St George, Doncaster Burials: Stephenson

[acorngen]

For anyone interested the whole of the burial records for the deanery of Doncaster have been transcribed by the Doncaster and district FHS

Rob

[oly]

And are also on NBI2 (National Burial Index)  CD as are most of the country, giving date, age (where recorded), County and place details, ie town and Church.

Regards Oly

[acorngen]

Oly couldn't agree more but then if you are only interested in one church ................

[Redroger]

Though I stand to be corrected on the precise dating details, it is my recollection that prior to the early 1850s, there was only one church in what is now Doncaster, i.e. St. Georges; Christchurch etc. followed with the development of the railway; I am sure that there would have been a church in Balby which prior to 1914 was a separate parish, though now completely absorbed.

[oly]

Balby with Hexthorpe, St John the Evangelist, first burial I have 1832
Balby Quakers about 1800 

43 Churches in the Deanery of Doncaster

Oly

[acorngen]

Ok brief history of DOncaster.  The original Parish Church was St Magdalenes now the fish market.  It's burial ground is under the corn exchange.  Possibly went out of use around the time of the Disollution.  St Georges was built on the site of the old Roman fort and later Norman Castle.  In circa 1851 the church caught fire and was totally destroyed.  Thanks to the  bravery of a local man the plate and the registers were rescued.  In 1846 Christ Church was begun and finished just before the fire at St Georges.  As was said in an earlier post this was because of the influx of Railway workers and the manufacturing workers.  Whilst Burials were still placed in the ground at St Georges the remainder of church functions was passed across to Christ Church with the then incumbent of St Georges carrying out the service.  It is therefore possible to find two entries in different registers during this time. 

Queen Victoria broke with all royal protocol and gave £100 to the cost of rebuilding St Georges.  The church reopened for business in 1853. 

This is all from memory and I may have made mistakes with dates but if anyone wants them confirming I can do that. 

St James church that now stands by the railway came after Christ Church and is fairly new.  It was built by the Plant for the use of Railway workers originally.

Rob

[Redroger]

What I find surprising about Doncaster is the fact that some of the longstanding communities had no church until very recently, i.e. Balby 1832 approx, though to me it looks far older. A few years ago I completed an archaeological project about what remained visible of the medieval Cusworth estate within the modern estate (present Cusworth Hall mid 18th century) An unanswered question at the end of my project was where did they worship? Cusworth had no church until 1956, though it is situated in the old (medieval?) pinfold building. Before the late 19th century the nearest church was about 2 miles away, this was reduced by the building of St. Leonards and Judes Barnsley Road to about 3/4 miles in 1939.

[acorngen]

I think what we have to remember is that places such as Balby were isolated communities until the influx of manufacturing and railway workers.  As such they didn't require a church.  In fact from transcribing the PR's people from Balby and Hyde Park tended to use Christ Church as their parish church and not St Georges.

I was interested in your view on Cusworth and I guess you worked up there with Arcus and Colin Merony.  I have to agree that for a time when religion was a big thing the family of the house didn't have a private chapel or build a small community church.  The question is did they use Sprotbrough or travel to Bentley?

Ok St James Church which was built to accomodate Balby peoples wasn't built until 1858

Rob

[Ken S]

 If you go to the St George's site ... it tells you that the Church burned March 1853, with the old original registers still showing burn marks on the old paper. The new St Georges was built 1854 - 1856.
 And over the years, I believe the old church grounds & cemetery have lost ground ... to the many road work projects. So therefore the cemetery has been moved around more than once. If I lived in the area (instead of Canada) ... I personaly would go take a look at what old stones yet remain ... to see if any stone had Stephenson on it ... or Lawrence, Carter. Two generations of my Stephensons are buried at St Wilfrids in Cantley .. but I have a William Stephenson who died Doncaster in 1806 .. and a Robert in 1820 .. and a John (not sure on date) .. they were all coachmakers in Donny.... and likely buried at St Georges. But it is likely wishfull thinking, that any stones are there.