Houses, Mansions and Villas
Tickhill had its fair share of large, imposing houses: some built in the Georgian style in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, together with others in the later Victorian period. Many still exist today (2009) and have ‘Listed Building’ status.
The occupants of these impressive residences were the gentry – people of gentle birth, good breeding, or high social position ranking just below the nobility. They lived a very different lifestyle to the majority of the population, enjoying a privileged, comfortable existence, with a range of live-in servants to attend to their everyday needs.
Some of the most significant buildings were The Friary, The Vicarage, Lindrick House, Rock House and Sand Rock House and detailed information, including that of their occupants, can be found by clicking on the links below:-
Amongst other interesting houses were the following:
Sunderland House
Sunderland House is a Grade ll listed, two storey, late-18th century Georgian mansion, on the north side of Sunderland Street. A smaller property, Sunderland Cottage is situated a short distance away in the grounds. 19th century occupants have included Messrs. Hugh Park and George Marriott, and from c1880, Liverpool born, Captain Grenfell Todd-Naylor, a serving officer in the Militia, until his retirement with the rank of Major about ten years later. Following his death in 1916, his widow Annie continued to live there until her death in 1935.
St Leonards
Another notable house was St Leonard’s, which stood adjacent to St Leonard’s Hospital on Northgate. Very little is documented about its origins; one of the earliest references can be found on the 1848 Tickhill Tithe Award and Map, when the landowner is shown James Burbeary and the occupier as Henry Otter. The house was rebuilt in the 1870s and by the end of the decade the occupants were Joshua Gladwyn Jebb, his wife, Alice and their five children, together with nine servants; he is described in the 1881 census as living on ‘Income from land and interest money’. In the 1930s, the house appears to have been divided into two; the 1927 Kelly’s Directory lists Mrs Baxter as resident at ‘1 St Leonard’s’ and the parents of Maurice Preece the owner of Tickhill Garage on Castlegate, at ‘No. 2 ‘. The house was demolished c1970.
Brook Villa
Brook Villa is a large, impressive property at Lindrick. A Grade II listed, early 19th century house. It is shown on the 1848 Tithe Award, the landowner is a Thomas Stanuel, but the house is described as ‘uninhabited’. The first named reference to the property does not appear until the 1881 census, when Benjamin Jarvis, a retired farmer from Scarcliffe in Derbyshire was resident with his family. Later residents have included Messrs. L. B. Weldon, T. Turner, T. Fox and Henry Pickering.
Roland House
Roland (or Rowland) House is a Grade ll, two-storey 18th century house with an adjoining 17th century single storey wing. It is located between Dam Road and the Mill Dam adjacent to Roland’s Bridge over the Dam weir. The 1848 Tithe Award describes the property as a house, homestead and gardens; William Carver is recorded as the ‘landowner’, and maltster, George Sidwell, the ‘occupier’. There are no references to Roland House by name until the early 20th century, when local directories refer to the occupant as George Crossland.
Weardale
Weardale is a large, red-bricked late-Victorian house on Northgate, which is thought to have been built in the late 1880s for Matthew and Charlotte Curtis. In 1887, Matthew had just completed his third term as Mayor of Manchester, but sadly died later that year in Cheshire. His widow, Charlotte moved to Tickhill and resided at Weardale for almost another 30 years; subsequent residents, pre-1939, included Messrs. A Ridgill and Edwin Robinson. Today (2009) it is split into two houses.
Other Buildings
Amongst the larger Grade ll properties are The Hollies (The Vicarage since 1913), Tickhill House and Carlton House on Sunderland Street, Westgate House on Dam Road, Westgate Lodge and Westfield House on Westgate, together with Manor House and Northgate House on Northgate. All were built before 1848. There are also numerous smaller Grade ll ‘listed buildings’ in Tickhill whose architectural features are of ‘special interest’.
Whilst not acquiring ‘listed’ status, there are, nevertheless, several other older houses worth a mention; the following were all built pre-1848 as they are listed in the Tithe Award: The Hawthorns on the corner of Westgate and Worksop Road, Lindrick Villa, Sunnyside (formerly Lindrick Cottage), and Sunderland Lodge and Leahurst on Sunderland Street. In the 1930s, the latter was the home of the Archdeacon of Doncaster, the Venerable Folliott George Sandford, former Vicar of St George’s Church, who, at the time, was the Vicar of the neighbouring parish of Stainton with Hellaby.
SOURCES
Baines, Edward, A history, directory and gazetteer of the County of York. Vol.1. West Riding.1822.
Beastall, Tom, Portrait of an English parish church: St Mary the Virgin, Tickhill. Waterdale Press. 1993.
Beastall, Tom, Tickhill: portrait of an English country town. Waterdale Press. 1995.
Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900, [at] www.ancestry.com
Department of the Environment, Schedule of Listed Buildings: Doncaster South. c1960.
Doncaster Chronicle: various references
Doncaster Gazette: various references
Doncaster Gazette Directories: 1891-1938/9
English Heritage, Listed buildings on-line [at] www.heritagegateway.org.uk
Hunter, Rev Joseph, South Yorkshire, Vol 1. 1828.
Kelly’s Directories of the West Riding of Yorkshire 1867-1936
Magilton, John, The Doncaster District: an archaeological survey. Museum & Arts Service Publication. 1977.
Ordnance Survey Maps: 1854, 1894, 1901 (Godfrey ed.), 1929, 1931, 1956, and 1997.
Oxford University Alumni 1500-1900, [at] www.ancestry.com
South Yorkshire Archaeology Service, A review of archaeology in South Yorkshire 1992-93. SYAS. 1993.
Tickhill census 1841-1901.
Tickhill Enclosure Award & Map 1766
Tickhill Tithe Award & Map 1848
Victoria History of the Counties of England, Yorkshire. Vol.3. University of London, Institute of Historical Research. (1912). 1974.
White, William, A history, gazetteer and directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Vol.1. 1837.
Wood Bernard, Tickhill Friary [from] Yorkshire Life Illustrated, March 1954.