BAWTRY, a market-town and chapelry, in the parish of Blyth, union of Doncaster, S. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 45 miles (S. by E.) from York, and 153½ (N. by W.) from London, on the great north road; containing 1083 inhabitants, of whom 741 are in the east, and 342 in the west, district. This town is situated on the river Idle, which separates the counties of York and Nottingham, and near the Roman road leading from Agelocum, Littleborough, to Danum, Doncaster. It comprises three streets, the principal of which is very spacious, and contains many handsome and wellbuilt houses; it is partly paved, is lighted with gas, and amply supplied with water from springs and from the river, over which a neat substantial stone bridge was erected in 1811, at an expense of £4000. The trade, which has greatly declined since the construction of the Chesterfield canal, and the erection of a bridge over the Trent at Gainsborough, arises chiefly from the inland navigation, and consists in supplying London, Hull, and other places, with corn, oak-timber, and stone, of which last, that called the Roche Abbey stone is much esteemed by statuaries and architects. The river is navigable for craft of from twelve to twenty-four tons' burthen. The great railway from London to York will pass by the town. The market is on Thursday; and fairs for horses, horned-cattle, and sheep, are held on the Thursday in Whitsun-week, and Old Martinmas-day. Constables and other officers are appointed at the court leet of the lord of the manor. Bawtry Hall, formerly the residence of the Dowager Lady Galway, is situated at the southern extremity of the town, in the midst of extensive and beautiful pleasure-grounds.
The chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, was erected in the reign of Henry II., and repaired in 1686; and the tower, which is strengthened by buttresses, and crowned with pinnacles, was added in 1712: the building was repewed and repaired in 1839, by subscription, at a cost of £700, of which £50 were contributed by Trinity College, Cambridge, and £50 by the Church Building Society. Magdalen chapel at Bawtry hospital has been rebuilt at a cost of £600 by H. M. Greaves, Esq., by whom also the officiating clergyman is paid. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans; also a small schoolroom on the waste land adjoining the town, called the "Bawtry free school." At Scrooby, one mile distant, was a palace belonging to the archbishops of York, in which Cardinal Wolsey resided, and afterwards Archbishop Sandys, whose daughter is interred in the chancel of the chapel; the remains have been converted into a farmhouse.