| Syerston | |
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Syerston
Syerston shown within Nottinghamshire |
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| OS grid reference | SK7547 |
|---|---|
| District | Newark and Sherwood |
| Shire county | Nottinghamshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NEWARK |
| Postcode district | NG23 |
| Dialling code | 01636 |
| Police | Nottinghamshire |
| Fire | Nottinghamshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Newark |
| List of places: UK • England • Nottinghamshire | |
Syerston is a small Nottinghamshire parish about six miles south-west of Newark-on-Trent, which is bisected by the A46 trunk road. It contains 181 inhabitants in seventy-five dwellings (2001) which are almost all in a settlement to the east of the road. The parish is bounded on the north-east by Elston, on the south-east by Flintham and to the east by Sibthorpe. Its southern boundary is the supposed pre-historic trackway called Longhedge Lane.
The Highways Agency is presently (2011) constructing a new seventeen miles long two-lane dual carriageway from the A606 two level junction at Widmerpool to an improved roundabout at Farndon. This passes through the parish between the existing A46, which is thought to follow the line of the old Roman Fosse Way, and the settlement of Syerston.
RAF Syerston is almost all in Flintham parish, immediately to the south of Syerston parish and to the west of the A46 trunk road.
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The place appears as Sirestune in the Domesday Survey of 1086 and as Sireston juxta Stok in the Assize Rolls of 1278. Scholars are in agreement that the name means the farm of someone called Sigehere, from an Old English personal name + tūn.[1]
The Domesday survey indicates that the Syerston of 1086 was owned by four parties: the King’s thanes; Robert from Count Alan; the Bishop of Lincoln, (Remigius de Fécamp) and Godwin from Berengar de Tosny.[2] Four freeman (sochemannus), four villagers (villanus) and one smallholder (bordarius) are mentioned and, assuming that these were the heads of households, the population of Syerston in 1086 was, perhaps, between thirty-six and forty-five persons.[3]
The landscape of present day Syerston is principally the work of William Fillingham (1734–95), who was of a yeoman family from nearby Flawborough. Following work as a land surveyor he became steward to the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, and also land agent to several other local families. He acted in the capacity of enclosure commissioner for over twenty parishes in Nottinghamshire from 1774 , as well as several in Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and Derbyshire.[4] The fees from acting as Commissioner ( usually two guineas per day), together with profits from other ventures enabled him in July 1791 to purchase for £12,375, without a mortgage, the manor of Syerston from Lewis Disney Ffytche of Swinderby and to begin construction of a small mansion.[5] The manor consisted of 10 messuages, 5 cottages, 10 gardens, 10 orchards, 500a. land, 50a meadow, 100a. pasture, 10a. wood, 100a. furze and heath, 50a. moor, 10a. water, 6s.4d. rent, turbary, fishing, etc. in Sierston and Flintham.[6] Because William Fillingham had himself surveyed the estate as early as 1775 and had arranged to have estimates made of the improved value of Syerston if enclosed, with costs of enclosure, it is not difficult to guess his next move. [7] He seems immediately to have begun the process of petitioning parliament for permission to enclose those parts of the parish, about five hundred acres, which remained unimproved as An Act For Dividing and Inclosing the Open Arable Fields, Meadows, Commons, and Waste Grounds, within the Township of Syerston, in the County of Nottingham was published on 25 October 1791. Bearing in mind Fillingham’s expertise in these matters, it is surprising that while the enclosure map (by William Attenburrow of East Stoke, covering 769 acres), is dated 1792, the Award itself was not signed until as late as 27 June 1795.[8]
William Fillingham could perhaps be seen as an example of the eighteenth-century social phenomenon in which newly wealthy men sought admission to the landed élite by enclosure and ‘emparkment’ . He bought an open manorial estate, enclosed and built a house and rearranged the property. He was also careful to build his mansion on land close to a turnpike to ensure easy access to towns.
Unfortunately, at this point William the encloser died and his lands and the almost complete mansion, Syerston Hall, were inherited by his son George Fillingham, (1774–1850). One of his first tasks was to arrange for the Award of the parliamentary commissioners to be put into effect and for the new fields to be hedged or fenced and new thoroughfares laid out. This meant, over about the next three years, organising the collection of stone for the making of roads; purchasing thousands of quickset (or whitethorn) plants, having them planted as hedges, and also arranging for ditches to be dug, fence posts put in, saplings bought for plantations, and all the other tasks that were specified in the Award.[9] George also finished the building of the Hall, and in time established the family amongst the local gentry. Upon his death in 1850 the estate passed to his only son, George, (1809–1856), who enjoyed only a short tenure before being succeeded by his son George Henry Fillingham (1841–95) in 1856.[10]
For most of its existence, Syerston seems to have been a chapelry of East Stoke, from which it is physically separated by Elston parish. Dr Robert Thoroton says ' I suppose this Town is in Stoke Parish, for the Vicar comes and serves the Cure here’;.[11] This ecclesiastical arrangement was superseded in 1866 when one of the effects of the Poor Law Amendment Act of that year, was to make places which levied a separate rate into civil parishes.[12] So Syerston gained its independence from East Stoke.
The church is small, as befits a former parochial chapelry, and has an aisle-less nave. Within, it measures from the east wall to the door of the vestry at the base of the tower, just under sixty-seven and a half feet; and from the south to the north wall nearly fifteen feet. It is dedicated to All Saints and nave and chancel are probably of fourteenth century origin, rebuilt in 1896.On the south side are two square headed fourteenth century windows as well as a, probably earlier, double-lancet window. On the north side is a blocked-up doorway; it may have been used as an exit point for the processions which were a feature of church services before the Reformation. The porch was repaired in 1724 and bears the date and the initials W.H.and C.W.[13] The pulpit with canopy is from 1636, but the pews are Victorian. The monuments are all to the Fillinghams from William the encloser, who died in 1795 to George, died 1974. There is a small unbuttressed thirteenth century tower, with battlements from a later date.[14] Two scratch (or mass) dials appear on the south wall of the church to the right of the porch, and another, strangely inverted, scratch dial appears incorporated into the stonework of the porch, probably upturned at its rebuilding. These would have given some indication of the times of church services and perhaps also acted as a village timepiece, before clocks came into general use.[15]
In 1743 a new Archbishop of York, Thomas Herring, was appointed [16] Soon after taking up his post he wrote to all the clergy within the diocese, seeking information about the parishes they served.[17] Syerston’s curate, Francis Bainbridge, replied to the archiepiscopal enquiry, and his answers indicate what a small backwater the place was in the middle of the eighteenth century:
If the family size was 4.75 in 1743, then the settlement had only about 70 inhabitants at that time. By the first decennial census of 1801 the population had risen to 109 in 23 families.[18] Non-conformism had yet to make in impact, and there were no Papists to report.
A building is listed if it is considered to be of merit, either due to its architecture or because of its historical value. In England and Wales there are three grades of listing: grades I, II* and II. Grade II is the most common, accounting for about 92% of all listed buildings, and is for buildings of ‘special interest’.
The parish has seven grade II listed buildings [19] :
In 1990, retired Postmistress, Mrs Freida Klingbeil wrote "Changes in my village - Syerston". Her recollections began in 1927...
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