Local Parishes
Beighton
In Bectune were five ox-gangs and a half of land to be taxed. Land to six oxen ; two villanes have there one plough and one acre of meadow. Wond-pasture one mile long and half a mile broad, value in King Edwards time 5s. now 6s. 4d. In Bectune, 4 ox-gangs of land to be taxed, land to as many oxen. Soke. It is waste. This belonged to Ralph, son of Hubert. In Bectune, Swain had six ox-gangs and a half to be taxed. There is land to one plough and a half: yet there are four ploughs, eleven villanes, and two bordars. It was formerly worth 20s. now 32s. Roger holds it, and Lewin under him. This manor belonged to Roger de Busli.
Within half a mile of Beighton, on the east bank of the Rother, are some ancient earth-works, supposed to have been a Roman station.
This manor was given, in the reign of King Ethelred, to Burton Abbey. At the Conquest, it appears to have been divided into two manors: one of which was held by Lewin, under Roger de Busli, and the other belonged to Roger de Poictou. Before 1276, Sir Gervase de Bernake was Lord of Beighton, and was one of the benefactors to the Abbey of Beauchief. In 1279, Walter de Furneaux (Furnival) possessed the manor, and left it to his son William, who died seised of it in 1320; his sisters and co-heiresses married Latimer and Ravensworth, and on failure of issue from Latimer, the whole devolved to Henry Fitzhugh, son of Henry de Ravensworth. A co-heiress of Henry, the last Baron Fitzhugh, brought Beighton to Sir John Fiennes, eldest son of Richard, the first Dacre, of the South. In 1570, Gregory Lord Dacre sold the manor to Francis Wortley, esq.
Following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. Sir Robert Pierrepont (1584-1643) purchased extensive estates including Beighton.
The sister and heiress of William Pierrepont, the last Duke of Kingston, brought this estate into the family of Earl Manvers, of Thoresby and Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham.
Philip Meadows, deputy-ranger of Richmond Park, son of Sir Philip Meadows, marshal of the king's palace, married in 1734 Frances, only sister and heiress of William Pierrepont, second Duke of Kingston, by whom she had five sons and one daughter: Evelyn-Philip, Charles, William, Edward, Thomas, and Frances. Charles, who, by royal permission, in 1788, assumed the surname and arms of Pierrepont upon succeeding to the estates of his uncle, the Duke of Kingston; was elevated to the peerage on 23rd July, 1796, by the titles of Baron Pierrepont, and Viscount Newark, and, on 1st April, 1806, to the dignity of Earl Manvers
The ancient tower church is dedicated to St. Mary. In 1455, Sir James Strangeways, and Elizabeth his wife, gave this church to the Priory of Mountgrace, in Yorkshire. In 1544, Henry VIII granted the rectory and advowson to Robert and William Swift; one of the daughters of Robert Swift brought this estate to her husband, Francis Wortley, and it then passed with the manor. On an oak beam in the roof the date of 1100 was visible, which is only thirty-four years after William the Conqueror desolated the country. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £20. and yearly tithes 13s. The income of the vicar was derived from a rent-charge of £10, royal bounty £200, and about forty acres of glebe land; the remainder from a composition, tithe corn rent, which was paid in money twice a year, and varied with the price of wheat. Rev.Thomas Erskine, M. A. was vicar at some stage.
Beighton, described as a village, township, constablery and parish, situated about half a mile west of the river Rother, on the border of the Scarsdale hundred, joining Yorkshire, 16 miles north-east from Chesterfield, and in the deanery of Chesterfield. This parish includes the villages of Birley, Hackenthorpe and Southwell, and contained, in 1821, 167 houses, 170 families, and 856 inhabitants, being an increase, since 1801, of 222 persons. It now contains nearly 1000 inhabitants. Of the 170 families, 77 were chiefly employed in agriculture, 66 in trade or handicraft, and 27 variously. The principal trade is the manufacture of scythes and sickles, and working of collieries.
The township of Beighton contains 2407 acres of old, and 600 acres of newly enclosed land, which is divided among 25 freeholders: Earl Manvers, who owns 2280 acres, Major Booth, the vicar of Beighton, Rev. Joseph Dixon, Rev. Thomas Mountain, Mr. John Staniforth, Mr. William Potter, Mr. William Wragg, G. Wright, esq. Mr. Jennings, Mr. J. S. Jennings, Mr. James Goodlad, Mr. Isaac Brunt, Mr. John Gabb, of Drakehouse, Mr. T. and Mr. W. Staniforth, Mr. G. Shepherd, Mr. J. Woodhead, Mr. W. and Mr. G. Inkersall, Mr. S. Bramhall, Mr. J. Sorby, Mr. E. Jenkin, Mr. G. Swinnerton, Mr. E. Hobson, and Mr. Plant.
A court Baron is annually held for Lord Manvers' manor of Beighton, at the rent day, which is usually about the middle of November.
All the land was titheable except Birley moor, where an allotment was given to the impropriator and vicar in lieu of tithes. The tithes were valued every 14 years, and this valuation regulated both the vicar's and Lord Manvers' shares; the latter possessed most of the rectorial tithes. The paupers were generally relieved at their own dwellings, except three or four, who were kept in the poor-house at Ashover. There was one endowed free-school, one Wesleyan Methodist chapel, and two public houses in the township.
Arms and Inscriptions in the Church - Two flag stones, bearing the following inscriptions, are in the vestry-room, adjoining the chancel.
Orate pro anima domini Johannis Tynker quondam vicari de Beighton: annos corpus hic jacet animae propitietur Deus. An. D. Millessimo quadragintesimo octogessimo (1418)
Hic jacet Ricardus Boswette (or Dowcett) armigeri et Johanna uxor ejus Millessimo quinsentigesimo primo animabus propitietur Deus. Amen. (1501)
Here was a monument to Edward Dowcett, who died in 1501. Memorials for the family of Jermyn, of Drakehouse, in 1715 and 1777. John Drake, Vicar of Beighton, died 4th of April, 1715, and John Drake, Vicar of Beighton, died 4th Feuruarv. 1763, and for the Marshalls.
Charities:
- Rev. Francis Gisborne Deed 1817. Will 1818
- Robert Green Will 24th May 1712
- William Jessop Will 18th April, 1666
- Godfrey Morton
- John Newbold Will 18th Jan. 1689
- Richard Worrall
This map shows Beighton, in 1855