Blyth is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the Bassetlaw district of the county of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

, north west of

East Retford East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

, on the

River Ryton The River Ryton is a tributary of the River Idle. It rises close to the Chesterfield Canal near Kiveton Park, and is joined by a series of tributaries near Lindrick Common in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Most ...

. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census is 1,233. It sits at a junction with the A1, and the end of the motorway section from

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

Geography

The village is situated on the A1 at the southern end of the fifteen-mile A1(M)

bypass, which opened in 1961. The Blyth roundabout was replaced in March 2008 by a grade separated junction (junction 34). The Moto Blyth Services are also at this junction. The £320,000 (equivalent to £ in ), 1½ mile A614 Blyth Bypass was built at the same time as the Nottinghamshire section of the Doncaster Bypass and opened in 1960. The A614 became the A1 when the Doncaster bypass opened. Also passing through the village is the A634 from Maltby to

Barnby Moor Barnby Moor is a village and civil parish in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 257 (2001 census), increasing to the 2011 Census to 278. The village is about three miles north of East Retford. Geography ...

. The dual-carriageway £964,000 (equivalent to £ in ), five-mile section of the A1 from Chequer House ( Ranby) to Blyth opened in August 1966. The former A614 road through the town is now the A634 and B6045.

History

Blyth Priory

The

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

church of St. Mary and St. Martin is one of the oldest examples of

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used fo ...

in the country. It was part of a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

founded in 1088. This priory was founded by Roger de Builli of Tickhill Castle, one of William the Conqueror's followers. The founder and later benefactors endowed Blyth with lands, money and churches. It was staffed at first by monks from the Mother House, Holy Trinity Priory at

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

France. In 1286 Thomas Russel had to be returned to Rouen because of his intolerable conduct and also John de Belleville, as the climate did not suit him. There are other records of the unruly conduct of French monks. During a visitation of the priory in 1536 it was alleged that five of the monks were guilty of grave offences and it was surrendered. George Dalton, the Prior, received a pension of twenty marks, and this seems to have been the only pension awarded. The net annual income at the date of the surrender was £180. (equivalent to £ in ). After the Dissolution the east part of the church was demolished and a tower built at the west end of the nave. See St Mary and St Martin's Church, Blyth for more information.

Blyth Hall

In 1603 Sir Edward Stanhope sold the Blyth estate to Robert Saunderson, of Gilthwaite, Rotherham. In 1635 the 490-acre estate was sold by the Saunderson family to John Mellish, a London merchant. His son Edward, a merchant in Portugal, returned to England in 1671 and in 1684 commissioned the demolition of the old priory and the building of Blyth Hall immediately north of the church. The hall stood at approximately 53°22'45.39"N 1° 3'48.46"W. He was

High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuri ...

for 1692–93 and died unmarried in 1703, leaving the property to Joseph Mellish, his cousin's son. It descended in the Mellish family until 1806, when it was sold to Joshua Walker, the son of an ironmaster from Rotherham. Joshua's son and heir, Henry Frederick Walker (born 1807), was High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1852–53. At the end of the 19th century the hall was bought by

Francis Willey, 1st Baron Barnby Francis Willey, 1st Baron Barnby (27 February 1841 – 16 February 1929) was an English wool merchant. Willey was born in Bradford and joined his father's wool business, which later became Francis Willey & Co Ltd and had agencies all over the ...

, a Bradford wool merchant. He was High Sheriff for 1908–09 and was succeeded by his son

Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby Francis Vernon Willey, 2nd Baron Barnby, CMG, CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public s ...

, who was the MP for South Bradford. The hall was demolished in 1972 and the site is now occupied by a housing estate. On the village green is the former Leper Hospital of St John the Evangelist, said to have been built by the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

of St. John of Jerusalem. It was refounded in 1226, and was being used as a school in 1695.Pevsner, Nikolaus. 1979. ''The Buildings of England:Nottinghamshire''. Harmondsworth, Middx. Penguin.

References

External links

Village website

New junction
{{authority control Villages in Nottinghamshire Civil parishes in Nottinghamshire Bassetlaw District Monasteries in Nottinghamshire 1088 establishments in England 1536 disestablishments in England British country houses destroyed in the 20th century