Loversall 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 ...
in
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
In N ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It has a population of 128, increasing to 156 at the 2011 Census.
The village consists mainly of residential properties and farm buildings. There is also a popular children's nursery. Although there was once a village shop there are no shops currently located within the village. However, there is a major
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
adjacent to Loversall Parish, within the development known as Woodfield Plantation. There are also a small number of shops and a
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
in the adjacent village of Wadworth.
Loversall Lakes (Quarry Farm) is a popular
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
facility and periodically the fields around Loversall are used for
clay pigeon shooting
Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, is a shooting sport involving shooting a firearm at special flying targets known as clay pigeons, or clay targets.
The terminology commonly used by clay shooters often relates to time ...
.
St Katherines Church is a Grade II*
listed building
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 ...
. It appears to have been built before 1207 by the Fossard family, who owned the Manor of Hexthorpe under Count Robert de Mortain (half brother to William the Conqueror).
Within the churchyard lies an early 14th-century tomb chest which is also Grade II* listed.
[How to Study an Old Church, A.Needham, pub Batsford. Page 13.]
Loversall Hall, next to the church, is a large but plainly-built house, its principal front built by the Fenton family of Leeds between 1808 and 1816, although the buildings at the rear are probably seventeenth century. Loversall was part of the manor of Doncaster, and its church, dedicated to St Katherine, was technically a chapel of ease in the parish of Doncaster, rather than a fully-fledged parish church.
There are a number of working farms in the Parish, including Quarry Farm adjacent to the A60 and Loversall Farm, the farmhouse for which is located within the village. Pear Tree Farm, also within the village, is no longer a working farm but the farmhouse, thought to be around 250 years old, remains in residential use.
History of the Parish of Loversall
The history of Loversall's parish records illustrates both the vulnerability of archives and one of the uses of bishop's transcripts. Although the church at Loversall is
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
, the parish registers begin only in the nineteenth century. The reason for this lies in the events of a winter's night on 7 and 8 February 1844, when thieves broke into the church. They broke open the parish chest, probably in hope of stealing the communion plate. Finding no valuable contents, they made a fire to warm themselves in the bitter winter weather. Their fuel was the oak chest and most of its contents, namely all the
parish registers
A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...
but the most recent marriage and burial registers.
![Access to Loversall via A60 From South](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Access_to_Loversall_via_A60_From_South.jpg)
The information in the registers was not irretrievably lost. Since 1598, parishes had been obliged to make a yearly return to the bishop of the diocese, listing all the baptisms, marriages and burials which had taken place in the parish in the previous year. Loversall, like other local parishes, sent in its returns to York, and these are now to be found in the
Borthwick Institute for Archives
The Borthwick Institute for Archives is the specialist archive service of the University of York, York, England. It is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. The Borthwick was founded in 1953 as The Borthwick Institute of Histori ...
, along with all the other records of the archdiocese of York. The parish register transcripts for Loversall survive from 1601 to 1830, and so most of the information which would have been found in the parish registers is still available to family historians.
Loversall as a Conservation area
Loversall was designated a conservation area on 19 October 1979.
The character of Loversall Conservation Area is that of a small open grained village of traditional limestone buildings with clay
pantile
A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in profile and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses.
A pantile-covered roo ...
roofs. The village appears to have grown within the Loversall Hall parkland to serve the listed Loversall Hall. The main street appears from map evidence to have continued to the south east past the listed dovecote and walled garden to Loversall Hall. This was blocked off possibly when the route to the Hall was diverted to the north around the time the Hall was rebuilt in 1811.
Historically domestic and agricultural buildings, probably tied to the Loversall estate, developed along Bubup Hill. These front the road and are almost exclusively of coursed rubble limestone and clay pantiles which gives a homogeneous character to this part of the conservation area. The most significant of these is Loversall Farm which was the major farm of the village. Its importance is demonstrated by being three storeys high rather than two storeys which is the norm of the village. Being elevated and with no development in front of it the building dominates the key view on approaching from Wadworth. To the east is Loversall Hall and its curtilage buildings. Part of the walled garden survives with the listed dovecote to one corner though the walled garden is now subdivided between two modern properties. South and west of the drive approaching the hall is parkland in character and is designated as Green Belt. Formerly, this part of the conservation area would have been relatively open but 20th century developments have infilled the land between Bubup Hill and the Hall. Some of this is incongruous and suburban in character. The most unusual of these infills is a pair of Swedish timber bungalows introduced in 1948.
Listed Buildings in Loversall Conservation Area
There are five listed structures within the area.
*Church of St Katherine Grade II* EH reference 334820
*Tomb Chest (churchyard) Grade II* EH reference 334821
*Grave Slab (churchyard) Grade II EH reference 334822
*Loversall Hall Grade II EH reference 334823
*Dovecote Grade II EH reference 334824
References
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Villages in Doncaster
Civil parishes in South Yorkshire