Great Broughton
Probably the earliest reference to any hamlet in this area was in the Domesday Book of 1086. This refers to Broctun Magna (Great Broughton)and Broctun Parva ( Little Broughton).Broctun probably meaning ‘town by the beck’.
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The area was then registered as wasteland probably due to the attention of William the Conqueror who is said to have camped near to the Wainstones (pictured left), a well known rock outcrop which can be seen from miles around. The medieval village of Broctun Parva (Little Broughton) can still be seen covered by grass in one of the fields to the east of the present village along Ingleby Road with Broctum Magna being represented by a slight hump known as Castle Mound between Red Hall and Little Broughton Beck. |
A cannon ball – probably one of two originally chained together which helped to destroy the castle – was unearthed there in 1968.
Meynall Hall probably the oldest surviving building in the area has bricked up Elizabethan mullioned windows. Weavers Cottage still stands in the High Street and is the oldest remaining cottage in the village built by Ralph Grenside and dating from 1717.
In its present position the village has shown great changes during the last two centuries. It supported five chapels, one of them the Quakers Meeting House at 20, Kirby Lane is now a domestic dwelling. Just opposite this is the old Quakers burial ground now incorporated into a restful seating area within the childrens’ Play Area.
Another one, the Temperance Hall was used for amateur dramatics in the 1950’s but is now a workshop to a domestic dwelling at the end of Manor Grove.The Presbyterian Chapel at 28 High Street is now part of a domestic house.
The Methodist Chapel, at the crossroads was no longer used for this purpose in 1940. In 1948 villagers raised £500 and converted it into a Village Hall. In the mid 1970’s a 3 year improvement programme provided much needed facilities.With the new Millenium approaching the Community Fund (Lottery Money) offered £300,000 towards an ambitious scheme to refurbish the old building. Work started in 2001 and it was re-opened in April 2002.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries there were many trades people in the village including 3 blacksmiths, 10 joiners, tailors, butchers, dressmakers, teachers, policemen, 3 road linesmen, coal merchant, milk sellers, cattle dealers, cobblers, weavers and a fertiliser manufacturer.
There were many well known people in the village, one such was Hannah Hugill who saved her mothers life from a mad bull and was presented with the King George Medal for conspicious bravery by King George V in 1911. She lived at Tranmer House on the High Street and a Monkey Puzzle tree was planted to commemorate this deed. This tree was felled in 2006 as it was diseased and died.
Margaret Skilbeck 2006
