We ended up in the small town of Thorne by sheer serendipity. It’s where Happidaze was taken for her buyer’s survey at Staniland Marina, and it’s where we are living while we slowly get her ready for continuous cruising.
With a population of just over 16,000 (according to the last census) our initial thoughts were “it’s like any other small, unremarkable town anywhere in England”.
But dig a little deeper, and you could write a book on the place!
History
Archaeological finds from the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages show people frequenting the area for thousands of years. By the seventh century, it became a permanent settlement.
In 1086 the villages here were mentioned in the Domesday Book, when William the Conqueror sent his noblemen around the country to tame and count the locals.
Significant buildings
One way this was done was to build a motte and bailey, a type of early castle introduced by the Normans and even depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry…
A “motte” is a man-made or enhanced mound of earth, and a “bailey” its enclosure. There was usually a wooden “keep” (or castle) on top of the motte, which sat at one end of the bailey so its defenders could easily escape if attacked. Most baileys, where the garrison and livestock lived, were walled and were always situated within a raised area. Unusually, the keep on Thorne’s motte was made from stone, and recorded as still standing in the 16th century when it was used as a prison.
By the 17th century, it was demolished, but although the keep has long since gone, you can clearly see the motte and ditch surrounding it today, at Peel Hill in the middle of Thorne.
Not long after the castle was built, the church of St Nicholas was erected right next to it. Now a Grade I listed building, it boasts a medieval font and windows, arches, and buttresses dating back 900 years.
Draining the swamp
The town was situated amidst 8,000 acres of wild bogs, making it unsuitable for agriculture, but it offered a limitless resource for hunting and fishing. Fishing is still a hugely popular pursuit today.
Then, in the 1600s, a Dutch engineer named Cornelius Vermuyden received permission from the king to drain the marshland and make it fit for farmland. The engineers received constant harassment from the inhabitants of Thorne, who did not want the job done in the first place because they regarded the thousands of acres of wetlands as crucial to their way of life and could foresee no good from this new innovation.
Nevertheless, farming grew during the next two hundred years, with improvements to drainage dikes and the construction of more waterways and sluices.
Boat-building and rise of canals
The first people travelled to Thorne by boat, and from Saxon times, after settling, had no choice but to use boats to cross their waterlogged surroundings to visit family and neighbours.
Although Thorne is many miles from the sea, shipbuilding has been an essential trade for centuries: sloops, Billy Boys, and Keels were built here, and it has been said that the Humber Keel is directly descended from Viking long ships.
With the construction of canals, trade increased, prompting shipbuilders to open on the riverbanks of Thorne, from where boats sailed to York, Hull, London, and even overseas. There were warehouses and inns, timber merchants, ropemakers and sailmakers; every conceivable ship-building business providing more job opportunities for the town’s inhabitants.
In 1858, Richard Dunston began building wooden barges on the canal. Of course, rigging played an essential role in these boats, and it was customary for shipyards to be self-contained, so Dunston’s Boatyard capitalized on its knowledge of ropework and became a significant supplier of coir, hemp, manilla, and cotton ropes to the industry.
Today, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, where Happidaze is currently moored, runs through Thorne, connecting it directly to the River Don Navigation at Bramwith and River Trent at Keadby.
Reminders of its shipwright past can be seen in the housing estate now built on the old ship-building premises: Rope Walk, Foundry Lane, Lock Hill, Capstan Way, Windlass Close, Boating Dyke Way, Wharf Crescent, Moorings Drive. There’s even a Dunstan Drive.
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