RETFORD (WEST), a parish in the Hatfield division
of the wapentake of BASSETLAW, county of NOTTINGHAM,
1 mile (W.) from East Retford, containing
571 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory,
in the archdeaconry of Nottingham, and diocese of
York, rated in the king's books at £9. 13. 4., and in
the patronage of the Mayor and Corporation of East
Retford. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a
small edifice, with a tower and an elegant crocketed
spire. The Chesterfield canal passes through the parish,
which is separated from the borough and parish
of East Retford by the river Idle. Richard Brovralow,
in 1691, bequeathed £300 for the endowment of a free
school, but the money has not been applied to that purpose.
Stephen Johnson, in 1725, gave a house and land
for the use of a schoolmaster, with a rent-charge of & 10,
which he receives for teaching poor children to read.
An hospital, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was founded,
in 1664, by Dr. John Darrell, and endowed with lands
for the maintenance of a master and sixteen brethren;
part of the original building remains, and, with some
modern additions, is occupied as an almshouse by poor
men. Dr. Darrell also founded a scholarship in Exeter
College, Oxford, and endowed it with an estate in this
parish, now producing £ 52 a year; the scholar to be
chosen from the counties of Nottingham and Lincoln
alternately, by the archdeacon of the former and the
subdean of the latter. The old hall was formerly the
residence of the family of Denman, from whom, by intermarriage,
descended two queens of England, viz.,
Anne, consort of James II., and Anne her daughter, who
succeeded William III.