Bawtry
Location
Bawtry is a small market town which lies at the point where the Great North Road crosses the River Idle in South Yorkshire, England. The name comes from the Anglo-Saxon, and means 'Balda's tree'. It is located in the metropolitan borough of Doncaster on the border with Nottinghamshire, and is situated between Bircotes and Misson (UK) at the conjunction of the A614, A631 and A638 roads. The county boundary with Nottinghamshire runs just to the south of the town and for this reason the southern most house on the Great North Road is named 'Number One Yorkshire'.
Bawtry's geographical location is 53° 25' 40" North, 1° 1' West, at an elevation of around 20 metres above sea level.
The town is located just south of Robin Hood Airport, formerly RAF Finningley, and was home to the RAF's No.1 Group Bomber Command Headquarters at Bawtry Hall (see RAF Bawtry). Since 1989 Bawtry Hall has operated as a Christian conference centre (70 beds) and a base for several Christian organisations (see [1]).
History
Bawtry was originally a Roman settlement located on Ermine Street between Doncaster and Lincoln.
In 616 AD, the Anglo-Saxon King Aethelfrith met his end in battle against Raedwald King of East Anglia at Bawtry on the River Idle. The site lies close to the present borders of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire; in Aethelfrith's time this area lay on the southern reaches of Northumbria, a dangerous marshy region close to the border with Lindsey and easily accessible from the East Anglian kingdom.
During the 12th century Bawtry was the regional centre for commerce and a river port as late as the nineteenth century. Bawtry has a school called Bawtry Mayflower named after the Mayflower ship that was led by William Bradford who was leader of the Pilgrims who first settled in Plymouth Colony in the Americas. Bradford lived at Scrooby close by to Bawtry.
The White Hart on Swan Street is the oldest pub in Bawtry dating back to 1689.
External links
- Bawtry Town Council
- Bawtry Hall Conference Centre
- Bawtry Evangelical Free Church
- BCT
- Community Friend Bawtry
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