Marr, South Yorkshire

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The Manor of Marr is in the West Riding of Yorkshire is listed in the Doomsday Book (Doomsday Book 307d) complied in 1086 at the command of William the Conqueror at reference 307d. During feudal times, and even beyond, the manor was the basic administrative unit of the kingdom. The lord would be granted the land by a higher magnate in return for services - and that magnate would in turn receive his land from someone higher, all the way up to the king. Some manors were owned by abbeys, which were powerful landowners. It was not uncommon for someone to have several manors, in which case he would appoint a steward to look after his affairs on each manor. Each manorial title carried certain rights and priviliges and as with other manorial titles Lord of the manor, ownership could be inherited, transferred or bought and the current title of the Lordship of the Manor of Marr is held by Ewa Lucas Gardiner M.Sc., Dip. Ed. Fellow of the College of Teachers, Member of The Society of Expert Witnesses, Associate of the General Teaching Council Academy, Freedom of the City, LondonJ.P. Rtd.( The Manorial Society of Great Britain www. msgb.co.uk).

Marr stands on the main road between Barnsley and Doncaster (A635 Barnsley Road) and also 5 minutes drive from the A1 (M) junction 37. Marr, although now mainly modern, does have a number of outstanding features; there remains an iron-age barrow at the junction of Barnburgh, Marr and High Melton which can be seen through aerial photographs. Seventy Roman coins were found recently as evidence of the boundary line which Marr formed at Rickneild Street. The Gothic-style church of St Helens has original herringbone masonry, early Norman chancel and nave, 13th/14th century short spire tower, 15th stone-ribbed porch and font and the pulpit has fine medieval woodwork. The church also contains figures of John Lewis and wife dated from 1579 in Brass and pieces of funeral armour. There are two further buildings of note in the Marr Hall Farm. Parts of the farm buildings are original (1800's) and fairly unique, the Hall itself retains an Elizabethan/ Jacobean west side with a semi-circular entrance porch. This building is now the farmhouse and has a Georgian style overall. The farm also maintains over 14 arched openings which would have been used for storage of carts, drays etc. The arches stand on solid stone piers and is thought to be have been designed by Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson an Italian architect who died in 1885.

The story of how Charles Thellusson (The Landed Gentry, Burke pages 598-600) gained control over the Brodsworth Estate (including the farm) is a saga in itself. The Thellusson family was involved in a long-running feud over inheritance money and Brodsworth Estates belonging originally to Peter Thellusson, a city merchant who died leaving the equivalent of £50 million in trust. The money was put aside to gather interest during his own lifetime and the lifetime of his sons and grandsons (who were living at the time of his own death) only to be divided up between his remaining male descendents when the last of his three sons/grandsons died. The will and its subsequent litigation case (brought by his family) was even referred to by Charles Dickens in Bleak House (Jarndyce v Jarndyce) such was the controversy.

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