Harthill = “Hertill”
= hill frequented by deer
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Woodall = “Wodehale”
= the hall in the wood
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Domesday
Harthill was part of William de Warenne’s honour of Conisbrough in 1086, having previously belonged to Earl Harold. It seems to have been a substantial village with 13 freemen and 11 villagers. There were 12 plough teams, indicating that a considerable acreage of arable land had been cleared.
The manor later passed to the Bardolf family, descended from the second son of William de Warenne. From them it passed to the Beaumonts in the reign of Henry IV. Lord Lovell, head of the Beaumont family rebelled against Richard III and later aided Lambert Simnell’s rebellion against Henry V11.
As a result their Harthill lands the manor passed to the Serlbys who, for much of the Middle Ages, had been resident lords of Harthill as tenants of the chief lords. The Serlbys lived in a house near the church that was demolished c.1860 to allow the churchyard to be extended. The marriage of Gertrude Serlby and Sir George Chaworth brought Harthill to his family.
14th Century
Harthill seems to have been a substantial village by the late 14th century for the 1379 Poll Tax returns list 156 tax payers. This would suggest a total population in Harthill and Woodall of around 400. The list is headed by John de Keuton [Kiveton], “serigante”(sergeant), and Agnes his wife, who paid the considerable sum of 6s 8d.
The Osborne Family
In 1673-4, the manor of Harthill was sold to Sir Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby, who was created Duke of Leeds in 1694. Osborne’s ancestor, Edward Osborne, had been born in Harthill in the early 16th century. Taken under the wing of Sir William Hewitt of Wales, he was apprenticed to Hewitt’s cloth merchants business in London and eventually married Hewitt’s daughter. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1583 and laid the foundation of the Osborne dynasty. The Osbornes had their seat at Kiveton Old Hall at Kiveton Park which was then within the parish of Harthill. Sir Thomas Osborne was a favourite of Charles II who created him Earl of Danby. The Earl was one of the peers who invited William III to take the throne from James II. His reward was the dukedom of Leeds.
Harthill Church
Tradition has it that Harthill Church was founded by William de Warenne in 1085. It was one of the churches that he gave to Lewes Priory. At the dissolution of the monasteries, the advowson of Harthill was one of many granted to Henry VIII’s minister Thomas Cromwell. After Cromwell’s disgrace and execution, the advowson was granted to the Waterhouse family. It was again in the hands of the crown in 1674 when Charles II granted it to Thomas Osborne.
The church of All Hallows has seats for 300 and consists of nave and chancel with aisles and tower. The arcades in the nave date from c1200 and the chancel from the 13th century. The tower is in the Perpendicular style. The monuments include one to Lady Margaret Osborne (d.1642) and the marble tomb chest of the first Duke of Leeds (d1721). Many of the Duke’s descendants were laid to rest in the family vault within the church. A gallery was inserted at the western end of the nave in 1738. This was taken down in 1850 as the numbers attending services had fallen off. The Rev. G.T. Hudson imported the fine carved pulpit and lectern from Italy in 1886. The church underwent extensive restoration in 1895-8.
Methodists
By the 19th century nonconformity had become established in the village with the Methodists meeting in Chapel yard. A Wesleyan chapel was erected in Woodall Lane in 1879-80 from stone quarried on the chapel site.
Agriculture and Industry
Harthill has always been primarily an agricultural village. Villagers spun and wove the wool from the local sheep for their own purposes and locally grown flax was turned into linen sheets and pillow cases. Apart from farming, the main local industry was quarrying the local gritstone. The major product of the quarries was whetstones for sharpening knives and agricultural implements. In the early 19th century over 40,000 stones were being produced each year. As the bulk of the land was owned by the Duke of Leeds was able to enclose the land as he saw fit. As a result only some 250 acres of waste ground, known as Woodall Moor, remained to be dealt with by the Harthill Enclosure Award of 1761. The lion’s share of the land, 231 acres, was awarded to the Duke.
Chesterfield Canal
In the 1760s the Chesterfield Canal was constructed through Kiveton Park. The Derbyshire Dyke was dammed between Harthill and Woodall to form a chain of three reservoirs to supply water for the canal. When the canal fell out of use, the water was used to feed the boilers at Kiveton Park Colliery.
Coal Mining
The colliery had been sunk on the northern edge of the parish in 1866-8 and provided employment for many Harthill men. The Duke of Leeds, however, resolutely refused to allow colliery houses to be built on his land in Harthill. As a result there are still open fields between the village and Kiveton. Many miners, however, lived in houses at Fir Vale which were erected in 1868-70 on an island of land not owned by the Duke. The Parish Church established a mission room and school at Fir Vale in 1875.
Population
In 1801 the population of Harthill with Woodall was 660. The population fell slightly in the early 19th century, reaching 632 in 1831, but recovered to 739 in 1851 and 1,396 in 1891. In the early part of the 20th century the population fluctuated between 1,100 and 1,300 but since the War figures have grown steadily, reaching 1,795 in 1981 and 1,834 in 1991.
Growth and Development
The village began to expand in the years after the First World War. The first council houses [the Hillside and the Crescent] were built in 1920-1. Further council houses were built in the Crescent and east of Whinney Hill in 1926-7 and at Hop Inge in 1935. The Miners’ Welfare Institute was built in 1924, funded partly under the National Scheme (of 1d for each ton of coal raised) and partly by money raised within the parish. Despite its rural isolation, Harthill played its part in the Second World War and even suffered its own air raids. In August 1940 19 bombs fell in the eastern side of the parish and a landmine fell near Woodall the following March. The only casualties were a few broken windows. In the 1960 the M1 Motorway was driven through the western side of the parish and Woodall became the site for a motorway service area.
Since the war the village has been consistent in winning honours in the Britain-in-Bloom competition and marked the centenary of the parish council by winning the South Yorkshire Best Kept Village competition.
(Extracted from:- R.M.B.C, Patchwork of parishes, 1997)