Austerfield
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place Austerfield is a village and civil parish in the City of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is Template:Convert to the north-east of the market town of Bawtry on the A614 road, and adjacent to the hamlet of Newington in Nottinghamshire, close to the River Idle. The population in 2001 was 571,<ref>Template:NOMIS2001</ref> which fell to 536 at the 2011 Census.<ref name="2011 census">Template:NOMIS2011</ref>
Heritage
The name Austerfield was first recorded in 715 and derives from the Old English Ouestraefelda (eowestre), which means open land with a sheepfold.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was mentioned in the Domesday Book as belonging to Robert of Mortain, and having 27 villages, 40 freemen, a priest and a church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Council of Austerfield was convened here by King Aldfrith of Northumbria in AD 702 and attended by Berhtwald, Archbishop of Canterbury to decide on whether Saint Wilfrid should become Archbishop of York.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Austerfield was then on the border between the two Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria and Mercia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Austerfield contains the 11th-century church of St Helena, which was built in 1080 by John de Builli, using stone from quarries at Roche Abbey.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The church today has 19th-century several stained-glass windows designed by Charles Eamer Kempe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The nave has a sheela na gig, a rare type of quasi-erotic stone carving of a female figure sometimes found in Norman churches.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This had been blocked into a wall in the 14th century and was rediscovered in 1898 during restoration work.<ref name="Church">Bradford's baptism. Retrieved 8 May 2020.</ref>
Notable people
In birth order:
- William Bradford (1590–1657), a Pilgrim Father and Governor of Plymouth Colony, was born in Austerfield and baptised in a font rediscovered at a local farm 40 years ago, which can now be seen in the church.<ref name="Church"/>
- Roy Clarke (born 1930), an English comedy writer known for the sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours, was born in Austerfield.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Transport
The nearest railway station to Austerfield is at Doncaster (9½ miles, 15 km). It is served by a bus route, as are Bawtry, Worksop and Sheffield.<ref>Bus times. Retrieved 7 May 2020.</ref> The A1M trunk road between London and the North passes Template:Convert to the west of the village.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref>