Local Parishes
Refer also to Woodhouse
Woodhouse Mill
Early Charters
1200-1218 Grant by Ralph Blund to the monks of Kirkstead of \\ bovate of his land of Carbrook of equivalent value to the land which he gave them in Woodhouse, in case he and his heirs were unable to warrant the land in Woodhouse. 1200-1218.
Sciant omnes presentes et futuri quod ego Radulfus Blund concessi et dedi et presenti carta confirmavi Deo et ecclesie Sancte Marie et monachis de Kirkestede in puram et perpetuam elemosinam j bovatam terre et dimidiam de terra mea de Kerebroc, ad valentiam terre quam dedi eis in Wdeus, si tamen ego vel heredes mei non poterimus warantazare predictis monachis predictam terram de Wdeus, cum prato et pastura et omnibus aliis pertinentiis suis, habendas et tenendas libere et quiete ab omni secular! servitio et consuetudine et exactione sicut ulla elemosina liberius teneri potest. Et ego et heredes mei warantizabimus predictis monachis totam predictam terram cum pertinentiis contra omnes homines imperpetuum. His testibus : Simone Folyot, Helya capellano de Canuntorp, Johanne clerico, Gilleberto de Cressi, Rogero longo, Roberto de Sancto Albano, Waltero Cole.
1200-1218. Grant by Ralph Le Blund, with the consent of Agnes his wife, to the monks of Kirkstead of half a bovate in Woodhouse with meadow and pasture.
Sciant omnes presentes et futuri quod ego Radulfus Le Blund, consensu Agnetis uxoris mee et heredum meorum, concessi et dedi et presenti carta confirmavi in puram et perpetuam elemosinam Deo et ecclesie et monachis Sancte Marie de Kirkestede dimidiam bovatam terre arabilis in territorio de Wdehus, cum prato et pastura et cum omnibus aliis pertinentiis suis infra villam et extra, excepto tofto quod retinui in manu mea ; quod toftum cum predicta terra Bernardus films Gnuf' tenuit. Et ego et heredes mei warantizabimus omnia predicta ad opus predictorum monachorum contra omnes homines et aquietabimus de omnibus rebus et servitiis, ut ipsi monachi habeant et teneant omnia predicta libere et quiete ab omni seculari servitio et consuetudine et exactione in perpetuam elemosinam. Testibus : Simone Folyot, Helya capellano de Canuntorp, Johanne clerico, Gilleberto de Cressi, Rogero longo, Roberto de Sancto Albano, Waltero Cola.
1200-1218. Grant by Roger, son of Arthur de Wodehus, to the monks of Kirkstead of the land in Woodhouse, which Alfric held of him with a toft, and 4 acres in the fields there, 3 acres being in Godwinecroft and i acre in Siward's ridding, which Ralph (Blund) his lord gave him in addition to i bovate of land, except the 4th part of a toft from which he has given them 2d. for incense yearly.
In 1219 Gerard de Furnivall (the elder) was adjudged to have disseised Thomas de Hacuntorp of his free tenement in Woodhouse. Alexander de Nevill and Margaret his wife were adjudged to have been disseised of another tenement there by Gerard de Furnivall and Richard de Balefeld.( Ballifield) Hugh son of Walter, Simon, Gerard and Richard were the four knights who elected a jury of grand assize between the parties.
Grant by Gerard, son of Gerard de Furnival, to the monks of Kirkstead, for the health of the soul of Matilda his wife, Richard and William de Luvetot and others, of the moiety of the mill of Woodhouse for mass-lights. 1200-1218.
