Epworth

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      Market Place and the Mechanics Institute                                     Market Cross and the Red Lion Hotel

Chairman of Epworth Town Council's

Badge of Office 

After the conquest, the Manor of Epworth was given to Geoffrey de Wirce. In the reign of Henry I, the Manor was given to Nigel d'Albini, bow-bearer to William Rufus. Nigel's son Roger, took the name of Mowbray, which was to be the name of the Lords of the Manor during the mediaeval period. Much of the character of Epworth, with its strip farming in open fields, is a legacy of history. A grant of the Commons to the freeholders and other tenants made by deed of 1360 by John de Mowbray, Lord of the Manor. The Deed was to cause repercussions in the reign of Charles I when Sir Cornelius Vermuyden a Dutch engineer was given the task of draining the Isle. Vermuyden's work was an outstanding piece of irrigation engineering. There has been extensive drainage since that time which together with warping has made this an exceptionally fertile area and Epworth shares in this productivity. An example of Dutch influence on local architecture can be seen in the building now used as the Post Office, situated in Epworth High Street. There is a Baptist Church in Epworth, the Baptists having a connection with Epworth going back at least as far as 1673                                                                           

Epworth, now the shopping centre of the southern part of the Isle of Axholme, has always been claimed by its inhabitants to be the capital  of the Isle,now however,  it is  world  known as the birthplace  of  John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. The Old Rectory, a fine Queen Anne style building,  rebuilt  after  a  fire in 1709, has been completely restored and is now the property of the WorldMethodistCouncil. TheWesley Memorial   Church, situated in the   High Street, as erected in 1889, at a cost of £6500. 

    The Wesley Memorial Church & John Wesley Statue
                                                                                 

Also situated in the High Street, almost opposite the Wesley Memorial Church is the building, now used as a Youth Centre, previously the Methodist New Connexion  or   Kilham Memorial Chapel. Alexander Kilham was born in Epworth in 1762 and the entry of his baptism appears in the Epworth Church Register. He was the son of Simon Kilham a linen weaver of Epworth. He became a forceful writer and speaker and his main theme was in favour of greater lay representation in the government of the Church. His views were repudiated and he himself was tried and expelled by the Wesleyan Conference of 1796. In 1797 the Methodist New  Connexion  was  founded   with himself as  secretary.

There was a school in Epworth in 1711 and in 1856 a Free School was set up with endowments. The current Primary School replaced both the old County Primary School and the Church of England Primary School. The old County Primary School was converted to pub and the Church of England Primary School buildings are now used as St. Andrew's Church Centre. TheSouth Axholme Secondary School, opened in 1961 and situated on Burnham Road, serves  pupils aged 11 to 16 years from  Epworth and the southern part of the Isle, next to the school is a leisure centre, and swimming pool. Epworth has one of two Mechanics' Institutes in England still functioning for their original purpose and this holds a  library. It is housed in a building erected in the Market Place in 1803. Also in the Market Place stands the Market Cross, from the steps of which John Wesley is said to have preached. The Market Place and adjacent areas have now been designated a 'conservation area'.