Hide

Cossall

hide
Hide

John Marius WILSON's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-72" tells us that:

COSSALL, a parish in Basford district, Notts; at the boundary with Derby, and at the Erewash river, canal, and railway, 1½ mile ENE of Ilkeston r. station, and 6½ WNW of Nottingham. It includes the hamlet of Cossall-Marsh; and its post town is Ilkeston, under Nottingham. Acres, 720. Real property, £1,311. Pop., 256. Houses, 58. The property is all in one estate. Some of the inhabitants are stocking-makers. The living is a rectory annexed to the rectory of Wollaton, in the diocese of Lincoln. The church is good; and there is an alms-hospital with £132 a year.
Hide
topup

Archives & Libraries

The village had a Lending Library of about 400 volumes in 1881.

The Library at Nottingham will prove useful in your research.

The Ilkestone Library in Derbyshire is only a stone's throw away. It has a Local Studies and a Family History section.

topup

Cemeteries

"Oxymoron" has a photograph of the Church Lych Gate on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.

John SUTTON has a photograph of Cossall churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2014.

 

topup

Census

  • Dave Scarle's Cossall Census Strays is a web page which no longer functions. You may be able to find his list via an internet search.
     
  • The parish was in the Ilkeston sub-district of the Basford Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1841H.O. 107 / 857
1861R.G. 9 / 2437
1871R.G. 10 / 3483
1881R.G. 11 / 3327
1891R.G. 12 / 2667
1911R.G. 14 / 19147
topup

Church History

  • The Church at Cossall is dedicated to Saint Catherine, a native of Alexandria. She was both beautiful and learned. The Emperor Maxentius was very much attracted to her, but because she refused his attentions he ordered her to be tortured. She survived the torture but was then beheaded and buried on Mount Sinai.
     
  • The church is small and stands at a tight bend in the hilltop village, built in the Perpendicular style. The entrance to the churchyard is through a traditional lychgate built as a memorial in 1928.
     
  • The original nave and chancel were built in the 13th Century with arcades built later. The south side in the 14th Century but the north side appears to be part of the 1842 alterations. There were alterations in 1718, but there were major changes in 1842-43. It is recorded that the cost was borne by the vicar the Rev Francis HEWGILL. Cossall was a parochial chapelry annexed to Wollaton and Rev HEWGILL was Rector of Wollaton. The church was annexed to Wollaton until 1947.
     
  • The tower is 13th Century and contains two bells in an old wooden frame, the larger of the bells is 22½" in diameter and bears the inscription T.TVRY. P SYSON. C.W. 1733. The smaller is 22" in diameter and has no inscription.
     
  • The church seats 190.
     
  • David HALLAM-JONES has a photograph of St. Catherine's Church in winter on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2013.
     
topup

Church Records

  • The earliest dates for the parish register are: Burials, 1658; Baptisms 1661 and Marriages 1663.
     
  • The International Genealogical Index (IGI) includes records from this parish for the period 1744-1854.
     
  • Dusty Docs has links to some parish registers available.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Beeston.
     
topup

Civil Registration

  • The parish was in the Ilkeston sub-district of the Basford Registration District.
     
  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
topup

Description & Travel

Cossall is a small village just north-east of Nottinghamshire's border with Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England, 133 miles north of London. It is 6 miles west-north-west of Nottingham town, standing on the east bank of the River Ere Wash, just off the A6096 between Ilkeston and Kimberley; about one mile NNW of the Trowell M1 Service Station which is just to the south of Junction 26.

You can see pictures of Cossall which are provided by:

topup

Gazetteers

topup

Genealogy

Louie BURROWS, fiancee of D. H. LAWRENCE, lived in this village. Lawrence broke off his engagement to Miss BURROWS in 1912.

Louie BURROWS is believed to be Louisa BURROWS, daughter of Alfred and Louisa Ann BURROWS, born in 1888 in Ilkeston, DBY. Her death is given as 1962, but no location or other information is provided.

topup

History

  • Dave Scarle's website used to have a History of Cossall, but the site has been discontinued.
topup

Maps

  • See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK484425 (Lat/Lon: 52.977549, -1.280804), Cossall which are provided by:

topup

Military History

  • There is a photograph of the Waterloo Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2008. The memorial was erected in 1877.
     
