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ROMAN
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Kexborough is a township
in the parish of Darton.
It is thought to have
been a very minor Roman site but apparently does not seem to
be mentioned again with any certainty until the Domesday Survey.
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The Place Name
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The name was more
recently pronounced as Kesborough or Kesper and in Domesday it
was called Chizeburg. In the time of the Domesday Survey it was
owned by Ilert de Laci and held by an Anglo-Saxon called Swein.
The de Laci’s, Lords of Pontefract, were the family to which
William the Conqueror had, under the feudal system, granted the
lands of Pontefract and other parts of the North.
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The de Laci's
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From the ownership
of the de Laci’s the manor and lands of Kexborough passed
through many hands, often linking up with the manors of Birthwaite
and Haigh. One of the most notable families was the Savile’s,
who in turn passed the Lordship to the Burdet’s of Birthwaite
between 1634 and 1642. Some of them were buried at Darton.
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John Silvester
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One of the most
interesting persons to hold the Lordship of Birthwaite and Kexborough
was one John Silvester of Birthwaite Hall. He endowed the hamlet
with a school, and in his capacity as Smith to the Tower of London,
constructed a strong chain to be drawn across the width of the
Thames when it was supposed that the Dutch Fleet would attempt
to sail up river as far as London Bridge. This work was thought
to be impossible to achieve at the time. The marble effigy of
John Silvester now rests in the South Chapel of Darton Parish
Church.
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Y-PAS |
Our
building is defiantly part of the original village and was part
of Dixons yard (square).We recently acquired the old deeds and
mortgage papers from our solicitors volts. Much to our surprise
the oldest document was dated 1723. It was a will document of
one William Dixon, it referred to some 12 cottages and a lock
up workshop. The shop you see today was the workshop with an
attached cottage to the west (up toward the White Bear) with
the rest of the cottages to the rear.
To the west of the workshop/cottage
was a pinfold (an enclosure for animals) followed by the original
site of the Ram Inn. We have been informed by a local historian
that our building would of been built around 1640.
Unfortunately the original
stone roof has long since gone along with most of the original
roof timbers following a fire in 1977. But the thickness of the
walls are still there for all to see ,in places almost a meter
thick.
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Fish and Chips on our site|
Were not certain about the exact date,
but we know a Mrs Mary Jane Dixon purchased the 12 cottages and
workshop from Viscount Allendale in 1895. The tenants of the
cottage/workshop were a Mr Joshua Gibson and Mr James Howard,
in 1914 the building was referred to as a lock up shop.One of
our elderly customers told me she could remember the Howard's
frying fish and chips. The free hold of the buildings went through
many hands until 13 September 1933 when Mr Harry Hardcastle (occupation
fish fryer) of Clayton West bought the shop Harry stayed in the
shop for thirty eight years until 23 November 1971.He then sold
to a Mr David Ellis. The following years owners came and went
usually only staying a couple of years.
My family purchased the shop in September
1991.
We still get customers coming in the shop
reminiscing about old Harry! |
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Traces of the old village|
Kexborough, with
its cottages and orchards, continued as an agricultural hamlet
until quite recently when much of the land surrounding the original
houses was used for municipal domestic development (probable
the best in the borough!). A few traces of the old village still
remain including “Jacob’s Hall”,"Y-Pas Chippy"
and a couple of delightful cottages, but the present day Kexborough
is virtually all modern housing on the fringe of some very delightful
unspoilt countryside. |
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