Bawtry’s history – original content written by Bawtry Heritage Group, Bawtry census returns, and other material.
Bawtry in the Medieval period
The Battle of the River Idle 616 AD. (Bawtry’s Battling Saxons)
An original paper by Bawtry Heritage Group
Battling Saxons come to Bawtry and play out brutal rivalries of national importance.
It is thought to be late summer when the Battle of the Idle took place within view of the elevated ground to the west that would later become Bawtry’s Marketplace. To get to grips with why we should consider this event with a little more sense of celebrity, we need to look at our island as it was at that time, who were the main players and why they came together so violently on our turf.
Read this paper by clicking here:
Bawtry – A Norman Planted Town
An original paper by Bawtry Heritage Group
In most towns, major roads enter from all directions. The pattern formed where they meet or cross each other will determine the spatial organisation of the settlement, with development filling the frequently irregular spaces between them or tracking along them. Minor roads at the centre will tend to connect the major elements of the development if they are not located on the major routes. In ancient towns, these may be a market place, or a castle, or a major church. As the significance of such sites change over time, so does the layout of the town. It evolves organically.
Not so Bawtry. Like many medieval towns, Bawtry has a number of valuable historic buildings which are deserving of recognition and protection. What is very rare about the town though is a grid layout dating back over 800 years. This distinctive layout helps tell the story of the emergence and development of a very particular style of urban living and a spatial organisation. It is evidence of a Norman “planted” (i.e. “planned”) town, made about 1200; evidence of someone devising and implementing a very particular grand design.
Read this paper by clicking here:
Bawtry Wharf
An original paper by Bawtry Heritage Group
Until 2016, signs on all the main roads at Bawtry’s boundaries announced “Welcome to Bawtry – 12th century port”. Frankly, these signs baffled visitors as there was no further information offered and there were no visible signs of a port. Most residents, however, did have some little knowledge that Bawtry was said to have been an important inland port in medieval times, although the obvious lack of access to a waterway still perplexed. The reality was that Bawtry had been an inland port before the River Idle, which had flowed through the edge of the town, was diverted to more than 300 metres away in 1857. The port accessed the North Sea via the rivers Idle, Trent and the Humber.
Read this paper by clicking here:
Bawtry Wharf Re-imagined
An original paper by Bawtry Heritage Group
Every major road into Bawtry used to have a sign saying “Welcome to Bawtry – 12th century port”. This confused people because there was no river in the town, let alone a port. In fact, the River Idle, now half a mile from town, used to run just behind the church of St Nicholas, where the wharf was sited. The river was diverted in 1857.
Bawtry Heritage Group decided to bring this crucial part of Bawtry’s history alive by commissioning a painting from local artist Margaret Clarkson.
This paper gives the full story of the painting and can be read below:
Robert de Morton c.1339 – 1396
This is a paper published by Hazel Moffat and Tickhill and District Local History Society; BHG would like to thank them for permission to reproduce it here.
Robert was an influential and wealthy royal official and landowner who lived in Bawtry. He served Edward III, Richard II, and John of Gaunt. He was also a Justice of the Peace, Sheriff of Nottingham and Derby in 1362 and 1376/77, and Member of Parliament for Nottinghamshire in several parliaments during the reigns of Edward III and Richard II. A benefactor in his local community, he made some donations to the Hospital of St Mary Magdalene in Bawtry, where he was buried. The Morton family had a house at Martin, just to the northwest of Bawtry.
Morton family descendants continued to live in Bawtry, and were noted recusants in Tudor times. In contrast, one descendant, George Morton, was of the Puritan faith and was one of the Scrooby congregation of separatists who went to Leyden in 1612 and subsequently to New England.
Read this paper by clicking here:
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