England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Rossington St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Rossington lies in the extreme south of Yorkshire, forming a small part of the border with neighbouring Nottinghamshire. Rossington is located about 5 miles southeast of the industrial town of Doncaster. Rossington sits about a mile west of the A638 road from Doncaster to Bawtry, a road which follows the line of a Roman Road and was, before the nearby A1M motorway was created, the original line of the Great North Road. Once a discrete small village sitting within a meander of the River Torne Rossington grew substantially in the 20th century following the opening of coal mines in 1916. Such was the demand for men in war time that construction, of New Rossington, was passed to female bricklayer's assistants who "proved quite satisfactory", a notable but small step on the path to universal suffrage. Mining has now ceased, in 2006, and Rossington is largely a suburb of Doncaster. Prior to the mines Rossington would have largely been an arable farming settlement, albeit the floodplain of the Torne provided pastures too. Modern developments are never far away, to the west the modern A1M motorway whilst the East Coast Rail Line from London to Edinburgh cuts through the settlement and Robin Hood Airport lies a few miles east. The Torne drains northwards the east to join the Trent close to Scunthorpe and thence to the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Rossington is sited at just 10 metres above the sea, the landscape largely flat or gently undulating rises to near 30 metres a mile or so to the south. Rossington parish was fairly typically sized for this area, covering around 3,000 acres it would have supported a population close to 350 parishioners. In Domesday time Rossington was eclipsed by what is, today, a small hamlet, Littleworth. The manor was held by Count Robert of Mortain and was a prosperous place of an impressive 32 ploughs, meadows and woodland and 2 mills.

The Church

ST Michael's church sits at the heart of the old settlement of Rossington, sitting on the southern side of the B6463 as it passes through the village. Whilst there has been a church on this site since Norman times the present building is largely a result of a rebuild in the early 1840s. Both the southern doorway and chancel arch were reused during that rebuild and both show the style of the Romanesque of the 12th century. The Perpendicular (15th century) western tower was also preserved. The remainder, both nave and chancel, date from that Victorian rebuild. Just east of the church site, a small, short parallel lane leads to the impressive entranceway to the site, there is ample parking in this side lane. A broad gated entrance grants access to a churchyard that quite a few obstructions that limit but do not prevent adequate photographic angles.