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The manor courts are held twice a year,, and petty sessions once a fortnight, in a building in the market place, where a branch of the Hatfield Court of Requests for the recovery of small debts not exceeding £15, is also held, pursuant to an act passed in 1841, by which the jurisdiction of that court has been extended to all the parishes in the Isle of Axholme. The market is held every Thursday; and two fairs are held yearly on the Thursday after May Day and the Thursday after Michaelmas Day, for the sale of cattle, hemp and flax. the principal trade of the place is the dressing of flax and hemp, of which great quantities are grown in the neighbourhood, and a few of the inhabitants are employed in the making of rope, sacking, canvass, and linen. The Church (St. Andrew, ) consists of a nave, with aisles, a chancel, and a tower. The arched entrance to the north porch is richly varied by trefoil flexures; and within it are two shields, bearing the arms of the Mowbray's and Sheffield's. Amongst the communion plate, the vessel used as the paten is a curious piece of antiquity, formed of maple, with a broad rim of silver gilt, ten inches in diameter, and a large silver button at the bottom, ornamented with a St. Andrews cross, and the figures of the holy family, surrounded by a moulding, ornamented with rays of glory. it is supposed to have been originally a wassail bowl, presented to church by one of the Mowbray's.
The rectory, valued in K.B. at £28. 16s. 8d., and now at £925, is in the patronage of the Crown, and incumbency of the Rev. George Beckett, M.A., for whom the Rev. E. Alderson, B.A., officiates. At the enclosure, in 1795, the tithes were commuted for a yearly modus, which varies every 21 years, according to average price of corn. The glebe is 46 acres; and the church land, 43a. 1r. 3p., is let for £88 per annum.
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