  • Graham HOGG also has a photograph of the Waterloo Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2022.
     
  • And a photograph of the Lych Gate Waterloo Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.
     
  • There is a framed Roll of Honour for 1939-45 on the wall inside the parish church.
     
topup

Military Records

  • Near the lychgate in the churchyard at Cossall there is an obelisk, the 'Waterloo Memorial'. It was erected to the memory of John SHAW and Richard WAPLINGTON of the Life Guards and Thomas WHEATLEY of the Light Dragoon Guards who also fought at Waterloo but survived to die an old man.

There are two Commonwealth War Graves in Saint Catherine's churchyard for World War I:

  1. Arthur KITCHEN, priv., 3rd Btn. Training Reserve, age 19, died 25 Feb. 1917.
     
  2. Alfred Guy MASTERS, gunner, 48th AA Co. Royal Garrison Artillery, age 29, died 28 Feb. 1917. Husband of Amelia MASTERS of San Francisco, Calif.

And one for World War II:

  1. Ronald HITT, able seaman, Royal Navy (HMS Trumpeter), age 22, died 7 Dec. 1944. Husband of Phyllis HITT, of Kirk Hallam, Derbyshire.

The names on the St Catherines Churchyard plinth are:

  1. Horace Bush, pte. 1/5th Bn Sherwood Foresters
  2. Thomas Edwin Johnson, pte. 1st Bn South Staffs Regt.
  3. Arthur Kitchen, pte. 3rd Bn Training Reserve
  4. Frederick Lane, pte. 6th Bn Yorkshire Light Infantry
  5. John Mangan, able seaman Hood Bn Royal Naval Division
  6. John William Marsden, rifleman, 11th Bn King's Royal Rifle Corps
  7. William Nash. lcprl. 2nd Bn Scots Guards
  8. Hezekiah Scattergood, able seaman Hood Bn Royal Naval Division
  9. John Wilfred Severn, bombardier A Bty 241st Bde Royal Field Artillery
  10. Frederick Smith, rifleman 13th Bn Rifle Brigade
  11. Harry Smith, sgt. 7th Bn Lincolnshire Regt.
  12. Joseph Benjamin Smith, baker Field Bakery Army Service Corps
  13. George Jackson Spencer, pte. 10th Bn Sherwood Foresters
topup

Names, Geographical

Cossall derives from the old English combination of "Cott + halh" or "Nook of land of a man called Cott". The parish is mentioned twice in the Domesday Book (1086) as COTESHALE.
[A. D. MILLS, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]

topup

Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient Chapelry in Nottingham county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
     
  • The parish was in the Rushcliffe division of the county.
     
  • This parish was in the southern division of the Broxtowe Hundred or Wapentake.
     
  • You may contact the local Cossall Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to provide family history searches for you.
     
  • District governance is provided by the Broxtowe Borough Council.
     
topup

Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Nottingham petty session hearings.
     
  • The parish had its own almshouse built near the church in 1685. The walls of that building still stand. These were originally for "4 single poor men over 60 years of age and 4 single poor women over 55 years of age". There was an endowment of a farm at Roston and local land rents to enable the inmates to be paid £10 per year and clothe them with a new grey cloth gown worth 3d per yard every 2 years, also to supply them with 5 shillings worth of coal yearly. Lord Middleton, who until 1926 resided at Wollaton Hall, is a trustee of the Cossall Almshouses.
     
  • Neil THEASBY has a photograph of the Willoughby Almshouses on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2008.
     
  • David HALLAM-JONES also has a photograph of the Willoughby Almshouses on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2013.
     
  • After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a part of the Basford Poor Law Union.
     
topup

Population

 YearInhabitants
1801353
1811328
1821317
1831341
1851303
1871235
1991616
topup

Schools

A Public Elementary School (mixed) was built in 1850, but had to be enlarged in 1899 to hold up to 244 students.