Todwick
The name Todwick, said Tod-ick, comes from Tateuuic probably meaning Tata's dairy farm. It has been variously spelled Taewic, Toddewyke and Todewyk amongst others, before settling for the modern spelling. The village was an agricultural settlement from Anglo-Saxon times and continued that way until the 20th Century. There were no pits or quarries in Todwick and little industry. At the time of the first Census in 1801 the population of Todwick stood at 177. By the end of the century it had risen to 311 and by 1961 it had reached 398. During the 1960s a lot of house-building took place in the parish and the population more than quadrupled to 1,557 in 1971 and to 1,639 in 1991.
The History of Todwick
The area around Todwick was owned by the Saxon lord Ragnaldr:–
"In Tatewic, Rainald had 1 manor of 12 carucates for taxation, where there may be 6 ploughs. Richard has now there 1 plough and 11 villeins and 2 sokemen and 5 bordars, with 5 ploughs and a half.
A Church is there and 3 acres of meadow. Woodland pasture half a league long and 4 furlongs broad. The whole Manor is 1 league long and a half broad. In the time of King Edward it was worth 40 shillings, now 15 shillings."
The Domesday Book records that in 1089 Todwick was amongst the lands given to Roger of Mortain by William I and sublet to Richard.
Records indicated that in 1284 the village of Todwick was owned by the Furnival family who obtained the lordship from the Tortemaynes. It was sublet to John de Horbury. By 1303 Sir Edmund Wasteneys was holding Todwick from Thomas Furnival but the resident lords of the manor were the St. Paul family who seem to have taken their name from the dedication of Todwick church. In the 1379 Poll Tax returns William de Saint Paul, who is described as 'fraunkeleyn' that is franklin, a class of landowners ranking next below the gentry, and his wife Katerina were assessed at 40d. Edmund de WorTel.ay, beast merchant, and his wife Matilda were assessed at 12d. The medieval manor house stood to the north of the church but all that remains of the site is part of the moat.
Roche Abbey had a grange at Todwick built on land given to the abbey soon after its foundation by Ralf Tortemaynes. His son William gave the monks a wood at Todwick and confirmed their right to pasture 80 sheep on the common. The abbey also received grants of land at Todwick from Nicholas de St Paul and his son William. At the dissolution of the monasteries the Grange was valued at £5 10s 8d a year. The site of the medieval Abbot's House is now occupied by Old Hall Farm which dates from the 17th century. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537 this property came into the hands of the Wasteneys.
Hardolf Wasteneys of Hedon was created a baronet by James I and his grandson, Sir Edward Wasteneys, sold Todwick to Thomas Osborne, the first Duke of Leeds, in 1677. Todwick Grange and the Abbot's House were sold to William Ramsden and others who in turn sold the estate to Sir Arthur Darcy of Aston. The Darcys held it until 1776 when the Earl of Holderness sold the Grange to William Fox. The Grange remained in hands of the Colton-Fox family until the Second World War. After the War the house was used for a time as administrative headquarters by the NCB. It was then purchased by Sheffield City Council for use as a care centre for teenagers. The children's home was closed in 1990 following claims of abuse by a member of staff.
In 1743 the rector recorded that there were 32 families in the parish. The rector then lived at Treeton because of the poor state of the parsonage house; "a very bad one or no other and little better yn a cottage so that neither my predecessor nor his predecessor lived in it"
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Todwick Education
There was no school at Todwick until 1868 when the rector prevailed upon the Duke of Leeds to donate ½ acre as the site for a school. The building cost £241 and the school was administered by a committee consisting of the rector, his curate and three others. A further classroom was erected in 1909. The old school became the village hall after Todwick Junior and Infants School was built in 1968.
The Church of St Peter and St Paul, Todwick
The church at Todwick is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. The chancel arch, a blocked north doorway and a slightly later south doorway remain from the Norman Church of Saints Peter and Paul. The nave and chancel date from the 14th Century while the tower is 15th Century. A chantry chapel of Our Lady of Todwick was founded within the church in 1328 by George Wasteneys to pray for the soul of Sir Edmund Wasteneys. The chantry was endowed with lands at Wales.
The famous Todwick Byble dated 1639 is kept here and is occasionally on display.