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History 1

Anciently the land belonged to the Suttons until it was enclosed in 1803, when land was given to Sir Edward Hulse and to the vicar in lieu of tithes. Later J E Denison Esq became the principal land owner and Lord of the manor. The parishioners had five tons of coals yearly from a will dated 1581. The school received an endowmnent from the interest of £120 left by Mary Sprigg in 1816. The Great Northern Railway passes to the west of the village, and a station was opened in November 1882.This proved a boon to the local business community,helping them to sell their produce to a much wider customer base. It was also used extensively by passengers.The station was closed in October 1958.Until more recent times village life tended to focus around the religious institutions and the local school, with recreation at night being supplied by the local inns. The Anglicans had All Saints Church, the Baptists had a chapel built in 1811, the Wesleyans a chapel built in 1821 with an Independent chapel being built in 1841, the present school was built in 1878. Of the four or five inns which used to ply their trade,only Memory Lane (formerly The Lord Nelson Inn) and the Nags Head are still open for business. In 1837 an enterprising gentleman, William Hutchinson erected a steam engine, it powered a seed cushing mill for producing oil cake, a cattle food, the mill also crushed bones used in the manufacture of fertilizer. Until the advent of decent public transport, most villages were self contained units, with farm work being the main occupation. The school children had a one week holiday late in the year to help with potato harvesting, this was known by the children as spud bashing week, it was one of the few occasions when they were glad to get back to school.The village had a thriving business community, with basket making being one of most prolific, the last one of these to close being that of Harry Summers in 1976, this business started in 1884 as T Summers and Son.
*John Marshall the Great Grandfather of the present John Ashling Marshall, became well known in Basket Making circles, when he discovered that placing peeled rods in a vat and boiling them, gave them a nice buff appearance. I can remember when the village had at least six grocer's shops, one of which also served as a post office, we  also had a greengrocer, butcher,  newsagent, bakery and last but not least the village black smith. Household fuel was supplied locally by two coal merchants, the motorist was well catered for, with three garages plying their trade.Sadly the village is now served by only one grocer's shop, a post office, a butchers shop and one garage. There were three large scale employers of labour, Parry's Pumps, Taylor's Nurseries and E C Walton. Only Waltons, who manufacture wooden buildings of all shapes and sizes, are still trading, both nationally and internationally.

*Ref:- Neville Bingham's Trilogy.

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History 2

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History 3

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History 4

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