Omnibus sancte matris ecclesie filiis tarn presentibus quam futuris Girardus films Girardi de Furnival salutem. Noveritis me dedisse et hac presenti carta mea confirmasse Deo et Sancte Marie et monachis de Kyrkestede, pro salute anime mee et uxoris mee Matildis et Ricardi et Willelmi de Luvetot et patris mei et matris mee et omnium antecessorum meorum et heredum, ad luminare missarum, medietatem molendini de Wdehus cum omnibus pertinentiis et consuetudinibus que ad predictum molendinum pertinere solent, in puram et perpetuam elemosinam, liberam et quietam ab omni seculari servitio et exactione et auxilio, sicut elemosina liberius teneri potest. Et ego et heredes mei warantizabimus omnia predicta contra omnes homines in perpetuum. His testibus : Osmundo abbate et Theobado monacho de Rupe ( Roche), Henrico priore et conventu de Wirkehope(Worksop), Girardo de Furnival patre meo, magistro Alano de Bolesovre, Roberto de Summervilla, Rogero del Hair, Thoma de Ranavilla, Rogero de Lanum, Thoma serviente.
Reference to Woodhouse Mill in Fee of Hallamshire about 1200 - 1218
This map of Woodhouse Mill is dated 1855
In 1829, James Foster was the Miller and Charles Hodgson & Co Forgers. In 1844 John Foster was recorded as Corn Merchant
In 1864, Habershon & Hibbard, coal owners
North Midland Railway announced in March 1841 that they were going to erect a station at Woodhouse Mill.
Woodhouse Mill station, on the Rother, was described as on the Manchester, Sheffield and Hull line, from Eckington it was reached by a viaduct of thirty small arches, over the Don and the Ickles Cut, near Tinsley.
Thomas Rossington, orginally from Lincoln, was station master in 1871.
Mr. Godwin was s stationmaster in 1887.
In 1890 while constructing a new a siding, 2 platelayers William Gill(or Till) and William Williamson were killed by a train.
The Mill
The mill stood on the banks of the River Rother and power was obtained from two water-wheels driven by the waters of the river. During nine months of the year, there was plenty of water in the river, but during the rest of the year, after the water course was diverted, the mill could only be worked two hours a day.
The following extract from the Leeds Mercury details Woodhouse Mill as it was in 1900.
Woodhouse Mill, 1900
Woodhouse proper has a station on the Great Central Railway, between Sheffield and Worksop.
The village of Woodhouse Mill. a mile farther on, has a station on the Midland system, between Rotherham and Chesterfield. A large cluster of cottages here is known as Canary Isle, not so much noted in old time for its fine sparkling wines as for its salty old stingo and captive canaries, whose songs the colliers delight in. I had been half expecting to find the germ of the village a delightfully picturesque old structure with a water-wheel turning with slow and mysterious rumble amid sylvan scenery - another "Valley Mill," in fact, after the style of Creswick.
We find the first mention of a mill here as early as 1292, so that the site has been occupied for over 600 years. William de Wodetorp was grinding corn by multure and otherwise upon the bovate of his land at Wodehus Mill in the time of Edward I. Those were bright days for the valley when the wheel was churning the Rother's waters as they passed on their way to Chesterfield into patterns of lace embroidery with foamy selvedge’s. Happy, I daresay, was the miller's life.
John Sebastian Bach, of immortal fugue fame, believed that the founder of his family was Veit Bach, who had settled in Hungary as a miller, and who after enduring a certain amount of religious persecution, returned to Thuringia, and made a new home at the village of wechmar, where he did his best to combine business with pleasure. He is said to have taken his zither to the mill, and there to have played it to the rhythmical tapping of the wheels. Poor "Wodehus Mill!" What a long line of miller's it has seen! - some of them of necessity musical, living in such an atmosphere of music - of delicious liquid music made by the sparkling Rother, as she turned the cumbrous wheel round and round.
It is a question where the mill-wheel is today; burnt up, perhaps, into those elements which compose our atmosphere. And the windows of the mill are broken, and the roof is missing, and the water-spirits have taken their flight. It bemoans the halcyon days that are gone, and no longer sweeps down the dam-stakes with silvery laughter.
A few fields beyond are some rolling mills, which have come into existence since the mill-wheel by the stream disappeared, and Woodhouse Mill is today noted, I believe, for shovels and other steel implements. It is a question if water power will ever come again into fashion beside the country streams; although, in spite of the commercial advantages of steam, it has under another name - hydraulic power - been introduced of comparatively late years into our churches for blowing organs.
James Wilson Killed in accident