Adbolton

Adbolton is, like hundreds of other former settlements, one of the lost villages of England. It was situated at the eastern end of what is now Lady Bay, West Bridgford, on an ancient westeast track roughly following the course of modern Holme Road and the road through Holme Pierrepont to Radcliffe-on-Trent. Much of this track fell into disuse in the 18th century with the turnpiking of a ‘bypass’ from West Bridgford to Radcliffe, now the A52. Adbolton’s history stretches back to late Roman times, when the Trent followed a more southerly course than today and when the village was a river port exporting grain from its productive hinterland, sometimes to Western Europe.

The village centred on its church, All Hallowes, situated at the crossing of the west-east track already mentioned and a north-south track, which rejoiced in the alternative names of Mudpie Lane and Kingsway! A list of priests goes back to Godwin (1050), but the church was probably founded several centuries earlier. The original building is thought to have been made of wattle and mud, but this was replaced after the Norman Conquest by a stone structure. Nothing of either building can be seen today, except by those prepared to dig. A historian, Edward Fitzpatrick excavated several artefacts from the site which are now held by Nottingham University archives in the Fitzpatrick collection.

When the Trent migrated north, its abandoned course became an elongated pond and swamp; fishing and reed culture replaced Adbolton’s port activities, together with continued farming of the rich alluvial soils, which surround the village.

Many lost English villages can trace their decline to the Black Death (1348) and subsequent outbreaks of Plague, or to the turning of arable land into much less labour-intensive sheep runs in the 15th century. Adbolton’s demise, on the other hand, seems to have originated in the 16th century, following fines and confiscations imposed by the authorities on farmers who refused to conform to the requirements of the newly reformed Church of England. Adbolton church was still standing and in use in the early 18th century and the tower was not taken down until 1830. Much of the church ashlar stone was then used to repair the neighbouring church of St. Edmund in Holme Pierrepont as well as being used in the construction of local buildings.

For a more detailed history of the village, click here.

Doomsday Book Entry

Adbolton appears in 2 entries in Domesday Book.
 

Total population: 7 households (quite small).
Total tax assessed: 1.5 geld units (quite small).

 

Entry 1

 

Entry 2

Taxable units: Taxable value 0.8 geld units.
Value: Value to lord in 1066 £0.5. Value to lord in 1086 £1.
Households: 6 villagers. 1 smallholder.
Ploughland: 1 ploughland (land for). 1 lord's plough teams. 2 men's plough teams.
Other resources: Meadow 7 acres. 1 church.
Lord in 1066: Godwin the priest
Lord in 1086: William Peverel