Fledborough
"Fledborough us a scattered village and parish, on the Trent bank, 6 miles east by north of Tuxford, at the northern extremity of the hundred of Thurgarton. Its parish includes the hamlet of Woodcote, 1 mile west of Fledborough, in which are three farm houses, and together contains 112 inhabitants and 1,300 acres of land. Earl Manvers is the principal owner, lord of the manor and patron of the church, St Gregory, a rectory valued in the King's books at £9 7s 6d, now £295, and the Rev A.O. Fitzgerald is the incumbent. The tithe was commuted for £340. The church is an ancient structure, near which is a neat rectory house.
In the early part of the last century, this place obtained the appellation of the Gretna Green of Nottinghamshire, from the rector (a Mr Sweetapple) who, like the blacksmith of the Scottish border, fettered with the chain of wedlock all who applied to him for that happy purpose.
John Angerstein Esq. and Mr George Billyard have estates here, and Earl Brownlow, Mr Henry Clark Hutchinson and Mrs Hannah Bennett are owners in Woodcotes."
[White's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," 1853]
- The parish was in the Tuxford sub-district of the East Retford Registration District.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2417 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2642 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Gregory.
- The church was partially built in the 12th century and completed in the first half of the 14th century.
- The church chancel was rebuilt in 1764 and again in 1890.
- Lady Godiva, wife of Leofric Earl of Mercia, made a gift to the church around the time of the Conquest.
- The church earned the label "The Gretna Green of the Midlands" when the Rev. W. Sweetapple granted licenses for marriages for underage runaways.
- The church was declared redundant around 1965 and is presently a Grade I listed building under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
- Here is a photograph St. Gregory's Church supplied by Jack Bayes (who retains the copyright):
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1620.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Collingham (formerly the #1 deanery of Newark).
- The parish was in the Tuxford sub-district of the East Retford Registration District.
- Civil Registration started in July, 1837.
Fledborough is a village and a parish about 8 miles south-east of East Retford, 5 north-east of Tuxford and 136 miles north of London. The parish covers 1,450 acres and includes the hamlet of Woodcotes.
The village is on the west bank of the River Trent. If you are planning a visit:
- The Fledborough railway station still stands, but rail service was discontinued in 1955. Today the station is the start of a 12-mile long cycle track to Lincoln.
- An account of the village of Fledborough and its origins by John H. Gilbert.
- Here is an account of the village of Fledborough and its origins by John H. Gilbert.
- The 50 arches of the Fledborough railway viaduct are often photographed.
- The national grid reference is SK 8172.
- You'll want an Ordinance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- This place was an ancient parish in Nottingham county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the North Clay division of the ancient Thurgaton Wapentake (Hundred) in the southern division of the county.
| Year |
Population |
| 1801 |
71 |
| 1811 |
82 |
| 1841 |
112 |
| 1851 |
130 |
| 1871 |
123 |
| 1881 |
106 |
| 1901 |
91 |
| 1991 |
70 |
- In 1881, the children of this parish attended school in Dunham.
- A National School for both sexes was built near the end of the church in 1845 to hold 200 children.
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[Last updated: 3-September-2011 - Louis R. Mills]
