Bawtry is amarket town andcivil parish in theCity of Doncaster inSouth Yorkshire, England. It lies 8 miles (13 km) south-east ofDoncaster, 10 miles (16 km) west ofGainsborough and 8 miles (13 km) north-west ofRetford, on the border withNottinghamshire and close toLincolnshire. The town was historically divided between theWest Riding of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Its population of 3,204 in the 2001 UK census[1] increased to 3,573 in 2011,[2] and was put at 3,519 in 2019.[3] Nearby settlements includeAusterfield,Everton,Scrooby,Blyth,Bircotes andTickhill.
The origin of the name "Bawtry" is uncertain, but it is thought to contain theOld English wordsball ("ball") andtrēow ("tree"), so meaning it was a "(place at) ball-shaped tree". It was not mentioned in theDomesday Book, but it appears asBaltry in 1199[4] and asBautre on a 1677 map.[5]
Bawtry was originally the site of aRoman settlement onErmine Street betweenDoncaster andLincoln. In 616 AD, the Anglo-Saxon KingAethelfrith died in battle againstRaedwald, King of East Anglia, by theRiver Idle at Bawtry. The site in Aethelfrith's time lay in the southern reaches of Northumbria, a dangerous marshy region close to the border with Lindsey and easily accessible from theKingdom of East Anglia.[6]
A settlement developed here around awharf in theDanelaw era. Evidence suggests thatSt Nicholas's Church was first erected in that period. While the village originally lay inNottinghamshire, boundary changes before theNorman conquest moved it just inside theWest Riding of Yorkshire.[7]
Around 1200, a new town was developed adjacent to the older village, under the auspices of Johnde Busli or Robert de Vipont. In 1213, de Vipont received aroyal charter specifying an annual four-day fair atPentecost, and amarket was first recorded in 1247. The town grew as ariver port and as a local commercial centre and stopping point betweenDoncaster andRetford. By the mid-14th century, the port was exportingwool and other items overseas. Meanwhile, theHospital of St Mary Magdalene was founded, which survived until the 18th century.[7]
Trading in Bawtry later declined and by the 1540sJohn Leland recorded it as being "very bare and pore", but it grew again in theElizabethan period through the shipping ofmillstones.[7]
Bawtry Hall was the base for RAF No.1 Group Bomber Command during and after the Second World War, and became the headquarters of RAF Strike Command (seeRAF Bawtry).[8]
Bawtry is where the western branch of the RomanErmine Street crosses theRiver Idle in theMetropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. It straddles theA638 road, previously theGreat North Road.
Nearby towns includeGainsborough to the east,Retford to the south-southeast,Worksop to the south-west andDoncaster to the north-west. The town is just south ofDoncaster Sheffield Airport, formerlyRAF Finningley, and betweenBircotes andMisson at the conjunction of theA614,A631 and A638. In the 20th century Bawtry became a bottleneck, until a bypass was eventually built in 1965. The county boundary with Nottinghamshire runs just to the south of the town – the southernmost house on theGreat North Road names itself "Number One Yorkshire".[9]
The town's former prosperity was based on communications: the River Idle when it was aport, the Great North Road in the coaching era, and the Great Northern Railway. Its geographical location is 53° 25' 40" North, 1° 1' West, at an elevation of some 37 feet (11.4 m) above sea level.[10]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC Yorkshire andITV Yorkshire (West). Television signals are received from theEmley Moor TV transmitter.[11] TheBelmont TV transmitter can also be received which broadcastBBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Yorkshire (East).[12] Local radio stations areBBC Radio Sheffield,Heart Yorkshire,Capital Yorkshire,Hits Radio South Yorkshire,Sine FM,Greatest Hits Radio South Yorkshire, andTX1 Radio. The town is served by local newspaper,Doncaster Free Press.
Bawtry has a school called Bawtry Mayflower School named after the vesselMayflower, which tookWilliam Bradford, leader of the Pilgrims, to the Americas, settling the firstPlymouth Colony. Bradford came fromAusterfield, about a mile from Bawtry.[13]
TheWhite Hart in Swan Street is the town's oldest surviving public house, dating from 1689. The olderSwan Inn in the same street has been converted to other uses. Market Hill and High Street contain buildings of the same period, interspersed with more recent ones. TheCrown Hotel in High Street was once a coaching inn. SingerRonan Keating and comedianBilly Connolly have stayed there.[14]
South Parade is a terrace of Georgian houses. The Courtyard, a modern development of housing, shops and businesses, won the Green Apple Awards 2005.[15]
From 1989 to 2013 Bawtry Hall operated as a Christian conference centre and a base for several Christian bodies. It now serves for a wider range of events such as wedding receptions.[16]
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