Bleasby (St. Mary)
BLEASBY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Southwell, Southwell division of the wapentake of Thurgarton, S. division of the county of Nottingham, 4 miles (S. S. E.) from Southwell; containing 353 inhabitants. It comprises 1468a. 1r. 5p., of which 760 acres are arable, and the remainder meadow and pasture: the surface presents hill and vale; the soil is clay and sand. The village occupies a secluded situation on the western side of the river Trent, over which is a ferry; it is a pleasant, straggling place. Within the limits of the parish are the hamlets of Notown, Goverton, and Gibsmere, and Heaselford ferry, near which the Trent forms two channels, and encompasses an island of twenty acres, called the "Knabs." The living is a discharged vicarage, in the patronage of the Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Southwell, valued in the king's books at £4; it is held with the perpetual curacy of Morton, and has a net income of £115. The tithes were commuted for land in 1777; the vicarial portion consists of 58 acres, and there is a vicarage-house, built in 1843. The church is an ancient edifice, in the early English style, with modern alterations, and is in good repair.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.