THE RIVER IDLE, ETC.
To some of my readers it may appear strange, that a subject, apparently so trifling and insignificant as the Mills of Retford, should be deemed worthy of notice; nevertheless, from their great antiquity, and the laudable purposes to which the rents and profits were originally appropriated, they demand a brief notice. Alan de Bolleshour, about the beginning of the thirteenth century, gave to his nephew, Henry Norrays, and his heirs, the moiety of the Mills of Retford, with the suits, works, fishing, and all customs; at whose decease they descended to the next heir at law,—Philip de Houlecotes, his cousin, who gave the said moiety to the abbey of Wellebek, according to the tenor of the charters of King Richard I. and King John, for the sustentation of two chaplains in the church at Wellebek, and of one in his church at Stirape, to celebrate divine service for ever, for his soul. During the greatest part of the reign of King John, this Philip was accounted a very great man, he served the office of Sheriff of Northumberland, and had writs to free him from scutages, &c. He died without male issue, leaving five sisters who divided the inheritance amongst them; and the moiety of the Mills of Retford, amongst other property, falling to the share of Alice de Stirape, she confirmed the gift which her brother Philip had thereof made; after which, Hamelin de Buggethorpe, and Margaret his wife, coming into possession of the property, (Margaret being the second sister of the said Philip,) they also confirmed the gift to the said abbey, and all other donations which their predecessors had made. After the demise of all the sisters, the inheritance became the property of the crown. On the 17th of April, 1227, O.S., King Henry III, gave to the abbey of Wellebek, the Mills of Retford, to be holden of him in fee-farm, paying £10 per annum, saving to the heirs of Ralph Tessun, (a very distant branch of the same family,) if he should recover his inheritance in Watelegh (Wheatley) of 40s. per annum, which the said abbot and canons were to pay over and above the £10 per annum.
Hubert de Burgo, Earl of Kent, and Justice of England, who was lord of the manor of Wheatley, considering the love of God, and for the safety of his own soul, and of his wife’s, Margaret (the daughter of the King of Scotland,) and of their heirs, gave to God, and the church of St. James at Wellebek, and the canons there serving God, and to serve God, 40s. yearly rent which he had out of the Mills of Retford, which the above named Ralph Tessun was wont to receive; and likewise granted that his men of Wheatley should do suit to the said Mills of the said abbot and convent, according as, they ought and were wont.
On the 8th of May, 1265, it was adjudged in the Court of Exchequer, that the men of Retford should also do suit to the Mills of the abbot and convent of Wellebek, at Retford, duly as other the king’s burgesses and sokemen then did; and it was there noted that the men of Retford, who would be called burgesses, were the king’s sokemen, and so called in Doomsday book. Hugh Levyn, and other men of Retford, withdrew themselves from the suit, whereupon the abbot, in the year 1276, procured a writ to the sheriff to distrain upon them according to the previous judgment.
In the 37th Henry the Third, John Power, Robert de Morton, Oliver de Barton, and John Stirapp, were assigned to view the passage of the river Idle, through the towns of West Retford, Bolin, Tilne, Sutton, Lound, Mathersege, Scrooby, Scafteworth, Claworth, Everton, and Herewell; and to cause them to be cleansed and scoured, in regard that by their obstructions with sand, weeds, and the like, the lands and meadows of divers persons had been overflowed and drowned.
Again in 1388, Will. de Skipwith, Robert de Morton, Oliver de Barton, Elias de Thoresby, John de Bekering, Will. Power, of Tylne, and John de Whetlay, were constituted commissioners to view the course of the river Idle, through the towns of Elkessay, Gamelatone, Eton, Ordeshall, Est Redforde, West Retford, Bolum, Tylne, Sutton, Lound, Mathersay, Thorpe, Scrooby, Scafteworth, Claworth, Everton, Harewell, and Hayton; which, for want of cleansing, had drowned the lands of sundry persons, and to cause the same to be scoured.
This property continued in the quiet possession of the abbots of Welbeck, until the dissolution of the monasteries, when it again became the property of the crown; it was then valued at £2. 17s. 4d. per annum; shortly after, by some means, it came into the hands of the Corporation of Retford, where it now remains. On the east side of the river is a large and commodious corn mill, tenanted by Mr. Thomas Foster; a large building also adjoining, erected some years, was at first used as a manufactory for candlewick, but it is now used by Mr. Foster, as a warehouse: on the west side of the river is an extensive paper mill, in the occupation of Mr. Horatio Nelson, it was erected in 1794.
The river Idle (by whose waters the above mills are propelled,) can scarcely be said properly to assume that name, until it comes to a point a little north of Palethorpe; it is there formed by the junction of two streams, one of which rises in the forest between Kirkby and Newstead Abbey, and is called the Maun; the other named the Meden, rises in the vicinity of Hard-wick, near Sutton in Ashfield. The Idle, after this, runs nearly in a northerly direction through Thoresby and Houghton Parks, to Retford, where, after passing through the cars, it forms the boundary between the parishes of East and West Retford; its course then takes a zig-zag direction to Mattersey, thence northwest to Bawtry, where it suddenly alters its course to the east, forming for some distance the boundary between the counties of York and Nottingham, afterwards traversing the car near Misterton, it empties itself into the Treat near its junction with the Chesterfield Canal, at the north-eastern angle of the county.
Formerly the Idle was navigable from this place to Bawtry for boats and other small craft; it is now, however, what its name imports it to he—completely idle, as far as navigation goes, and in all probability will so remain. On the 25th of June, 1757, It was resolved at a meeting of the Corporation of Retford, that four of the aldermen should be empowered to inquire into the possibility of making the river Idle navigable from Retford to Stockwith, and to report to the body accordingly; but whether the scheme (from the expense,) was found to be impracticable, or whether the idea of a canal was suggested to them, does not appear, as no report whatever is entered on the Corporation records.
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© A P NICHOLSON | PAGE LAST UPDATED: 29 MAY 2003