Hellaby
| Hellaby | |
| Yorkshire | |
|---|---|
 Houses in Hellaby | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK502922 |
| Location: | 53°25’30"N, 1°14’42"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 825 (2011) |
| Post town: | Rotherham |
| Postcode: | S66 |
| Dialling code: | 01709 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Rotherham |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Rother Valley |
Hellaby is a village in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 825. It found four and a half miles east of the centre of Rotherham and forms a continuous urban area with Maltby, separated from the rest of Rotherham by Junction 1 of the M18 motorway. It is situated by Hellaby Brook and, whilst signposted as "Hellaby Village", the parish has no school, church or post office.
History
The name is found as "Helgebi" in the Domesday Book of 1086: the manor is recorded as being within the Parish of Stainton and entrusted by Roger de Busli, who was instrumental in the founding of nearby Roche Abbey, whose foundations were laid in 1147.
Part of the present Hellaby Hall estate is listed with English Heritage as the deserted site of a Mediæval village, with the remains of a well, square ditched enclosure, example of ridge and furrow ploughing method, post Mediæval long house, corn drying oven and indications of metal working.
Located between the highway and the hall, recent excavations revealed five plots and croft remains, which could have been used for domestic use with recovered pottery sherds identifying occupation between the 10th and 15th centuries. The crafts had been constructed of freestanding, limestone blocks, infilled with rubble.
Desertion of the mediæval village probably occurred in the 15th century, though it is not known for what reason; whether economic viability, change in land use, or the Black Death: the latter killed nearly 60% of the estimated population of the Deanery of Doncaster.
As a consequence of their abandonment, many villages lay frequently undisturbed by later occupation and particularly small villages are not well represented in the archaeological record. The site here at Hellaby Hall is a rare example of such a village, which has been partially excavated and found to retain substantial remains relating to this class of listed site monument.
Whilst surrounding settlements such as Maltby developed into a township, Hellaby remained a hamlet, entirely dependent on its one estate without either a church or a public house.
Local entries noted that the original name of "Helgebi", which became Hellaby, had variations such as "helughby", and by 1379 the name along with its derivatives was spreading into neighbouring villages. In spite of this, by the time Parish Registers were introduced in 1538, the family name of Hellaby and all its variations had entirely died out.
The last of the male line was William of Hellaby, described as a cattle dealer. The fact that he paid 12d, the maximum amount of tax due, indicated his wealth and standing in the community. It was his daughter, who as heiress to the estate married John Fretwell of Braithwell, in around 1530, during the time of Henry VIII and although the Hellaby family name ended, it survived as the name of the estate and the village. The daughter died around 1560 and the lands came into the Fretwell family.
Although the Fretwell family owned the Hellaby Estate, they continued to live in the nearby village of Braithwell. The hearth tax returns of 1667 indicated that they occupied three houses in the locality. This included the vicarage at Stainton, the family home at Braithwell, which had four fireplaces and a dwelling at Hellaby with eight fireplaces. This was not the present Hall but an earlier building, probably of Tudor style and most likely built on the same site.
The man responsible for the building of the Hellaby Hall was the great-great-great-grandson of John Fretwell, Ralph Fretwell, born in 1631, who went to Barbados and started a sugar plantation. He was granted an export licence by Charles II to export horses, bred on the Hellaby estate, to Barbados to turn the mills to crush the sugar cane and in return sugar was imported into the district through the Port of Hull. By 1700, exports from Barbados exceeded in value those of all North America together. He named the highest mount in Barbados, which was on his estate, 'Hillaby Mount'. He was appointed Chief Justice of Court Justice of Court of Common Pleas in Barbados, but became a Quaker and in 1674 was removed from office for his beliefs. Numerous prosecutions followed for allowing negroes to attend religious meetings in his house, for not paying church dues and for not carrying out militia duties.
Ralph Fretwell returned to Hellaby around 1688 and commenced building of the present hall, farm and cottages, completed in 1692. Ralph Fretwell returned to Barbados after the Hall was finished in 1692 and died there in 1701.
The Hellaby Estate came into the Eden family. They had no need of Hellaby Hall as their interests were in York. Much of the original staircase and oak panelling were removed and it became a farmhouse for various tenant farmers.
On 14 August 1995 Tomorrows Leisure plc acquired Hellaby Hall.
Hellaby Hall was expanded with modern buildings, and was reopened in 1995 as a hotel. On 23 December 2015 the hotel was acquired by AJL Hotel Holdings Ltd and is now a 4 star 89 bedroomed hotel with a pool spa and large gym.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hellaby) |
- Hellaby in the Domesday Book
