Site of the Saxon church of Dadesley, 670m south west of Dadsley Wells Farm

Reasons for Designation

A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little fabric of the first church being still easily visible. Parish churches are found throughout England. Their distribution reflects the density of population at the time they were founded. In regions of dispersed settlement parishes were often large and churches less numerous. The densest clusters of parish churches were found in thriving medieval towns. A survey of 1625 reported the existence of nearly 9000 parish churches in England. New churches built in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries increased numbers to around 18,000 of which 17,000 remain in ecclesiastical use. Parish churches have always been major features of the landscape and a major focus of life for their parishioners. They provide important insights into medieval and later population levels or economic cycles, religious activity, artistic endeavour and technical achievement. A significant number of surviving examples are identified to be nationally important.

The earthwork and buried remains of the Saxon church of Dadesley are well preserved and retain significant archaeological deposits which will include important information about the structure, architectural style, ritual use and status of the church. The well documented and unusual history of the site is particularly important in understanding the early medieval and subsequent settlement of the area and its status within the wider landscape. Taken as a whole, the Saxon church of Dadesley will greatly enhance our understanding of religion and economy during the Saxon period and the position of these within the wider social landscape.

Details

The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of All Hallows Church, Dadesley, which lie in isolation on the top of All Hallows Hill, north east of the town of Tickhill. The borough of Dadeslie was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 where it is recorded as one of two places in the West Riding at that time with urban status. It is unclear where the associated settlement of Dadesley was situated, but it is thought to have been the predecessor of the present town of Tickhill. The church at All Hallows Hill served the area prior to the Norman Conquest but was replaced, certainly by the 13th century, with the Church of St Mary situated approximately 1km to the south east in the centre of Tickhill. The change in name from Dadesley to Tickhill implies a physical movement of the settlement possibly from an original site, close to Dadesley church, to one which developed around the 11th century castle in Tickhill. The monument survives as a series of earthworks and a geophysical survey has revealed considerable detail of the underlying archaeological deposits. The church is aligned east to west, measures approximately 15m long and 7m wide and includes two sub-rectangular compartments, the nave and the chancel, which are positioned end to end. These are arranged in a cellular layout, which means the two were separated by a chancel arch similar to a door. The nave, which is the larger of the two, lies at the western end. The earthworks defining the building survive to a height of approximately 0.75m. The church lies within a small `D' shaped graveyard enclosure which, despite the removal of some field boundaries, is still clearly visible on the ground. The eastern edge of the enclosure is still marked by a field boundary. The enclosure measures approximately 70m by 65m and is approximately 2m higher than the field to the east, which has been repeatedly ploughed. The enclosure is defined by a bank which survives up to 1m in height on the southern side but slightly lower on the northern side. A large amount of stone lies on and around the site and there are reports that the remains of grave stones have been recovered. In the time of Richard II it is documented that some stone from the site was taken and used in the construction of Laughton Chapel in the later Church of St Mary. All modern fencing is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

29953

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Hall, TW, South Yorkshire Historical Sketches, (1913), 63
Magilton, J, The Doncaster District, (1977), 75-80

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.