Main Street Bothamsall Retford

Services.

Services of Holy Communion are held  on the second Sunday of every month at 9:00 am.

An informal service/meeting is held on the fourth Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm in the Village Hall (50 yards away). The aim of these meetings is to provide an opportunity for those who wish to explore aspects of Christianty they feel uncertain about. Recent questions have included "What exactly is the Collect?", "Can the Bishop clean the toilet?" and "Death!" The latter was well recieved and has lead on to our Janaury meeting, " Grave Talk - talking about death, dying and funerals'.

 A brief history and desciption of our church.

Bothamsall itself was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. There has been a church on this site from time immemorial. Certainly White’s Directory says in 1832 that the Church ‘... is an ancient edifice,... the tithes and glebes of the rectory, ... was granted by Queen Elizabeth (the First) in 1578 to the Earl of Lincoln, an ancestor of the Duke of Newcastle.’ The present Church though, dates only from 1844, having been rebuilt at the expense of the Duke of Newcastle. It was described in 1853 as:- ‘... a neat gothic structure, with nave, chancel, north aisle, and pinnacled tower with 3 bells,...the stone principally used was brought from Worksop Manor.’ The 3 bells alas are silent but the church clock given in memory of those who fell in the First World War continues to strike the hours on one of them. The re-use of the stone which is fairly soft has unfortunately required almost continuous remedial work. The exterior of the hurch is attractive and irrespective of whether it is first seen from the east or west, it is a delight to the eye.

The interior of the church was quite austere until around 2004, when a major redecoration brought a Puginesque colour scheme to the internal roof timbers. At one time the last resting place of members of the Newcastle family, some remains were re- interred at Markham Clinton not far away. The font is late 14th century and from the original church. The altar table was donated in memory of Mary Mansell of Haughton Park by her sister. The original pews were removed in 1993 and were replaced by the oak pews from Rampton Chapel. The chalice, paten and flagon are silver and Victorian. The pipe organ is by Foster & Andrews, 1865-75 though rebuilt when it was installed in the church.

A War Memorial, on the south wall of the nave lists those who fell in the Great War of 1914-18 and complements well the chime of the church clock mentioned previously. A tablet above the door on the south wall of the tower records the gift of money by Joseph Holliday, the interest on which was to be given to the poor of Bothamsall annually.

A brass tablet on the south wall of the chancel draws attention to the stained glass windows given to the Church by Sir George William Crauford as an offering to God and in memory of his uncle Sir Charles Crauford and Anna Maria, Dowager Duchess of Newcastle. Another tablet on the north wall, found in 1920 when the floor to the chancel was lifted, commemorates the death in 1369 of Margaret de Buselingthorpe at Bothamsall.