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White's Directory of Nottinghamshire, 1853

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North Muskham, Bathley and Holme

North Muskham Parish contains the three townships of North Muskham, Bathley and Holme, in which are 1,021 inhabitants and 3,290 acres of fertile land, which was enclosed in 1771 when 91 acres were awarded to the vicar, and 300 acres to the Earl of Falconberg, in lieu of the tithes. The Earl has since sold the impropriate lands to various persons.

North Muskham is a pleasant village on the west bank of the Trent, and partly on the Great North Road, 3½ miles north of Newark. Its township contains 663 inhabitants and 1,090 acres of rich land. Mrs Edge of Strelley is lessee, under the prebendary, for the manor who, with the Duke of Newcastle, are the principal owners. Muskham House, a superb mansion, buily by the Pocklingtons in 1793, was taken down a few years ago. Muskham Grange, a fine ancient mansion occupied by John Handley Esq., was the seat of the late William Dickenson Hastall Esq., who distinguished himself as a topographer of some of the most interesting parts of his native county.

The church, dedicated to St Wilfred, is a neat gothic structure with nave, chancel, side aisles and tower, in which are two bells. The living is a vicarage, valued in the King's books at £5 6s 8d, now £173. The prebendary of North Muskham is patron and appropriator, and the Rev. Joseph Markham Parry A.M. incumbent. The rectory was appropriated to the Priory of Shelford, and the vicarage was originally in two medieties, of one of which the Duke of Portland was patron, of which the former had been augmented with £200 and the latter £400 from Queen Anne's Bounty. The school was endowed in 1727 and 1745 by Mary Woolhouse and Mary Disney, with a house and three acres of land, which at the enclosure received an allotment of 11a 34p. For this endowment the master and mistress teach ten boys and ten girls. Ten poor parishioners receive 20s and a black gown each, every year, from the Bathley Grange estate, pursuant to the bequest of John Smith in 1581. This estate was let in 1835 for £141 per annum. In 1603, John Kemp left two cottages, a house and 15 acres of land to the poor of North Muskham township, they now let for £25 a year. The parish feast is on the Sunday after September 12th.

Bathley is a scattered village and township, 1 mile west of North Muskham. It has 214 inhabitants amd 1,181 acres of land. Mrs Edge is the principal owner and lady of the manor, and some of the resident farmers are owners. A neat Methodist chapel was erected here in 1844.

Holme is a small village and township, 3½ miles north of Newark, on the east side of the Trent, opposite to the village of North Muskham, where there is a ferry. Its small church, dedicated to St Giles, is a vicarage of the certified value of £57, and it is annexed to the vicarage of North Muskham. This church has many monuments of the Barton family, and over the south porch is a chamber called "Nan Scott's", from a woman who is said to have lived in it several weeks, when the plague was so fatal in the village, that only one person escaped its ravages. About the year 1600 the Trent changed its course, by which this township became situated on the east side of the river. It contains 144 inhabitants, and upwards of 1,019 acres of land, of which the Duke of Newcastle is principal owner and lord of the manor, but Mr Thomas Adwick and several others have estates here. The feast is held on the Sunday before the 19th of September or, if that falls on a Sunday, then on that day.

[Transcribed by Clive Henly]