Thorpe Salvin
Thorpe Salvin Hall
Thorpe Salvin fails to appear on the Geographia but definitely appears to part of the Borough of Rotherham according to the Ordnance Survey. It is situated to the south east of the Borough of Rotherham in a rural setting close to the borough's border with Worksop. The postal address is Worksop and so is the telephone code. Indeed the village seems to lean more towards Worksop than Rotherham.
Thorpe is Old Norse for village, Salvin is a family name. Thorpe Salvin is a small village gathered about with the remains of Thorpe Salvin Hall. It is very pretty, picturesque and floral. There are some very nice houses and probably per capita, the largest number of swimming pools in the borough. There is the 12th Century Church of St Peter, a pub and eatery 'The Parish Oven', and little else for unless I missed them there was nor even a Post Office or village shop. The Chesterfield Canal runs close by and there are pleasant small areas of woodland. Netherthorpe Airfield is only a spit away.
There must have been a small Saxon agricultural settlement here as the name thorpe is of Saxon origin. In 1086 Thorpe Salvin was part of the manor of Laughton, held by Roger de Busli. The survey known as Kirby's inquest (1284) refers to the village of Thorpe Salvin as 'Rikenild Torp', and in later records as 'Torp Ryonild'. This name is derived from the Rykenild
Way, a Roman road found to the west of the village. At the time of the survey, the village now belonged to the knight Sir Ralph Salvain, from which the name Salvin is derived. In 1315-16 Anketin Salvin and Thomas Chamberlain were recorded as lords of Thorpe Salvin. In 1339 King Edward III grants Anketin Salvain "free warren in all his demesne lands of Thorp Salvain"
(free warren meant the right to hunt, rear, and preserve game); this is the first time the village is referred to as Thorp Salvain.
The Salvains are thought to have left Thorpe before 1400 as in the Poll Tax Records of 1378 recorded the following residents of Thorpe Salvin:–
"Edmund Sandeforth and Idonia his wife, 20/-
William Herrynge (smith) and Magota his wife, 6d
Thomas Colyere and Felissia his wife, 4d.
Elias Milner (souter, ie, shoemaker) and Margaret his wife, 6d
William Smyth and Margaret his wife, 4d
Margaret Laundere (washerwoman), 4d"
Brian Sandford deserted Richard III shortly before the Battle of Bosworth and joined the army of Henry Tudor. He was rewarded by the new king with various offices and Henry VII also gave him 12 'quick does' from the royal park at Conisbrough to stock his park at Thorpe. Hercy Sandford built the manor house in the 1570s. The estate then passed to his grandson Francis Nevile, son of Ellen Sandford and Henry Nevile.
The hall, manor and village were sold to Edward Osborne in 1636 and the house was used as an occasional residence, and afterwards was let to tenants. Sir Thomas Osborne became Duke of Leeds, and built a big new house in Kiveton Park and the family abandoned Thorpe Manor, which was left to ruination. With no family up at the big house the village must have become a very quiet sleepy place largely reliant on farming. The arrival of the nearby Chesterfield Canal in the 1770s may have been a bit of a boost. I believe that another Thorpe Hall was built on a different site in the village but I have no details as yet.
The church of St Peter contains building from the 12th Century including the tower and chancel arches, the arcades and the Norman font. The south wall of the nave was rebuilt in the 15th century and the chancel dates from the 14th century.
The first UK Census in 1801 indicated that the population of Thorpe Salvin was 180. It reached a high of 410 but had decreased to 359 in 1991. In 1980 the village school closed and the 37 pupils moved to the school at Todwick.
Thorpe Salvin won the 2000 Yorkshire in Bloom Competition. The village was National Champions 1992, 1994, & 2002. Thorpe Salvin has won the Gold Medal for 2002 in the Entente Florale. The village is also famous for The Thorpe Salvin Garden Trail when gardens in the villages are open for one weekend in July.