Wickersley
Wickersley is situated about 4 miles to the east of the centre of Rotherham and straddles the A631 road to Bawtry. The traffic around here is horrendous and what counts as the centre of the village is divided by the dual carriageway. Do not attempt to cross the road; use the underpass. There are shopping areas both to the north and south of the main road and there has been much additional development here over the last few years. Parking is free but often very busy and you can find just about everything you want here except a major supermarket. There are the remains of some old properties here but once again the modern housing estates cover much of the area. Greenery still exists at Wickersley Wood and Wickersley Gorse.
Ley means glade or meadow, probably called after the Norse personal name Wikka or Vikkar. Another version is that Wik or Wike means a farm or a group of huts. An espondent who went to school in Wickersley tell me that they were taught that it meant Witches Lea or the meadow where the witches meet. Kerry, another espondent has let me have the following information
"A few years ago, I did a bit of research about Wickersley at the turn of the century. The name comes from the basket making trade that was around in the early 1900's. Ley means meadow, so literally the name Wickersley means 'basket makers on the ley'."
History
It is believed that the village was founded when the Vikings came to the area to settle and farm rather than fight and plunder. Before the Norman Invasion in 1066 the manor of Wickersley had belonged to Halfdan and Aestan and there had been arable land sufficient for three plough teams. William I gave Wickersley to Roger de Busli and he had granted it to his tenant Roger. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as being completely waste and valueless so the village had been abandoned or destroyed during the Conqueror's Harrying of the North.
Wickersley has a notorious mention in the Yorkshire Hundred Roll of 1274-5. Richard de Heydon, seneschal to Earl Warenne, came up with a really good scam. He arrested Beatrice who was the daughter of the chaplain of Wickersley, and forced her to accuse two innocent men of crimes (I'll leave you to speculate). John de Thurcroft was imprisoned in Tickhill Castle until he paid a fine of £10 and Nigel de Bramley who was fined 10 marks (£6 13s 4d) in money and 5½ marks (£3 13s 4d) in goods. Hopefully Richard de Heydon got his comeuppance.
The de Wickersley family were descended from Richard son of Turgis, one of the co-founders of Roche Abbey. In 1230 one Robert de Wickersley gave the advowson of the Wickersley parish church to Worksop Priory. In 1315 the lords of the manor of Wickersley were returned as Thomas de Wickersley, Jordan de Idle and Richard de Dred.
The Poll Tax records from 1379 indicate that there were 53 people in the village assessed to pay tax with John de Bossevill, franklin, and his wife Elizabeth assessed at 40d and John de Wykerslay, merchant, at 2s.
The de Wickersley family had ceased to live in the village by the 16th Century. In 1528 the manor passed to Ellen, daughter of the last male de Wickersley, Nicholas, to her husband Robert Swift jnr., son of Robert Swift of Rotherham. On his death in 1561 the Swift inheritance was partitioned between Robert's three daughters, Wickersley being among the estates awarded to Frances who married Sir Francis Leake of Sutton in Derbyshire. Leake sold Wickersley to Richard Smith of London in 1577. Over the next two centuries the lordship of the manor passed through a number of hands. By the 18th century the manor it was owned by the Sylvester family. Later in the century Captain Thomas Gilbert, William Bumford and Mrs Reve are recorded as holding Wickersley at various dates. George Rooke of Langham was lord of the manor in 1810. His daughter Charlotte married Rev. John Foster who was rector of Wickersley from 1804 until 1863. In 1841 the lordship passed to the Warde-Aldam family of Frickley Hall.
The main road from Rotherham to Bawtry was turnpiked in 1759 and the route diverted from its old road south of the church to the present course. The Wickersley toll bar stood at the Brecks at the western boundary of the parish. The main village hostelry called the Needles Inn stood on the old main road but was sidetracked when the road moved and later became a farm and from 1928 the Wickersley Working Men's Social Club.
Modern amenities came to Wickersley in the 20th Century with the arrival of piped water from about 1912 to replace the wells and springs. From 1912 Wickersley was on the route of the trolley bus service from Rotherham to Maltby. From 1921 Wickersley Parish Council entered into participation with the West Riding's scheme for local libraries. Street lighting came in 1927 when gas lamps were erected. The population of Wickersley increased as various housing estates were built from the 1920s and 1930s onward. The Tanyard shopping centre on the main road in 1966. The population of the parish increased to 7390 in the 1991 Census which in some places would make it a town and not a village.
Non-Conformism in Wickersley
In 1806 John Styring's house at Wickersley was licensed as a place of worship for 'protestant dissenters' but before this the non-conformists may have attended the chapel at Bramley. A Methodist chapel was built on Wood Lane in 1828 followed by a Primitive Methodist chapel on Bawtry Road in 1842 later replaced with a larger building in 1876. The two congregations remained separate after the Methodist Union of 1932 until the present chapel was built in 1967. The Catholic church on Northfield Lane was opened in 1961.
Quarrying in Wickersley
In the 18th Century Wickersley stone was found to make excellent grindstones for which there was a great demand. The Sheffield Cutlers' Company purchased land to the south of the village and a number of quarries were opened up. By 1800 some 5,000 stones were being sent to Sheffield and exported to Northern Europe and America each year. The quarries were sold in 1828 but production continued and around half the male population of the parish were engaged in quarrying in the 1830s. The 1871 Directory lists 28 quarry owners in the parish. A very severe frost early in 1895 caused quarrying to be suspended and led to great hardship among the quarrymen's families. One of the first tasks of the newly elected parish council was to arrange relief for the families. With opening of collieries at Canklow, Silverwood and Thurcroft, many quarrymen turned to mining as offering a more certain income. The demand for grindstones from the cutlery industry was declining as the use of emery wheels increased. The final nail in the coffin of natural grindstones was the passage of the Silicosis Act in 1914, although the outbreak of war delayed its implementation and it was not until 1927 that the cutlers finally abandoned natural stones. By 1939 there was only one quarry still producing grindstones for the export market.
The Christian Institute
The Christian Institute on Morthern Rd by was built by Dr William Holt Yates after the incidents about the church choir. It opened in 1862 and contained a library, lecture hall, reading room and secretary's residence. The Institute was non-denominational and the discussion of politics was forbidden. This has now been converted into flats.
Wickersley Schools
There was a church school here as early as 1714 but did not have its own building for most of the time. A new National School and master's house was erected in 1855. In 1864 there was a dispute between the Rector of the parish and the Vestry meeting over the right to appoint a new master in another fine example of Christian charity. Having failed to appoint a new master for the National School the Vestry tried to keep the old school going and the building in which it was held was converted into a stable, then a blacksmith's shop and a storeroom before being sold by the Parish Council in 1911. By the 1890s the National School housed about 150 pupils with three teachers.
As the village grew in size the church school became overcrowded and in 1909 a temporary tin school was erected on Bawtry Road. The temporary school was replaced by the Bramley and Wickersley Council School in 1911 and the buildings now form the nucleus of Wickersley Comprehensive.