Watson
of Woolley and Cudworth
This web
page is under revision I would welcome any relevant
information.
First a note for those interested in the history of Woolley
village.
In the Domesday Book the entry for Woolley lists it as Kings land
together with a village called Santone or Sacton. There were 12
Carucates of land to be ploughed the Anglo Saxon owner had been
Thorketill. The site of Santone-Sacton is lost but it could
have been on the land now called Woolley Warren to the north of
the junction of Warren Lane and Windhill Lane. Sackup lane from
Darton leads to this site, the name of this lane could be Sac
from Sacton and Cop a hill top, making Sac Cop the hill top near
the lost village site.
St. Peters
church
registers show that John Watson Yeoman of Woolley died in 1749, he had
three
sons; Benjamin, John & George. Benjamin had a son Richard Watson 1st.
born 1751.
A
Richard Watson 2nd. born 1781 but not in Woolley may
have been
his son. John, George & Benjamin were farmers in Woolley and
in 1784 Mary
Watson died she was the wife of John Watson of Woolley Edge. Woolley
Edge is a
high
ridge of land to the west of Woolley village. Woolley Edge Lane runs along the
top of
this ridge.
There was a farm called 'Woolley Edge'
on the foot path to Molly
Hurst Lane marked on the 1856 6" OS map. It
was on
more sheltered land a few hundred yards east of Woolley Edge Lane near Eccle
Hill. This building is also
marked on Thomas Jeffries 1775 map of Yorkshire.
By 1907 it was known as Elder House and had a wind pump to draw water
from its well. Today a few large stones are all that is left of the
farm house. It
would have
been replaced by the new Woolley Edge farm (now High House) built on Woolley Edge Lane.
In 1861 this was a
farm of 200 acres occupied by Joseph Plant who was born in Derbyshire.
At that time a family called Taylor
were stone masons living on Woolley
Edge, and a coal mine had been
opened. There were also quite a
few shepherds living in the village. In
1806 Thomas Watson of Woolley was a blacksmith at Notton. His forge
was just to the west of Notton Green.
Richard
Watson 2nd.
married Sarah who was born in Cudworth but
he was not on the Staincross militia list
for 1806 which included Cudworth. They had three children all born in
Woolley. Richard Watson 3rd.born
in 1821, George & Sarah both born in 1826. By 1838 the family had
moved to Carrs
Lane Lower Cudworth where they were tenant farmers to the lord of the
manor Myrick Banks. The
site of the farm house is now occupied by two bungalows.
Richard
Watson 3rd.
married Elizabeth from Doncaster and continued to farm in Lower
Cudworth. They had three sons Richard Watson 4th. born 1848,
George
&
Thomas. Richard & George became butchers in Upper
Cudworth while Thomas took the Bridge Inn at Monk Bretton.
Richard
4th. married Anne Blenkinsop they had two sons John born
1889 and
Richard Watson 5th.born 1891.
I am Richard Watson 6th. born in 1940.
Another
Watson family of note lived at Hemsworth. Joseph Watson born in 1775
was still working as a stone mason in 1841. James Watson born 1780
Richard Watson born 1785 both of Hemsworth volunteered
to serve in the Staincross Miltitia at the time of a possible invasion
by the French in 1805/6.
This
Richard Watson was involved in the Luddite uprising of 1812 when he threatened
to break Mr. Wilson's threshing machine into a thousand pieces.
By 1841 he had become a Teazel Merchant
and lived in Hemsworth with his
wife Mary and their three children
Elisabeth, Anne, and Henry.
By 1881 Henry Watson had become a policeman and was
living with his family in Wakefield.