Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday

Kelly’s Directory 1925

Woodborough is a parish and large straggling village, 3½ miles north-west from Lowdham station on the Nottingham and Lincoln line of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway and 7½ miles north-north-east from Nottingham, in the Broxtowe division of the county, wapentake of Thurgarton, Basford union, Nottingham petty sessional division and county court district,  rural deanery of Gedling, archdeaconry of Nottingham and diocese of Southwell. The church of St Swithin is an edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a low embattled western tower with four pinnacles and containing 4 bells, dating from 1612 to 1680, and clock: there are remains of a good Norman doorway: the chancel is Decorated and the tower of Perpendicular date, the nave and aisles being in a later and debased style: the chancel retains very fine sedilia an aumbry on the north side, and on either side of the communion table are stone brackets (with figures of Edward III. and his queen): some remains of the oaken rood screen still exist and a few specimens of ancient stained glass: the east window is of stained glass, and also one in the south chancel, this latter having been erected in 1920 as a war memorial: the font is Norman: the church contains an interesting mediaeval hook and an ancient altar table given by a Recorder of Newark to celebrate the end of the Civil War: the church plate includes a chalice and alms-dish, dated 1676, and a flagon of 1802:  the church was restored during the period 1891-97, at a cost of £2600 and affords 200 sittings. In the churchyard, which is now closed for burials, is a cross of Cornish granite, erected by local subscription, in memory of the men connected with the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The registers date-1547 for baptisms, 1573 for marriages and 1572 for burials, and are in good condition.

The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £285, including 55 acres of glebe, and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Manchester, and held since 1919 by the Rev’d Myles Atkinson M.A., of St John's College, Cambridge. The Baptist Chapel built in 1832, has 200 sittings, and there are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels. A cemetery of 1 acre was formed in 1879 at a cost of £300, which has a lych gate but no chapel. The poor have £2.13s yearly. The people are employed in framework knitting, surgical hosiery, ties and shawls. Woodborough was a Roman settlement. Woodborough Hall, the seat of Hubert A. Dowson Esq. is a very ancient mansion standing on a pleasant lawn at the extreme end of the village. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are Lady Charnwood, Lt.-Col. F.E. Seely T.D., D.L., J.P., and Charles Hose Hill Esq. J.P. The soil is clay and sand; subsoil, clay and sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas: plums and strawberries are also largely grown. The area is 1945 acres: rateable value, £4343: the population in 1921 was 682.

Parish clerk, Charles Wright.

Post and Telephone Call Office - John Herbert Foster, Sub-Postmaster. Letters arrive through Nottingham. Epperstone 1½ miles distant, is the nearest money order and telegraphic office.

Public Elementary School, built in 1878, at a cost of £1600 for 189 children: the school has an income of £74 yearly, left by the Rev’d M. Wood in 1706 and a house for the master; Archer W. Saunders, Master.

Carriers to Nottingham, John Leafe, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Charles Inger, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Private Residents

Atkinson Rev’d Myles M.A.,. Vicar, Vicarage.

Blagg Charles - The Woodlands.

Dowson Hubert . - Woodborough Hall

Foster Charles Ernest - Woodborough Manor

Paulson Frederick - Thorneywood House

Commercial

(marked thus º farms of 150 acres or over)

Alvey Joseph - boot repairer

Baggaley Tom - farmer, Old Manor Farm

Ball John Thomas - grocer

Barker Walter - farm bailiff to S. Bourne Esq.,

Bish Herbert - farmer

Blackmore A & C - merchants

Bruce Mary (Mrs) - grocer

Burton Albert Edward - market gardener T N 15

Cemetery - Joseph Clayton, Clerk

Clayton Joseph - Clerk to the cemetery and assistant overseer

Chettle William - market gardener

Cook Joseph - market gardener

Desborough Walter - hand knitted tie & scarf manufacturer

Dring Ann (Mrs) - farmer, Shelt Hill Farm

Dunthorne Arthur - market gardener

Foster Arthur - market gardener

ºFoster Charles Ernest - Woodborough Manor T N 7

Foster James - market gardener

Foster John Herbert - shopkeeper, Post Office

Glover Thomas & Son - surgical hosiers T N 14

Hallam Wallace - farmer, Home Farm

Hogg William - joiner

Inger Charles - motor & cycle repairer, carrier to Nottingham (Black Boy Hotel), Wednesdays & Saturdays

Jackson Thomas - Four Bells Public House

Joy W.J. & Son - market gardener

Kelk John - smallholder

Leafe John - carrier

Mabbutt William - boot & shoe repairer

Maltby George Henry - New Inn

Marriott Harriet (Miss) - shopkeeper

Mawbey Frederick Harris - pianoforte tuner

Mellows Thomas Robert - baker

Middup William - farmer

Morley John - market gardener

Nurcombe Harold Edgar - wheelwright

Nurcombe Thomas Arthur - joiner

Parker William Henry - butcher T N 10

Poole Arthur - farmer Bank Farm

Poole Charles Ernest - farm bailiff to John Poole Esq., Park Fm.

Raynor Arron Hardy - dentist (attends Thursday, 3 to 5 pm)

Richardson Joseph - gardener to Hubert A. Dowson Esq.

Roe Samuel - market gardener

Saul Ernest - farmer, Woodborough Farm

Savidge Sidney Charles, carpenter

Shaw Arthur - Nag's Head Public House

Spencer David - market gardener & rate collector

Stanfield Albert Victor - farm bailiff to Samuel Stanfield Esq.

ºStanfield Samuel - farmer, Stoup Hill Farm

Stevenson Joseph - cow keeper

Taylor George - Newsagent

Taylor William - smallholder

Turtle John - farmer

Ward Herbert - market gardener

Wiggett Frank Annesley - painter

Woodborough Industrial & Provident Society Limited (William Chamberlain, manager)