Anston
Ancient Deeds for North and South Anston
Built for the most part over six centuries ago, with a tower and spire 100 years younger, the attractive church looks from a hill to the mines of Yorkshire and Notts. Its oldest work is the north arcade with pointed arches of the 12th century, its heavy style contrasting with the daintier arcade to the other aisle. An old arch leads to a chancel made almost new. There are old sedilia and a double piscina, and in one of two old recesses rests an unusual sculptured stone showing a man at prayer, an angel touching the head of the tiny woman at his side. It may be 14th century.
This village has paid great homage to Methodism, beginning in an old room now transformed into a Garden of Remembrance and ending in a noble church which is known hereabouts as the Cathedral of Methodism. It goes back 100 years, when James Turner, a working mason in the Anston quarries, joined the Methodists in the old room, helped them to build a small chapel, and set his heart on giving the people a worthy temple of their faith. In 1924 Mr Turner died, but he had left the land for a new church and his four sons built it as his memorial. It is an impressive place, designed by Mr B. D. Thompson and built in Norman style because it was the Norman Minster at Southwell which led the Westminster Commissioners to the Anston quarries in looking, for stone. It has a fine rugged tower, a pointed porch with a round doorway of three orders, an apse, Norman arches, and three glowing east windows given by James Turner’s daughters.
Anston is home to the Tropical butterfly house, and also the limestone gorge of Anston Stones Wood, a site of Special Scientific Interest.
North Anston
Anestan, Litelanstan 1086 (DB), Northanstan, Suthanstan 1297. 'The single or solitary stone'. OE na + st n. Source A Dictionary of British Place Names in Names & Places
History
In the parish of South Anston, liberties of St. Peter and Tickhill; 6 miles from Worksop, 8 from Rotherham, 9 from Tickhill. Population is included in South Anston
North Anston in 1879:
Robert Henry Airey, Farmer
Mrs. Mary Bell, Lime Burner
George Bennett, Farmer and Butcher
Charles Booth, Farmer
Nathaniel Chambers, Farmer
John Michael Connell, Inland Revenue Officer
George Fisher jnr. Shopkeeper
John Fisher, Blacksmith and victualler, Blacksmiths' Arms
Robert Fisher, Farmer and Maltster
Francis Foulds, Miller and Farmer
Samuel Gilbert, Shopkeeper
Barnett Hanson, Saddler
John Edward Holmes, Clerk
Miss Laura Alberta Holmes, National Schoolmistress
Miss Clarissa Horton, Shopkeeper
William Latimer M.R.C.& E., Surgeon
John Murfin, Blacksmith and Mowing and Thrashing machine owner
Thomas Parkin, Tailor
William Pawson, Tailor
William Presswood, Shopkeeper
Charles Reynolds, Bootmaker
Misses Mary and Elizabeth Roberts; Park Grange, Sheffield
George Silvester, Farmer
John Silvester, Farmer
William Twibell, Farmer and Butcher, Lindrick House
George Wells, Shoemaker
Henry Wells, Tailor and Draper
John Widdowson, Shopkeeper
John Winfrow, Market Gardener
Charles Wright Esq. J. P., Rock Mount
Mr. Robert Wright,
Robert Wright, Farmer
South Anston
Anestan, Litelanstan 1086 (DB), Northanstan, Suthanstan 1297.
History
Described in 1822 as a parish-town, in the upper-division of Strafforth and Tickhill, liberties of St. Peter and Tickhill; 6 miles from Worksop, 8 from Rotherham, 9.5 from Tickhill; 12 from Sheffield, 50 from York. Population including North-Anston, 776, which being united form the township, usually denominated Anston with its Members. The Church, peculiar, is a perpetual curacy, in the deanry of Doncaster Patron, the Duke of Leeds.At Dead Man's Cave, Anston Gorge there has been a couple of interesting finds excavated by George Gwynne-Griffiths in 1967: A toe bone from a reindeer,about 10,000 years old. Evidence from this site and elsewhere in Britain suggest that reindeer populations were thriving at this time. Flint blades about 12,000 years old, part of the Late Upper Palaeolithic period. The use of these tools for disarticulating prey and filleting meat is only one interpretation and they could have been used for other tasks that involved cutting, piercing and whittling. George Gwynne-Griffiths also found a few chips of flint with these artefacts which suggest some flint knapping was taking place at the cave. The evidence indicates only a short episode of use of this site.
