de Lovetot: History of Rotherham

William de Lovetot

In the famous 12th century Priory church in the town of Worksop, a few battered monumental knightly effigies tell part of the story of how the manor descended to the Norfolks. The Saxon lord was supplanted at the Conquest by Roger de Busli, one of the Conqueror’s most favoured companions. The whole of Hallamshire was also his, but failing descendants, most of the de Busli properties went to their sub-tenants the de Lovetots and these included Worksop and Hallamshire.

Priory Church of Worksop

William de Lovetot was the son of a Norman baron who had come over with the Conqueror.

The first William de Lovetot, Lord of Hallamshire, was succeeded by his son Richard, whose son and successor, William, died without male issue, about the year 1180, leaving an only daughter, Matilda, then of very tender age, as a ward of the reigning monarch, Henry II, who left it to his successor, Richard I, to select the person to whom her hand should be given; and he, as might have been expected, chose the son of one of his companions in arms, Gerard de Furnival, on whom, by this alliance, the lordship of Sheffield devolved, together with all the other estates of the Lovetots, in the counties of York and Nottingham. While the eldest branch of the de Lovetots thus ended in a female heiress, there was another branch still existing, sprung from the first William, by his younger son, Nigel, one of whose descendents seems to have attempted a recovery of the barony of his great ancestor; for we find that in the 9th of John, (1207,) Gerard de Furnival gave a thousand pounds, and fifteen palfreys, to the King, that he might quietly enjoy those lands to which Nigel de Lovetot made

In the early part of the reign of Henry I., we find William de Lovetot in possession of Hallam, Attercliffe, Sheffield, Grimesthorpe, Greasborough, Worksop., and many other manors which had been of the de Busli fee. He had also acquired interest in Handsworth , Treeton, Whiston , and other places, which had been of the Busli fee. They founded a parish church, and a hospital in Shefffield, t he latter was called St. Leonard’s Hospital, and stood on a little eminence on the east side of the town, still called Spital Hill. The churches which the Lovetots erected on their domains, were, according to the prevailing custom of the times, attached to certain monasteries. That at Sheffield was annexed to the Priory which the Lovetots had founded at Worksop.

Worksop

The jewel of Worksop is the Priory Church of Our Lady and St. Cuthbert, a magnificent Norman building with a unique gatehouse.

In 1240 Maud Furnival, heiress of Worksop Manor, financed the building of the Early English Lady Chapel. The de Lovetots, Furnivals and their successors, were also Lords of Sheffield and there have been long links between the two towns.

From 1303 to 1313 John de Tickhill (or Tikyll) was Prior and during this time was executed the beautifully illuminated Worksop Psalter which is now in New York Library.

In 1539 most of the monastic institutions of England were in course of being dissolved - a euphemism for being knocked down and their possessions siezed. Worksop was lucky for although all the monastic buildings were destroyed the main priory church remained, though reduced in size, together with the wonderful Gatehouse and its shrine. Even after passing to the Augustinians, the Priory remained the parish church as it had been since 1103 which is why it survived and is used for the same purpose today.

Restoration work was carried out on the Priory in the 1920s and and thanks to a handsome legacy from a former Worksop choirboy, John F. Ellis, new additions in modem style have been made to the east end during the 1970s.

The Gatehouse is one of the most interesting buildings in the county and is late 13th century. The exterior is decorated by niches containing statues which somehow escaped the iconoclasts. They depict St. Augustine, St. Cuthbert and other religious imagery. The south east corner has a decorated projection which was a shrine probably containing a holy relic and a statue of Our Lady.