolum, one caracute, two sokemen, four villains, three borders, having four caracutes and a half of land. The meadow land was eight quarents long, and two broad; the pasture and wood land. one league long, and three quarents broad; which altogether, in the Confessor’s time, was valued at 40s. in the Conqueror’s at 50s.
It appears, almost from time immemorial, that Bolham has had a mill within its precincts, which once belonged to the ancient and worthy family of the Lovetots, of Worksop, and was by Emma, the wife of William de Lovetot, given to the monastery of St. Cuthbert, near Worksop, to buy wine for the use of the mass; as was also the assart of Assaley, to make wafers for the celebration of the same sacrament. Matilda de Lovetot, the last of the family of the Lovetots, who married Gerard de Furnival, confirmed this gift, and also another of all Bolum, with the land and mill, which Richard de Lovetot, her grandfather, had previously given.
After the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry the eighth, by letters patent, dated October 28th, 1545, granted this manor to Sir Robert Swyft, Kt. and his brother William, and their heirs, together with two mills there, (one of which was designated as a Walk Mill,) and two gardens called the Chappel and Old Yard, which continued in their family until 1565, when it was conveyed to Francis Wortley, Esq.; it is now the property of the Thorold family.
That a chapel once existed here, will not admit of a doubt, as the situation on which it stood is still designated "The Chapel Yard," and mention is made of it in Archbishop Greenfield’s Register; but at what period it was founded there are no records to show. One of the said Archbishops gave the church at Bolum, with the appurtenances, then belonging to a prebend at York, and valued at ten marks, to William de Lanum, in the absence of the prebendary.
Bolham is situated on the river Idle, one mile north of Retford, and consists of ten or twelve habitations, all, with one exception, formed by excavations in the sand rock; the situation is agreeably romantic. The light tendrils of the ivy creeping along the rocks, with here and there a wild flower rearing its unassuming head, gives an air of pensive serenity to the place which cannot fail to affect the mind of the spectator,—whilst a column of curling smoke rising here and there from the grass-clad roofs of nature’s humble cots, recalls to memory "the (lays of other years," when our rude forefathers were wanderers on the earth, with no habitations, but dens and caves,—no food, but what the land spontaneously gave,—no covering, save the skins of beasts,—no drapery, save the sky.
THE HAMLET OF WELHAM.
In Doomsday record "Wellome" is said to belong to the king’s soke of Mansfield, and paid, along with Suventon (not known) the tax for five bovats and a third; the meadow land was certified to be one quarent and a half long, and one quarent and ten perches broad; the pasture wood nineteen quarents long, and two and a half broad, which was altogether valued at 10s. 8d. Here also was some land belonging to the Archbishop of York’s fee, valued at the same as the above.
About the middle of the twelfth century, there wag certain lands here belonging to the Lovetots, of Worksop, which was by Matilda, the last survivor of that family, given to the canons of Radforde, (near Worksop,) for the safety of her soul, and the souls of all her sons. This property it appears was considerable, comprehending the greatest part of the hamlet, as I find in the year 1517, it was rented at £5. 5s. 8d. besides chief rents amounting to £1. 1s. 6d. a year, which, at the dissolution, was sold to Richard Richardson, Jun. of Clarborough, from whom it descended to Gabriel his son, who, on the 1st of January, 1565, sold it to three brothers,—Christopher, George, and Bryan Twiselton; part of it in 1634, became the property of Edmund Browne, Esq. he died on the 4th of February, 1677, when it descended to two daughters. The Duke of Devonshire formerly possessed considerable property here, which was sold in 1813. It is now chiefly owned by the Messrs. Hutchinsons, Mrs. Thorold, Mr. Mower, and Mr. Wheelwright.
Nearly in the centre of the village, formerly stood a chapel, but of which, no records are now remaining to shew at what period it was either erected or endowed, or even when it was dismantled. Within what is now termed the chapel yard, the marks of the foundation are discernible, and the ground altogether about an acre.
Welham, or the hamlet of the Well, is supposed to have derived its name from a once celebrated spring (St. John’s Well) near the place, which was formed into a large bath, and still remains entire; during the early part of the last century, it was famous for many cures, but latterly it has lost much of its celebrity. The late John Hutchinson, Esq. erected a cottage adjoining, and enclosed the bath, to preserve it from injury. Here was, until lately, a feast, or fair, held annually on St. John’s day, to which the neighbouring villagers resorted to enjoy such rural sports or games as fancy might dictate. Cold baths like this were formerly regarded with superstitious reverence, being supposed to possess a sovereign remedy for agues, rheumatism, &c.
This hamlet is pleasantly situate on the Gainsbro’ road, about a mile from East Retford, and contains four or five tolerably well built houses, of which those belonging to H. C. Hutchinson, Esq. Mrs. Thorold, G. Mower, Esq. and S. Thorold, Esq. are the chief. The land in the neighbourhood is of a superior kind, and some of it is, and has been, very productive in the growth of hops.
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© A P NICHOLSON | PAGE LAST UPDATED: 29 MAY 2003