Burghwallis is a small village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in rural
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
...
, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 300. The village is situated amongst mixed farmland and woodland on a slight rise roughly six miles north north west of
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, or one mile off the
A1.
The
village church is dedicated to St Helen. The villag
pubis the Burghwallis.
History
In contrast with most of the villages surrounding Doncaster, very little in the way of residential development took place in Burghwallis during the 19th and 20th centuries. Today the village is one of a handful in the area to have retained much of its original character and has a very peaceful small-scale rural feel.
No church is mentioned in Burghwallis' entry in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
; however, the Grade II
Listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
St Helen's chapel is likely to have been either standing or under construction at the time. Several architectural features suggest it is of a pre-Conquest design, and it is held to have been built between 950 and 1100 AD. Parish records as far back as 1596 exist and are available from the Doncaster archives. Priest-in-charge Revd Chris Herbert
The parish was the home of Catholic martyr
John Anne, who lived in the Hall during the 16th century.
Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes '' Top Gear'' and '' The Grand Tour'' alongside R ...
spent his childhood on the nearby Home Farm.
Etymology
''Burgh'' in general tends to mean town/
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...
in
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
and
Old German. The parish is referred to simply as "Burg" in the Domesday book, becoming Burghwallis in the early 13th century when Dionysia – one of seven surviving daughters of the local lord – was married into the Wallis family. The Wallis family line persisted among the local landowners through to the early 17th century by which time the name of the settlement was so far removed from that of the local aristocracy that the succeeding Anne family appear not to have thought to change it. The name literally means "village of the Wallis family".
The music box ghost
Burghwallis Hall, also known as St Anne's Convent, is reputed to have a ghost. On 14 March 1934 a mother smothered her son while he slept, then concealed the body in a closet. Her husband discovered the body, then murdered his wife and took his own life. A music box is reputed to have been heard through the corridors along with the voice of a small boy. The ghost of the man in grey and a small woman are also claimed to be seen walking the corridors.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Burghwallis
*
Robin Hood's Well
References
External links
Health statistics for Burghwallis
{{Authority control
Villages in Doncaster
Civil parishes in South Yorkshire