Hampole: The tiny Yorkshire village which has an abundance of history hidden underground

J.R. Magilton (1977) mentions that the present settlement appears to be a shrunken medieval village. The medieval period in England is said to stretch between 1066 and 1485.

Under a section headed ‘Archaeology’, Magilton adds: ‘The only known site in [Hampole], partly and badly excavated, is St Mary’s Priory, a Cistercian nunnery.’ He comments that the ‘House of Benedictine nuns was founded here by 1156; Cistercian nuns founded 1170.’

It is claimed that nuns adopted the Cistercian customs as early as 1120-30. But they were excluded from the order until about 1200, when the nuns began to be directed, spiritually and materially, by the White Monks.

An article titled ‘Hampole’s Vanished Priory’, from September 2, 1937, informed: ‘[The Priory was] founded in 115[6] by William Clairfait and Avicia, his wife, as a house of Benedictine monks. Soon after this, it became a nunnery under the rule of a Prioress…’

The article also mentioned that Hampole Priory’s importance in history derives from its association with Richard Rolle.

Apart from the spiritual influence he exerted in his lifetime and – through his writings – for long after his death, he was one of the formative influences on English literature in the age of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Rolle arrived in Hampole after wanderings which had taken him from his native Thornton-le-Dale in Yorkshire to Oxford, probably to Paris, to Topcliffe and Richmond, and possibly Tickhill.

In Hampole, he dwelt as a hermit alongside the Cistercian nunnery. David Hey (1986) said more manuscripts of Rolle’s survive than any other English writer of his time. Rolle died in 1349 from the Plague or Black Death.

Later, the Hampole nuns took the first steps – never completed – for his canonisation as a saint, and prepared an ‘Officium’.

Doubtless, owing to confusion caused by the Black Death, which probably carried off the Prioress and other members of the little community at Hampole, the necessary preliminaries to Richard’s formal canonisation were never completed.

The last prioress, Isabel Arthington, surrendered the nunnery on November 19, 1539. She, together with the sub-prioress and 17 nuns, were granted pensions.

Afterwards the building came into private hands, was used for a time as a residence, and eventually abandoned. Its stones were taken by those who were building farmsteads and cottages.

According to Magilton (1977,) Hampole village consists entirely largely of stone-built structures in an irregular grouping round a curious street pattern. The earliest surviving buildings ‘do not seem to predate the 17th century.’

During the 19th century, E. Baines (1822) notes there were 140 people in Hampole. A Swan Inn is referred to in White (1837).

A Hampole Inn is noted between c. 1861-1868 in other reference sources. However, it is possible that these two inns occupied the same building, and at some time, a name change occurred.

In January, 1885 Hampole station – a wooden halt – was opened on the West Riding & Grimsby Line, which ran between Wakefield and Doncaster.

A local newspaper said that a long-felt need had been met by the opening of a pretty little station at Hampole for passenger, goods and parcel traffic. A Mr Wightman and his wife, of Hampole Priory, had used their influence to have the station opened. The facility survived until 1952.

A prominent figure in the village was Frederick James Howden of Hampole Lime Works. In the early 20th century, he was on the management committee of Hampole Schools and chairman of the local parish meetings.

By November 23, 1929, Howdens Lime Works were employing two girls as crane drivers. They were preferred to men ‘because of their more delicate touch and greater dexterity.’

An announcement in January 1936 said that a new parish of Hampole was proposed combining the parish of Hampole in Doncaster Rural District with the parishes of Hamphall Stubbs and Skelbrooke in the existing Hemsworth Rural District.

This brought in two interesting buildings: Skelbrooke Hall and Skelbrooke Church.

The Hall, built of limestone rubble with ashlar quoins, is alleged to date from the Queen Anne period (1702-1714) but others say it likely dates from the mid-18th century. It is three-storey with a hipped slate roof, sash windows and Doric porch.

An account from April 1932 mentions that the Hall ‘has always remained in the Nevile family’. Further information said: ‘Skelbrooke Hall has not one ghost, but many. It seems to shelter ghosts’.

In November 1950, a report said that the link with the Nevile family had been severed. Major P.M. Nevile had sold the house to A.L. Metcalf, a Midlands businessman. The house had ten bedrooms, two entrance lodges, garages, a paddock and stabling.

On achurchnearyou.com, it is stated there has been a church on the present site of Skelbrooke’s St Michael & All Angels for around 700 years. Whilst some medieval features remain, the church is mainly Victorian as extensive rebuilding took place in 1872 after a fire.

During 1937, ‘the old [Hampole] Priory of St Mary’, was excavated by Rev. Prof. C.E. Whiting of Durham University.

He commented that as the result of a fortnight’s excavation only tentative conclusions could be made, adding: ‘We appear to have found the eastern end of the conventual enclosure, with an added building at the north end. It would be tempting to hint at the house of the prioress.

‘The two walls at the south end of the field suggest the north outer wall of the chancel, and the north wall of the choir.…Evidently the greater part of the remains of the priory lie under the village green.’

Hampole resident, Doug Kent, who I interviewed in 1993, gave some interesting facts about village life following WWII. Much of Hampole was owned by the Brodsworth Hall estate.

He rented Ivy Farm and it had been in his family for about 150 years. Horses were still widely used and he just had one Fordson tractor.

Besides his farm there were four others and about 20 cottages. Nearly everybody in the village was connected with farming.

He said: ‘Modernisation only began about 20 years ago. Gas has only been available during the last few years. We cooked with Calor Gas before electricity was available. The only form of entertainment was provided in a little chapel, which was originally the village school.’

Published in the Yorkshire Archaeological Journal of 2022 was an article titled ‘Iron Age and Roman Settlement at Hazel Lane Quarry, Hampole, South Yorkshire’.

This gives details of excavations west of the quarry (north of Field Lane). They revealed settlement on the land from the Bronze and Iron Ages through the presence of structures, farming, pathways and burials.

In the late Iron Age and during the Roman period, larger areas of land, with some clearances of woodland, were incorporated into new field systems with a focus on the raising of livestock.

In 2002, a dig exposed remains of a building, dating from the Roman period and this was later suggested to be a bath house.

With an L-shaped plan, the structure contained four rooms and was made from limestone, having tiled and stone floors. A central room was the largest at 4m, whilst the southernmost could have been the frigidarium, or cold room.

Many pieces of pottery were found, along with a number of iron objects. These suggested the date of occupation was between AD 150 and AD 350.

The quality also pointed to the site being a relatively important farm in the area, yet without the status of a Roman villa. Most items were locally sourced, though some came from Mancetter, Crambeck and Lincolnshire.

Thanks to Professor Dr Paul Buckland for help with this piece.