Shireoaks

2½ miles west-north-west of Worksop, is a manor and chapelry, which had its name from an ancient oak that stood many centuries on the spot where the three counties of Nottingham, York and Derby converge. 

A fine thriving young oak occupies the site of the original tree, which is not remembered by any person now living. The Duke of Newcastle is the sole owner. William de Lovetot gave this lordship to Worksop Priory, but at the dissolution of the religious houses, Henry VIII granted it to Robert and Hugh Thornhill, together with Gateford and Darfould, for the yearly rent of 13s 4d. From the Thornhills it passed to the Hewitts, with whom it remained till Sit Thomas Hewitt disinherited his daughter for marrying against his will, and bequeathed this estate to his godson, John Thornhaugh Esq., for the term of his life, after which it passed to the Rev. John Hewitt, rector of Harthill, who built and endowed here a chapel of ease in 1809. 

In the following year he sold the Shireoak estate to the Duke of Norfolk who, after the death of Mr Hewitt, pulled down the ancient manor house, except a small portion of the walls, fitted up as a dwelling by Froggatt. Since the Duke purchased the estate, much of its fine timber has fallen a sacrifice to the woodman's axe.

The chapel is a neat stone edifice, consisting of a nave and chancel, with an octangular tower, surmounted by a cupola. The Rev. William Senior Salman M.A. is the chaplain, and the Duke of Newcastle the patron, in consideration of his paying £10 a year to the vicar of Worksop, agreeable to the original settlement made by the Duke of Norfolk. The endowment consists of £90 a year. 

A national school was established in the chapel vestry in 1841, and 26 children attend. Shireoaks contains about 850 acres, and is crossed by the Chesterfield canal and the Ryton rivulet. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway has a small station here.

White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853