Events and excursions, Summer 2025
Gainsborough Old Hall and All Saints Church
Society members in the kitchen at Gainsborough Old Hall: the 'gallery' in front of the window allowed the head cook to supervise the 'skivvies'.
The excursion to Gainsborough on 1st May 2025 was a great success, despite having booked a guide and then one not being available.
After a refreshment break, we toured the Old Hall and were lucky to find a lady in the old hall kitchen, pantry and buttery who gave us an excellent introduction to the food, life and how the area would have been integral to the functioning of the Great Hall. (See photograph on the front cover of the Newsletter.
The magnificent Great Hall was built by Thomas Burgh in the 1460s and is a masterpiece of 15th century timber construction. Until its removal in 1958, there would have been a timber louvre to help draw away smoke from the open hearth below on the floor of the hall. A timber screen portioned of the western mount bay from the rest of the chamber forming the screens passage for the servants. There are marks on the wall that indicate the position of this screen passage. Once through the passage guests would have seen the whole hall, and it was fascinating to contemplate on the feasts that would have taken place in this magnificent timber hall. Windows situated high in the walls along the length of the hall would have given light and ventilation. The great Hall was the practical and social heart to the building. However as pointed out to me by the staff the fashion for timber ground floor halls had given way to stone first- floor halls with fireplaces as was seen as one arrived upstairs in the Old Hall. A tour around the upstairs helped explain the changes that developed in living in the building over the centuries. Some other interesting facts such as in 1790, when the great hall was converted into a public theatre and a tour of the outside of the present building allowed one to one to realise how important this building is being historically preserved. The rest of the building with its tower showed us that living here would have been comfortable for Burgh families from the late 15th century, and for the Hickman family from 1596 to 1730. The Great Chamber, the inner chamber and the bed chambers were interesting to visit and gave us some record of how this hall would have been lived in over the centuries.
The three-story brick tower shown on the photograph is located on the northeast corner of the Old Hall. The Tower is a self-contained unit with its own entrance and stair.
From the roof there would have been magnificent views across the river, the church, and fields to the north of Gainsborough and over the hunting grounds that existed to the south of the town in the 15th Century.
The tower contains a single chamber with a fireplace and latrine. The two smaller projections from the tower contain latrines and the stairs connecting each room. The three storeys were an interesting contrast to the rest of the Old Hall. The whole morning of exploring the Old Hall was a step back in History with many contrasting features, constructed over many centuries. There is so much history to be seen and speculated on in the building, that certainly another visit in the future would be very worthwhile. The recognition of the importance of the building at the end of the nineteenth century and the 1970 taking of the Old Hall into the care of the State was crucial in preserving it as an historical gem.
Following our morning at the hall, we walked to the Clockhouse Gastrobar a few streets away for a particularly good lunch.
After the lunch we visited All Saints Church where we were given an excellent talk on its history. There had been a medieval church on the site, and the present 18th century church still has the medieval tower. We learned how the church changed over the past two centuries We were then given time to look around the church and to study the Florentine copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and Burne Jones-stained glass windows.
The gravestone of Richard Rollett located in the church was pointed out to us. He was a Master Sailor who served on the HMS Resolution with Captain James Cook. This was just another excellent historical feature to a remarkably interesting day in Gainsborough was had by us all, and thanks must go to Ruth Strong for organising the excursion and her meticulous organisation which ensured that each part of the Gainsborough excursion was well planned and captivating.
Paul Baker
The Thoroton Society at the Hands-On-Heritage Day, Mansfield Library
On Saturday 17th May Rob James and I attended the Inspire ‘Hands on Heritage Day’ for the Thoroton Society. This was the 12th year that Mansfield Central Library had hosted the event and in past years, the Thoroton had always found this a useful advertisement for the Society. This is not only a chance to advertise the Thoroton Society, but also with Rob bringing Thoroton publications to sell, and for me this year, as the new Membership Secretary it was a chance for the Thoroton Society to promote both publications and membership.
The success of the day was that we sold some Thoroton books and we were pleased to be able to advertise the benefits of membership, by passing on copies of past Newsletters and Annual Reports leading to four of the visitors to our stand, taking away all the details of membership and my contact details, with them wanting join as members of the Society. It was also good to catch up with some members of the Society who were attending the event and to chat to other stall holders representing other heritage groups and other institutions from across the county. If members have other suggestions of events that the Thoroton Society might attend to advertise membership of the Society, please do get in touch with me.
Paul Paker