Normanton Gala

Normanton is first mentioned in the Domesday book in 1086 under the name of Normantune, it was listed as having 2 manor houses and a church and it is thought that the Parish church now stands on the outline of the original church mentioned in the Domesday book. In 1906, a medieval alter slab was found under the sanctuary floor, where it had most likely have been since the remodel hundreds of years ago. The church as it stands now was built in 1256 and is home to the tomb of John Freeston who died in 1594.

History documents that Normantune stood on a hill surrounded by a moat with the small Norman settlement enclosed within it and the remains of the barrier can still be seen at Haw Hill Park. It was not however the Normans that gave the town the name Normantune, the town was actually named this before the Norman invasion according to the records in the Domesday book and was probably named by the Norwegian vikings that settled there before the Normans settled in Normanton.

In 1592 Normanton had it’s first grammer school founded by John Freeston of Altofts Hall hence the name of the local high school which is still named after him. John Freeston was born in 1512 and died in 1594 in his will he funded and endowed the school his wishes that the children of Normanton should get an education. The school was originally built where today stands the parish rooms and even though the school was moved to it’s current location in the 1950’s the original school chimney remains arestill located there today. The school is today known as Freeston Business and Enterprise College.

In the 1800’s building began for the railway in Normanton and the railway carried on growing until lines for Leeds, Derby, York and Manchester were added. Normanton railway then became an important addition to the area and even had the longest platform in England at one point boasting a length of a quarter of a mile long. Queen Victoria visited the railway at Normanton and even stayed one night at the Station Hotel it was then very productive and served an important part in the coal and brick industry. As the industry declined the station became unused and neglected and most of the lines are even now still visible in the undergrowth at the station.