Cottam

The Library at East Retford is an excellent resource.

• Jonathan THACKER has a photograph of the Lych Gate on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2012.
   

• The parish was in the East Retford sub-district of the East Retford Registration District.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• There was no church recorded here at the Doomsday Survey of 1066.
   
• There was a chapelry here by 1574. This building was "ruinous" in 1624.
   
• In the 1790s, Thorosby recorded only one service per month was being held. In the 1851 census, the church is recorded as a chapelry of South Leverson..
   
• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
   
• The chapel is a small and simple structure.
   
• The date of construction is "early Norman".
   
• The church seats 76 people.
   
• Jonathan THACKER also has a photograph of Holy Trinity Church on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2012.
   
• The church was declared redundant in 1986 and has been converted into a private residence.

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1772.
   
• Nottinghamshire Archives show that they hold PR cmb for 1695-1900.
   
• The church was in the rural deanery of Tuxford.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here about 1813.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of the former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.
   

• The parish was in the East Retford sub-district of the East Retford Registration District.
   
• Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
   

Cottam is a parish, a township and a village near the River Trent on the border with Lincolnshire in the northern part of Nottinghamshire. The parish lies 8 miles east of East Retford and 127 miles north of London. The parish covers 600 acres.

The parish is dominated today by a coal-fired power plant. If you are planning a visit:

• Passenger rail service ended in 1959.
   
• By boat, float down the River Trent from Newark-on-Trent. After going under the A57 roadway, you only have to drift 3 miles to find Cottam on your left, just after the river loops back on itself around a small lake.
   
• Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of the Powerplant Cooling Towers on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2016. These towers are just south of the small village and dominate the countryside.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2014.
   
• Graham HOGG also has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2017.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Cottam to another place.

• The Moth and Lantern Inn apparently opened for the power-plant workers in the 1960s. It stands on the northern edge of the village. Prior to 1920, the Railway Public House was the only Inn in the village.
   
• Tim HEATON has a photograph of the Moth and Lantern on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2013.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.
   

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK820805 (Lat/Lon: 53.315133, -0.770488), Cottam which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• There is a framed brass plaque in the church which is a memorial for World War One.
   
• The Great War Bulletin for November 16th, 1914; tells us that the following men were selected as Special Constables for Cottam for the duration of the war: George WADDINGTON and George Francis B FRETWELL, farmer.
   

The names on the World War One Memorial are:

1. George Frederick FENTON, died 31 May 1916, HMS Invincible
2. Frank HOWARD, died 24 May 1915, Northumberland Fusiliers
3. William HOWARD, died 16 Jun 1915, 1st Bn Northumberland Fusiliers
4. Percy KITCHER, died 16 Aug. 1916, Gloucestershire Regt.

The name often appears misspelled as "Cottham". The Name "Cottam" also designates a community near Detroit. Michigan, and another in the Wolds just north of Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

• This place was an ancient chapelry in South Leverton parish in Nottingham county, but was incorporated as a Civil Parish in December, 1866.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Bassetlaw Wapentake (Hundred) in the northern division of the county.
   
• In March, 1885, this parish was reduced by "Westbrecks and The Clams" and the 301 acres given to South Leverton Civil Parish.
   
• You may contact the Joint Parish Council of Treswell with Cottam regarding civic or political issues, but please do NOT ask them to do family history lookups for you.
   
• District governance is provided by the Bassetlaw District Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard at the Retford petty session hearings held in West Retford.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a part of the East Retford Poor Law Union.
   

Year	Population
1861	86
1871	90
1881	107
1891	81
1901	88
1911	102
1921	103
1931	101

The children of this place attended the school at South Leverton.