Ecclesfield, Norfolk

Historical Description

Ecclesfield, a village, a township, and an extensive parish in the W.R. Yorkshire. The township lies 5 miles N of Sheffield, and has two stations on the M.S. & L.R. It contains the hamlets of Aldwark, Bellhouses, Birley Carr, Brackenhill, Burncross, Butterthwaite, Chapeltown,Deerlands, Elm Green, Hesley, High Green, Upper and Lower Hirst, Middleton Green, Hartley Brook, Lapwater, Parson Cross, Mortomley, Potters Hill, Shire Green, Nether Shire, Skew-hill, Southey Green, Thompson Hill, Wadsley, Wadsley Bridge, Whitley, Wmcobank, Grenoside, Longley, Greswiek, and Sheffield Lane Top, and has a post and money order office under Sheffield; telegraph office, Ecclesfield railway station. Acreage, 10,893; population of the civil parish, 25,885; of the ecclesiastical, 6017. The manor was known at Domesday as Eclesfelt, and belongs now to the Duke of Norfolk. Vestiges exist of a Roman fortification, with a deep trench, vulgarly termed the Devil's Ditch. An alien Benedictine priory, a cell to the Abbey of St Wandra-gisilus in Normandy, stood at Ecclesfield, and was given by Richard II. to the Carthusian monastery of St Anne at Coventry. Many of the inhabitants are employed in mining, in file cutting, and in the cutlery trade. There are also a paper mill, iron foundry, corn mill, fire-brick, and clay pits. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York; gross value, £600 with residence. The church belonged to the ancient priory; bore formerly the name of Minster of the Moors; shows architectural characters which assign it to the latter half of the 15th century; possesses beautiful features; and was partly restored in 1866-67, and finished in 1893. The chapelries of Midhope, Chapeltown, Stannington, Wadsley, Oughtibridge, Bradfield, Bolsterstone, and part of Thorpe Hesley, are separate benefices in this parish. There are several dissenting chapels, and some valuable charities. The workhouse for Wortley district is in this township.

Church Records

Ancestry.co.uk, in association with Norfolk Record Office, have images of the Parish Registers for Norfolk online.

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Norfolk newspapers online:

• Norwich Mercury
• Norfolk Chronicle
• Diss Express
• Thetford & Watton Times and People's Weekly Journal
• Norfolk News

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitations of Norfolk 1563, 1589, and 1613 is available on the Heraldry page.