Turner's Quarry, Anston, Yorkshire. The pale yellow magnesian limestone from the Anston area have been used extensively for local building. The transport and use of the stone outside the local area was boosted by the opening of the Chesterfield Canal in the late 18th century. which allowed the stone to compete in markets as far away as London.
The beds of limestone in this working face show the vertical marks where the 'plug and feathers' iron wedges have been used to break out the limestone from its bed into manageable blocks. The large iron bars are the jumper bars used to percussively 'drill' a line of holes into the relatively soft limestone prior to the insertion of the iron wedges used to fracture the rock.
Anston Stone was selected for use as the principal freestone in the construction of the Palace of Westminster (new Houses of Parliament 1839-52) buildings in London. In the 1830's the planners of the New Palace of Westminster were aware, from the effect of coal burning on London's stone buildings, that the choice of a suitable stone was important. Expert advice pointed towards magnesian limestone. A committee consisting of Sir Charles Barry, the architect, two leading geologists, and a stone carver toured the country in 1839 looking at quarries and buildings. The disused Harry Crofts quarry at Anston was eventually chosen because the stone could be supplied in blocks up to four feet thick and it lent itself to elaborate carving. Moreover, this quarry was cheaper than the other quarries considered. It was transported from the quarries first by barge along the Chesterfield Canal and then by small boat via the Humber estuary and North Sea, to a quayside on the Thames embankment close to the building.
South Anston 1862
Marked ¹ are in Lindrick
Post Office at Henry Rodger's. Letters arrive from Rotherham at 10.15 a.m., and are despatched at 4 p.m.
George Cooke, Nurseryman, Lindrick Dale and Brunsfield
Joseph Clayton, Lime Burner
Mr. George Ford
Ann Foulds, Dressmaker
John Hancock, Butcher
Barnet Hanson, Saddler
Matthew Hayes, Drill Owner
Francis Hogg, Tinner and Brazier
William and Joseph Holmes, Lime Burners, Kiveton Park
Rev. George Prime Jennings B.A., Curate
Joseph Johnson, Saddler
William Latimer, Surgeon
Joseph Rich, Joiner
Thomas Rich, Joiner and Wheelwright
Thomas Robinson, Blacksmith
Edward Salmon, Gentleman
Robert Stephenson, Gardener
Captain James Straw
William Baxter Taylor M.R.C.V.S., Veterinary Surgeon
John Thorpe, Horse Breaker
George Wright Esq.
John Wyatt, Corn Miller, Wood Mill
Inns and Taverns
John HallGate, Canal side
Kiveton Park Hotel, Joseph Holmes
Kiveton Trooper, Thomas Battersby jnr., and Shoemaker
Leeds Arms, Sarah Whitehead
Loyal Trooper, John Broomhead
Farmers
Ann Beeston
George Booth
George Broomhead
John Broomhead
Thomas Coates, and Lime Burner
Charles Ellis, Herrycroft
Abigail Inman, Woodmill Place
George May, Brancliff
John Oldale
Joseph Pashley
¹ Edward W. Rose
¹John Rose
George Rusling
William Salmon
William Twibell
Shoemakers
Thomas Battersby, and Parish Clerk
Thomas Battersby jnr.,
George Hanson
William Robbins
Henry Tranfield
Shopkeepers
William Bossler
Thomas Robinson
Elizabeth Rogers
James Turner
William Unwin
Tailors
John Clarke
Frederick Foulds
Railway Conveyance
Kiveton Park Station (M.S.& L.) For the accommodation of:
Anston (North and South),
Harthill
Thorpe Salvin
Todwick
Wales
John Clayton, Station Master
Carriers
Joseph Pasley, to Sheffield, Tuesday, and to Worksop, Wednesday
William Inman, to Sheffield, Saturday
William Winfrow, North Anston, Sheffield, Tuesday and Saturday
Websites
Anston Male Voice Choir
Anston Conservation Society
www.j31.co.uk
St James' Church, Anston
Woodsetts
