Gonalston is a small village in

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 trad ...

lying just to the north-east of

Lowdham Lowdham is a village and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district of Nottinghamshire between Nottingham and Southwell. At the 2001 census it had a population of 2,832, increasing to 3,334 at the 2011 Census. Two main roads slicing thro ...

and almost upon the A612 trunk road that runs from

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

to Southwell. Gonalston comprises of arable and pasture land in about equal portions, interspersed with of wood and plantations. It lies on a small river called the Dover Beck which separates the village from

and which flows south-east into the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

away. Population details are included in the

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 authorit ...

of Epperstone.

Toponymy

Gonalston seems to contain the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

personal name, ''Gunnolf'', + ''tun'' (Old English), an enclosure; a farmstead; a village; an estate.., so 'Gunnolf's farm/settlement'.

Historical

According to Francis White's ''Directory of Nottinghamshire'' of 1853, Gonalston...

''"is a small rural village and parish, near the Dover Beck, south-south-west of Southwell, containing 100 inhabitants and of land, enclosed in 1768, when were allotted for the tithes. John Francklin Esq. owns the whole lordship, and is patron of the rectory, which is valued in the King's books at £7 19s 2d, now £324, and is enjoyed by the Rev. Edward Walker Foottit B.A. The church, dedicated to
St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...
, is a small structure, with a tower and two bells, and was rebuilt in 1852. In Thoroton's time it contained some ancient figures of crusaders, but they were either destroyed or removed at the diminution of the church. They have since been taken up by the present proprietor, under the superintendence of Rd. West Macott Esq. R.A., and are about to be placed in the name of the new edifice."''

Notable buildings

The parish church of St Laurence dates from the 14th century. It lies outside the village centre, in the grounds of the rectory, close to the manor house and home farm. The village was famed in ancient times for its hospital or spital now lost, and its effigies of

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

. ''"William de Heris, in the reign of Henry III, founded an hospital here called the Spital, "to the honour of

St. Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion and resurre ...

;" the successive rectors of the parish were masters, and formerly preached their induction sermon upon its ruins."''

Archaeology

Some recent and important archaeological discoveries have been made in the East Midlands and especially in the silts of the Trent Valley area. This includes finds in Gonalston. At Holme Dyke, Gonalston,

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

pottery has been excavated from a ring ditch, and a Late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

domestic site (as a burnt mound) was uncovered by quarry workings.http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/eastmidsfw/pdfs/15nottneba.pdf .

Notes

External links

1903 article concerning Gonalston church and Spital
{{authority control Newark and Sherwood Villages in Nottinghamshire