Norwell, Nottinghamshire

Early History

"Nortwelle" is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086); it had a church, a priest and a watermill. The parish consists of Norwell, Norwell Woodhouse, and the now deserted village of Willoughby. For nearly a thousand years the parish of Norwell was owned by the church. Rents from land and houses were used to finance three canons (or prebendaries) of Southwell. The canons were the principle landlords and lived in moated manor houses: Overhall, Palishall and Tertia Pars. In the Middle Ages some prebendaries were national figures, such as Robert de Wodehouse (died 1346) who became treasurer of England.

Farming

In other respects Norwell was a typical farming community. You can still see traces of the medieval open fields with their ridge and furrow. Major changes followed parliamentary enclosure (1832) when the land was divided into small fields. Many small farms, possibly 28, were established, some in the village centre and others in outlying fields. Today there are a few large farms and no working farms in the village centre. Some old farmyards in the village like Church, Willoughby and Hill farms have been developed for new homes.

Self-sufficiency

19th century Norwell was almost self-sufficient. Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, stonemasons, and builders were often grouped together in yards leading off the main street. There were two windmills, two steam mills and a watermill. For a time Norwell had its own brickworks. Personal needs were met by General stores, bakers and butchers, shoemakers and a tailor. There were at least three public houses; The Black Horse, The Crown (later The Elephant and Castle) and The Plough. Norwell has had a school since 1727.

Buildings

The medieval church of St Laurence is Grade 1 listed and has features from the 12th to the 20th century. Almost all of the buildings are of red brick with pantiles. There are many timber framed buildings originally with mud and stud between the timbers. Most are now entirel encased in brick but the timber can still be seen internally. There are a few striking 19th century houses, most of which were built by Henry Clipsham, the Norwell builder who also restored the Church. A windmill and distinctive circular pinfold can still be seen.

Norwell now

The population of the parish is about 450, much as it was around 1250 and 1700 (it reached its peak in the 1860s when it was nearly 800. The village is a conservation area and it is a thriving community with a church, school, village shop, village hall, plant nursery (Norwell Nurseries) and public house (The Plough).

Brief history

The first church in Norwell was almost certainly a wooden one, probably erected as a chapel attached to an Anglo-Saxon manor house standing on or near where a later moated manor house was built, immediately to the south of the present church. This may have been the church, with its priest, mentioned in Domesday, but no traces of that chapel or church remain. Shortly after 1100 it was certainly replaced by a small rectangular building like that surviving at Littleborough, Nottinghamshire. Fragmentedasonry associated with this first stone church has been identified in the north aisle.

During the 12th and 13th centuries other traces were lost through major work creating the church we now see. Around 1180–1200, the south aisle was added and the south door moved to its present position. A tower with three storeys was built shortly after 1200 and by 1250 the north aisle was added. A further expansion took place around 1300, partly paid for by a legacy from Mr John Clarell, prebendary of Overhall (d.1295). The north and south trancepts were added, the Chancel lengthened and, a few years later, the south porch built. Finally between about 1450 and 1500, the nave was heightened with a clerestory (a row of flat-headed windows) inserted, the trancepts and Chancel were re-roofed and a fourth storey with battlements an gargoyles added to the tower. The 19th century, largely sympathetic, restoration (Chancel, 1857-8, rest of church, 1872-5) by Ewan Christian faithfully preserves St Laurence's medieval appearance. The only major structural change was that Christian restored the Chancel to its 13th century form by removing the low pitched roof that was part of the 15th century refurbishment.

Evidence from the church shows the wide variety of stone available in medieval Norwell. Much of the building is constructed in skerry, a form of pale grey sandstone, quarried locally at Tuxford, Laxton, Kneesall and Maplebeck. Magnesium limestone was brought from Mansfield and other limestone came from Ancaster in Lincolnshire, whilst local lias from Collingham and a light porous tufa, which outcrops in The Beck between Norwell and Caunton, has been identified. For high-quality monuments like tombs and effigies stone was sometimes imported over much longer distances like the Purbeck marble and Caen stone also present.

