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White's Directory of Nottinghamshire, 1853

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Finningley

Finningley Parish forms the northern portion of the county. It stretches northward from the Idle, betwixt Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, within which latter county a large portion of this parish is comprised. It is divided into the three townships of Finningley, Auckley and Blaxton, which contain 6,056 acres of rich sandy soil. The waste lands were enclosed by an act passed in 1771, and in 1778 an allotment of 1,156 acres was awarded to the rector, in lieu of all the tithes, except those paid for 300 acres which had no common right, and which still remain titheable.

William Hall, in 1668, left 10s yearly out of two acres in Blaxton fields, to the poor of Finningley parish. In 1672, Richard Metcalf gave to the poor of Finningley township two acres, which at the enclosure in 1774 were exchanged for 1a 3r 18p in the Mill Field. In the 28th year of Charles II, John Tuke gave to the poor of Auckley two acres, which at the enclosure were exchanged for 1a 2r 4p. Auckley has also 6s 8d yearly, out of land which formerly belonged to William Ramsay, the Poor's Close and the Town Close, containing 7a 3r 34p, which was awarded at the enclosure, and is placed to the poor rate account. Sarah Wood left 2s 6d yearly to Finningley, and the parish received 10s yearly from the overseers of Auckley, as interest of £10, left by an unknown donor. About half an acre of land in Blaxton belongs to the poor.

Finningley is a pleasant village and township, 4½ miles north by east of Bawtry, and has about 650 inhabitants and 2,392 acres of land, all in Nottinghamshire. The church is a neat edifice, dedicated to St Oswald, and was repaired and ornamented with a handsome stained glass window about 20 years ago. The rectory, valued in the King's books at £13 4s 9d, now at £600, is in the incumbency of the Rev. Gervas Harvey Woodhouse M.A., who resides at the rectory house, most of which was rebuilt in 1844. John Harvey Esq. is the patron, and also owner of most of the township, and lord of the manor, which was formerly the property of the Frobisher family. A small Wesleyan chapel was erected in the village in 1838.

Admiral Martin Frobisher, an enterprising navigator, was sent out by Queen Elizabeth with three ships, in 1567, in the hope of discovering a north-west passage to India. Having proceeded to Labrador he was stopped by the approaching winter, but returned with a quantity of gold marcasite, or pyrites aureux, which tempted the members of the "Society for Promoting Discovery" to send him out again with three ships, in 1577, when he discovered the Strait now known by his name, but was again stopped by the ice, and having taken on board more of this glittering substance, then supposed to be gold, he returned to England. Soon after this, Queen Elizabeth determined to form a settlement in these countries, and Admiral Frobisher was sent out for that purpose with 15 small vessells, but he could not get as far as he had done in his preceding voyages, so that he soon after returned, and gave up all further attempts to discover what has since been often sought for in vain.

Auckley or Awkley, 5 miles north of Bawtry, is a village and township containing about 430 inhabitants and 1,991 acres of land, of which 125 are in Nottinghamshire, and the rest in Yorkshire, within the soke of Doncaster. A neat chapel of ease was opened for divine service in 1838, and a residence for the curate was built at the same time. The Wesleyan chapel was built in 1832.

Blaxton, or Blakestone, though in this parish, is a small village and township, wholly in Yorkshire, in the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, and partly in the soke of Doncaster. It is 5 miles north of Bawtry, and forms a manor, of which John Harvey Esq. is lord and principal pwner. A Methodist chapel was built in 1834.

[Transcribed by Clive Henly]