Babworth

Coordinates: 53°19′N 0°59′W / 53.31°N 00.98°W / 53.31; -00.98

Babworth is a village and civil parish in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England, about 1½ miles west of Retford. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,329. In addition to the village of Babworth the parish also includes Ranby.

History

Prior to 1066 (the Norman Conquest) Babworth (Babvrde) is known to have belonged substantially to Earl Tosti and was part of the king’s manor of Bodmeschell. Tax was paid for six and a half bovats of land. It is also said that Ulmer also held two and a half borate.

After the Norman Conquest, Roger de Busli bought the whole of it and delivered it "by feudal tenure" to Goisfrid. In the Domesday Book it is certified to be one carucate and a half, with a border; pasture wood two quarents long, and one broad, which before the Conquest had been valued at 40s but afterwards was valued at 10s.

According to Nomina Villarum, by 1316 the Earl of Lancaster, and Robert de Saundeby, are certified to have been the lords of it. In 1355, nearly the whole of Babworth became the property of Sir Thomas de Grendon, who sold it in 1368 to Sir William Trusbutt. It was later inherited by Trussbutt's son, Sir Robert, who sold the manor "with its appurtenances" to Sir Richard de Willoughby, of Wollaton. Later it became the property of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Lord Cavendish, and in the 18th century it was purchased by Sir Gervas Elwes, and lastly by John Simpson. (see The History of Retford in The County of Nottingham by John Shadrach Piercy, 1828) Piercy describes Babworth in the early 19th century as follows: