I have been looking forward to today for many years, ever since I realised that many generations of Dad,s family came from a small village in Yorkshire called Ecclesfield. We arrive in Ecclesfield just as Margaret and Dad FaceTimed us. It was great to be able to show Dad the church where his father, grandparents, great parents etc were baptised, married and buried.
We started off by going on a walk from Ecclesfield to outlying hamlets. The sun was out and it was lovely and warm. On the way back we called into the newer of the 2 cemeteries. A council cemetery OHS man was keen to help us find some Hobsons. We tried for quite a while but many of the stones were very difficult to read
We found our way up to the shopping area to get something for lunch. The Main Street seems quite run down. Apparently until 20 years ago it really had maintained its village atmosphere. We spent a couple of hours in the library looking through some old books about Ecclesfield.
Then we went back to the church and there were a few ladies doing some gardening and they let us in to the church. There is evidence that Christians worshipped on this site as long as1500 years ago and the Doomsday Book refers to Egglesfeld (meaning 'church in a field'), so it is likely that a church existed here many years before the Norman Conquest in 1066. In Anglo Saxon times, when parish boundaries were first marked out, Ecclesfield was important enough to become the mother church of an enormous West Riding moorland parish. It covered nearly 50,000 acres. The earliest mention of a church here is in 1141 and traces of the Norman church still exist in the interior of the present building.
How many of my ancestors were baptised here?
A Celtic cross which had been found close by.
Then we made the most exciting discovery. We found the grave that contained my great, great, great grandparents- all 4 of them plus 5 of their children. All in the one grave. We spent some time making out the inscription on the grave. It was a tingly experience.
We then found a few more Hobsons. We will go back tomorrow to see if we can access the parish records.
Last task for the day was to find an ancient boundary marker Geoff had seen on an OS map. With expert accuracy he found it.
The it was back to Rotherham for a very nice tea again. This Brentwood Inn is a great place to stay. Excellent value.
No comments:
Post a Comment