Methodist Chapel

The Primitive Methodist Chapel was built on land donated by Revd W.Sturtevant in 1827. In 1843 this chapel was bought by the Wesleyans, who re-opened it on 6 November. This flourished and was enlarged in 1909, with a school room built by Henry Clipsham & Sons at a cost of £337. It became a private house in 1991.

Norwell Schools

Three school buildings still stand in School Lane. The Charity School, a Grade II listed building, has been sold, thoroughly restored to maintain many original features and is in private ownership. Since 1966 the Victorian School has been used as a youth centre and, currently, by Norwell scouts, still fulfilling the original charity requirement that it was for the benefit of the young of Norwell. It is showing its age and will require restoration work to keep it in good order. The modern school continues to change and extra rooms have been added in response to evolving requirements for the education of young children.

Material is reproduced with permission of Norwell Parish Heritage Group.

The Pinfold

The village pinfold or pound is located on Bathley Lane (west side) close to its junction with Main Street and Woodhouse Road. The 18th century circular structure is of brick with half round ashlar copings with a pair of square gate pillars with ashlar capitals. The wooden gate is 20th century. The pinfold is approximately 10m (33') in diameter and is reputedly the largest round pinfold in the county (Nottinghamshire).

The structure is Grade II listed by Historic England (listing number 1045950).

An attached plaque carries the inscription:

The Tower Mill/Steam Mill

A date stone suggests that Norwell's tower windmill, in Main Street, was built in 1852. It is a five-storey brick tower, standing 43' (13.5m) high to the curb, with Yorkshire sliding windows. The cap was a typical ogee shape and probably originally covered in iron plates. There were three pairs of millstones on the first floor, overdriven by a wooden upright shaft in wooden bearings. The stones could be disengaged by means of elm glut boxes (glut box timbers have a slot cut in them to allow the top of the quant (the vertical shaft) to be removed, enabling the stone nuts (pinions), and hence the millstone to be disengaged from the great spur wheel).

The mill had four sails which used the Cubitt patent system of a striking lever to the rear so that the shutters could be furled by only removing the weight from the chain to the striking lever. It was winded by a fantail which served to turn the main sails of the mill automatically into the wind.

On the ground floor there was a hurst frame supporting two pairs of stones which were driven by a layshaft from a steam engine and later a mobile oil engine. A layshaft to the mill, the bearing stone block and cast iron boxes for the bearings were present in 1977.

A 1910 description, which was part of a national survey to establish a new property tax, states that the Mill House was in good repair, with two living rooms, kitchen, dairy, and three bedrooms. Outside there was a coal house, an outside privy, a stable (with two stalls), chaff house, cart shed, bake house, engine shed (wood,iron), and a mill powered by steam and wind in good repair. The whole property was assessed at a market value of £480 of which buildings accounted for £420.

The mill tower still serves the community today - it houses radio repeater equipment which helps to deliver high-speed broadband to Norwell and the surrounding area.

Road

Norwell roads including Main Street, Carlton Road, Ossington Road, Bathley Lane and Woodhouse Road are unclassified. As of Feb 2017 the road surfaces and pavements are generally in a poor state of repair. The speed limit through the village is 30 mph with an advisory 20 mph along part of Main Street due to the school. Outside of the village the roads are subject to the national speed limit(s).

The A1 Trunk Road (Cromwell Bypass) passes the parish approximately 1.5 miles to the east of Norwell. Although not within the parish it is of interest that Cromwell Bypass was the location of highly collaborative trials of the slip-form paver in 1964/65. The first such machine to be brought into the UK was used to trial the laying of unreinforced and reinforced concrete carriageways with dowelled contraction and expansion joints. The surface has now been rebuilt using tarmac (asphalt concrete). The A616 road passes approximately 2 miles to the west of Norwell.

Rail

The London - Edinburgh East Coast Main Line (ECML) crosses the east of the parish in an approximately north/south direction, passing approximately 1 mile to the east of the village itself.

The nearest (East Coast) railway station is Newark North Gate (aka Northgate) approx 7 miles to the southeast. The average journey time to London (King's Cross) is 82 minutes. Newark North Gate station is owned by Network Rail and operated by Virgin Trains East Coast. Newark also has a separate Station, Newark Castle which is on the Nottingham-Lincoln line. This station is also owned by Network Rail but operated by East Midlands Trains.