Fishlake 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

Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster The City of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough with city status in South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its principal settlement, Doncaster, and includes the surrounding suburbs of Doncaster as well as numerous towns and villages. The di ...

. It was historically part of the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

until 1974. In 2001 it had a population of 628, increasing to 682 at the 2011 Census. It was mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

where the name is given as ''fiscelac'', from Old English ''fisc-lacu'', 'fish-stream'.

History

There is a local myth called "The

Cockatrice A cockatrice is a mythical beast, essentially a two-legged dragon, wyvern, or serpent-like creature with a rooster's head. Described by Laurence Breiner as "an ornament in the drama and poetry of the Elizabethans", it was featured prominently i ...

of Church Street". The story goes that the

mythical beast A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), but may be featured in historical accoun ...

resides near the churchyard; those unlucky enough to hear its call are said to never sleep again.

The local church, dedicated to

St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nor ...

, is

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. Most of the building dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, while parts (namely the southern door) can be traced back to the 12th century when England was under

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

rule. According to legends, Cuthbert was buried here. West Nab Mill, Fishlake

Sir

William de Notton Sir William de Notton, or Norton (died c.1365) was an English landowner and judge, who had a highly successful career in both England and Ireland, culminating in his appointment as Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1361.Ball, F. Elrington ''The J ...

, later

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...

, was Lord of the Manor of Fishlake in the 1340s. In 1350 he and his wife Isabel conveyed it to John de Birthwaite, the Prior of

Monk Bretton Priory Monk Bretton Priory is a ruined medieval priory located in the village of Lundwood, and close to Monk Bretton, South Yorkshire, England. History Originally a monastery under the Cluniac order, Monk Bretton Priory is located in the village of ...

, to build a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

chapel at Woolley Church, where prayers were to be said for the souls of the Royal family as well as Notton's own family. The timing of the grant suggests that Notton was giving thanks for England's deliverance from the first outbreak of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

2019 Floods

In November 2019 the village of Fishlake gained national notoriety as the River Don, swollen by unprecedented rainfall, overtopped and flooded a huge swathe of land including over 170 homes and businesses. As a way of thanking the people and agencies who helped them, as well as raising funds for other communities affected by flooding, the people of Fishlake decided to document their experiences of the floods in the form of a book entitled ''Flood: The stories of a village underwater''. The book was launched in St Cuthbert's church in the village on 19 September 2021 in the presence of a number of notable dignitaries, including the Mayor of South Yorkshire,

Dan Jarvis Daniel Owen Woolgar Jarvis (born 30 November 1972) is a British Labour Party politician and former British Army officer who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley Central since 2011. He also served as the Mayor of South Yo ...

; Mayor of Doncaster, Ros Jones and local MP and Shadow President of the

COP26 The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...

conference,

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

References

{{South Yorkshire Villages in Doncaster Civil parishes in South Yorkshire

History

2019 Floods

See also

References