Started writing the history of Norton and thought I want to be thorough so decided to see how far I could go. I got back to Iron Age as one of the estates has iron age pits for extracting the Iron ore. Apparently even then Norton was a disputed border between the Brigante and the Coritani, 2 powerful British tribes. One Iron age fort now in Wincobank Sheffield is said to have been the fort of the Brigante and shows signs of the Romans attacking it. Chesterfield which Norton has strong connections to had a roman fort built on the top of an iron age fort.
No Roman remains as far as I know in Norton. So then that leads me to after the Romans left and that is when it gets very complicated. You have Mercia and Northumbria whose boundary is the Meersbrook and the River Sheaf. Battle after Battle between the Mercians and the Northumbrians meant that Nortons ownership was constantly in dispute. Must have been difficult for the locals waking up each morning and asking themselves am I in Mercia or Northumbria today?
The final battle was in Sheffield (possibly Tinsley) and the peace treaty was signed in the village of Dore, quite close to Norton.
The first named overlord for Norton I can get is Wulfric who gave the manor to his nephew Ufgeat. Ufgeat is mentioned in the Saxon chronicles as being blinded with his brother when his father the earl of Northumbria died (not sure why) The land seems to have passed to the Countess Godiva (known as Lady Godiva) her grandson Morecar (possible brother to Hereward the Wake) and someone called Bada who I can't trace. They kept the estates after the Norman Conquest but Morecar was with Hereward in the uprising in the Fenns against the Normans and was killed and the estate came under De Busli, William the Conquerors right hand man. He gave it to Ingleram.
Its quite an amazing history for a piece of land which was about 4,760 acres according to a survey in 1652.
It just goes to show just because you are living in a leafy suburb now you shouldn't assume it was always like that.
No Roman remains as far as I know in Norton. So then that leads me to after the Romans left and that is when it gets very complicated. You have Mercia and Northumbria whose boundary is the Meersbrook and the River Sheaf. Battle after Battle between the Mercians and the Northumbrians meant that Nortons ownership was constantly in dispute. Must have been difficult for the locals waking up each morning and asking themselves am I in Mercia or Northumbria today?
The final battle was in Sheffield (possibly Tinsley) and the peace treaty was signed in the village of Dore, quite close to Norton.
The first named overlord for Norton I can get is Wulfric who gave the manor to his nephew Ufgeat. Ufgeat is mentioned in the Saxon chronicles as being blinded with his brother when his father the earl of Northumbria died (not sure why) The land seems to have passed to the Countess Godiva (known as Lady Godiva) her grandson Morecar (possible brother to Hereward the Wake) and someone called Bada who I can't trace. They kept the estates after the Norman Conquest but Morecar was with Hereward in the uprising in the Fenns against the Normans and was killed and the estate came under De Busli, William the Conquerors right hand man. He gave it to Ingleram.
Its quite an amazing history for a piece of land which was about 4,760 acres according to a survey in 1652.
It just goes to show just because you are living in a leafy suburb now you shouldn't assume it was always like that.
