Thurnscoe (St. Helen)

THURNSCOE (St. Helen), a parish, in the union of Doncaster, N. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 7½ miles (W. by N.) from Doncaster; containing 220 inhabitants. This place is in the Domesday survey called Ternusch, and notice of the church occurs in the foundation charter of Holy Trinity monastery at York, dated 1089. The parish comprises by measurement 1665 acres, of which 1002 are arable, 424 meadow and pasture, 214 woodland and plantations, and 23 in roads and waste; the soil is partly a clayey and partly a sandy loam, and the arable lands are in good cultivation, producing excellent crops of wheat, barley, and turnips. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 7. 8½., and in the gift of Earl Fitzwilliam: the tithes have been commuted for £186, and there is a good parsonage-house, with a glebe of 133¾ acres. The present church was built by subscription of the patron and landed proprietors, in 1729, and is a neat structure in the Grecian style, of stone from the quarries at Badsworth and South Kirkby. Some almshouses were founded in 1710, by the Rev. Dr. Spencer.