Ranskill
Nottinghamshire

The village of Ranskill dates back to the time of the Danish invasions i.e. 9th century and whose Danish name of 'Ravenskelf' meaning 'Ravenshill'  literally means 'shelving knoll/ridge of the raven'.

Little is recorded about Ranskill during the period between the 9th and 16th century other than monks were known to pass through from Blyth to the Priory at Mattersey and Monarchs passed through travelling to the hunting lodge at Scrooby.

In 1553 the Archbishop of York bought the lordship of Scrooby and Ranskill and in 1621 a list of inhabitants was issued as part of a levy/penalty process.

The oldest part of the village is Blyth Road where some of the buildings date from the 18th Century.

By 1801 Ranskill's population was 347 according to the census and this remained relatively static up to the mid 1800's despite Ranskill acquiring its own railway station.  Steady growth during the 2nd half of the 19th century resulted in the population reaching 414 by 1891 and included a wheelwright, shoemaker, tailor and draper, pork butcher, maltster, builders and stonemasons, grocers, farmers and a fork and implement manufacturer.

The Enclosure Awards for the Parish were established in 1805.  This is a legal document recording the ownership and distribution of the lands enclosed.

Other notable events during the late 1800's was the building of the Chapel in 1868, the Church in 1878 and the running of Ranskill races. 
The Reading Room/Library was built in 1891 and was changed to a Snooker Room in 1909.

In 1908 Ranskill Crossroads was in the news:

  'It was the scene of several recorded accidents and the Parish Council was appealing to the Rural District Council to ask if a speed limit could be imposed! The crossroads were said to be one of the most dangerous places in the district!'

In 1919 a donation of a site and £50 resulted in the building of the Church room which today still provides the largest community gathering facility in the village.

The railway station provided a local passenger service to both Retford and Doncaster with occasional excursions to Cleethorpes.  It also provided a useful means of transportation for the farmers and was heavily used during the 2nd world war.

In 1940 a hostel was built at the bottom of Station Road to house the workers from the Ranskill Royal Ordnance Factory which had been built on Daneshill Road near Lound and employed 3000 people at its peak.  The hostel provided a wide range of social facilities including table tennis, billiards, television, barbers shop, canteen, kiosk selling sweets and cigarettes and a large concert hall which was well frequented by village residents.  At the end of the war the hostel was used as a Training College and when this closed it was used as a packaging factory for a number of years before final closure.

1958 saw the closure of Ranskill station as part of the Beeching rail review.

The first council estate was built in the 1950s followed by a second phase in the 1960s on Station Avenue.

Ranskill Primary School was built in the late 1960s and this was not only used by Ranskill children but also those from Torworth and Scrooby.

Mattersey Road was the next area to be developed for housing in the 1960s and Station Road was fully built up by 1970.  This was followed by Folly Nook Lane and Arundel Drive in the 1970s.

In the 80s,90s and 2000s Ranskill has continued to develop by infilling and as of today has a population of approximately 1200, with residents commuting to local towns/cities of Retford, Worksop, Doncaster, Gainsborough and Sheffield.

Memories of Ranskill Station by Rowland Hill

Nottinghamshire Archives

National Archives

2001 Census Parish Profiles