Place:Blyth, Nottinghamshire, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Since 1974 Blyth has been a village in the Bassetlaw District of the county of Nottinghamshire, northwest of East Retford, on the River Ryton.

GENUKI states that the ancient parish of Blyth also covered the very southeastern corner of Yorkshire and where the chapelries of Austerfield and Bawtry were located. Other townships within the Nottinghamshire part of the parish include Barnby Moor with Bilby, Hodsock with Goldthorpe, Ranskill, part of Styrrup with Oldcoates, and Torworth. Blyth was in the Strafforth and Tickhill Wapentake of the West Riding of Yorkshire as well as in the Bassetlaw Wapentake of Nottinghamshire. Austerfield and Bawtry have remained in Yorkshire and appear to have had no links with Blyth since 1894.

Wikipedia tells some of the history of the two estates of Blyth Priory and Blyth Hall.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Blyth from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"BLYTH, a village and a township in Worksop [registration] district, Notts; and a parish in Worksop and East Retford [registration] district, Notts, and in Doncaster [registration] district, [West Riding of] Yorkshire. The village occupies a gentle ascent on the Ryton rivulet, 2½ miles W by S of Ranskill [railway] station, and 7 NNE of Worksop; and has a post office under Worksop.

"It was formerly a market-town; and it still has fairs on Holy Thursday and 20 Oct. The township includes also the hamlets of Norney and Oldcoates, and part of the hamlet of Ranby. Real property: £4,721. Population: 698. Houses: 167.

"The parish includes likewise the lordship of Hodsock, and the townships of Styrrup, Barnby-Moor, Ranskill, Torworth, Austerfield, and Bawtry. Acres: 17,110. Real property: £31,057. Population: 3,486. Houses: 784. :"Blyth Hall, in Blyth township, belonged formerly to the Mellishes; and is now the seat of H. H. Walker, Esq. Serlby Hall, 2 miles N of Blyth village, is the seat of Viscount Galway. The country around these seats, as well without the parks as within, is so rich and ornate as to look all like a garden. An hospital for a warden, three chaplains, and a number of leprous persons, was founded at Blyth-Spittal, to the S of Blyth village, by William de Cressy, Lord of Hodesac; but has all disappeared. A Benedictine priory was founded at Blyth village, in 1088, by Roger de Builly; and given, at the dissolution, to Richard Andrews and William Ramsden; and a part of it, called the conventual nave, still stands connected with the nave of the parish church. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lincoln. Value: £751. Patron: Trinity College, Cambridge. The church is a noble edifice in successive characters from Norman to later English; has a very ancient tower; and contains an effigies and armorial bearings of the Mellishes. The [perpetual] curacy of Bawtry, with the [perpetual] curacy of Austerfield, is a separate benefice. There are four dissenting chapels, two public schools, and two alms-houses."

Research Tips

• GENUKI on Blyth. The GENUKI page gives numerous references to local bodies providing genealogical assistance.
• The FamilySearch wiki on the ecclesiastical parish of Blyth provides a list of useful resources for the local area.
• A Vision of Britain through Time on Blyth.