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History of Mosborough Hall by David English

The name Mosborough was derived from Moresburgh, which means "Fort on the Moor".
The lands of Mosborough and Eckington were bequeathed in 1002AD by Wulfric Spot to Morcare a supposed counselor to Ethelred the Unready, but following the Norman Conquest the Saxon landowners were replaced by Norman ones and William the Conqueror bestowed the lands in this area in 1086 to Ralph Fitzhubert. Subsequent Lords of the Manor were:-

John Darcy took over the lordship of the Manor in 1340 as a result of Battle Prowess and a possible "good marriage" but Robert Carey was reputed to have defeated a Spanish knight in a trial of arms at Smithfield, London for Henry V and was rewarded with the lands of Mosborough and Eckington. It was most likely he, who around 1420 altered the old property standing on the existing site to something more similar to the building we see today.
William Carey was the probable owner of the property in 1520 when Henry VIII having tired of the pregnant Mary Boleyn married her off to him on Saturday February 4th 1520 in his presence with a gift 1 Mark (6s 8d) but no doubt having already provided for the newly married couple. It maybe that the Kings physician who was born in the old house in the corner of the then Mosborough Hall Estate and still standing today, was instrumental in the selection of the bridegroom. Henry Carey was subsequently born although not baptized until March 4th 1526 when he was given the name of the beneficent king.
Elizabeth 1st came to the throne on 17th November 1558 and on January 13th 1559 Henry Carey was created Baron Hunsdon and given the Manor of Eastwick in Hertfordshire and other lands in Kent.

He was prominent in court tournaments and jousts and beat all comers in a tournament at Greenwich on November 3rd 1559.

In 1558 the queen entrusted the now lord Hunsdon with protecting the Scottish borders and he achieved a famous victory over Leonard Dacres forces near Carlisle on the 29th February 1570, beating an army more than twice the size of his own for which he was rewarded by being granted the lordship of the Manor of Mosborough and Eckington. In June 1583 he was appointed Lord Chamberlain of the Queens household and given Somerset House in London for his personal use. In October 1586 he was one of the commissioners at the trial of Mary Queen of Scots and his signature appears on her death warrant.

Lord Hunsdon died at Somerset House on 23rd July 1596 and was buried at Westminster Abbey on August 12th at the queen's expense.

The Carey family retained ownership of Mosborough Hall until possibly having heard of the civil war being plotted a few miles away in Chesterfield, they moved to safer areas and in 1639 the Parliamentarians seized the manors of Mosborough and Eckington.

Following the end of the civil war in 1660, Mosborough Hall reverted to the crown from whom a wealthy local business Michael Burton bought it and on his death in 1671 the property passed to Joseph Stones.

Joseph Stones died in 1680 leaving a son Thomas and daughter Anna, in his will he provided for a school to be built in Mosborough and bequeathed an amount to pay a schoolmaster to teach 15 poor children. The school remained the village school until 1822 when the then schoolmaster, Richard Marsh, having been imprisoned for debt took his own life a new school was built on the opposite side of the road at a cost of £93.00, and £20.00 was spent repairing the old school prior to its sale. The new school is still the village school and the old schoolhouse is the white painted cottage across the road in School Street.

The Stones family retained Mosborough Hall until 1775 having added a farther brew house some 110ft long and one wonders if this could have been the start of the local Sheffield Brewery, Stones Brewery, and now part of Bass PLC.

An Apothecary and surgeon from Rotherham called John Pearson purchased the estate from the Stones family and he sold it to Sir Samuel Staniforth in 1799. Mr Staniforth owned local coalmines and produced soft coke for the Sheffield sicklesmiths and also 18 local sicklesmiths. At the end of the century industry in the area was very successful and at the Renishaw works. The Sitwells were the largest producer of iron nails in the world and 10% of the entire output of the iron trade in England passed through their lands.

Samuel Staniforth died in 1812 and left Mosborough Hall to his sister Mrs Poynton who rented the property to John Smith pending the building of his own house ( now the British Oak Public House at the other side of the village). The property was then sold to Hugh Parker, a magistrate and partner in Parker Shores Co. Bank in Sheffield , unfortunately the bank went bankrupt and on January 16th 1843 Mosborough Hall and the surrounding estate was sold at Public Auction at the Tontine Hotel Sheffield to Charles Rotherham for the sum of £5500.00.

Mr Rotherham was a poor boy from the village whose father died very young leaving a widow and a large young family, after education in the village school he went to London where he worked hard before entering business where he became rich. He lived at Mosborough Hall until his death on November 29th 1871 and his will included a condition that when his daughter married his future son in law he should add the family name to his own and that all future un bom grandchildren and great grand children should also take the name of Rotherham in order to benefit under his will.
A local family by the name of Wells having become one of the largest colliery owners in England had built two fine houses across the road from Mosborough Hall called Elmwood and Eckington Hall. Cyril Wells, although only a minor bought Mosborough Hall in 1935 for £2500.00 and sold it in 1944 to the Spafford family who lived there until 1960 when the local builders purchased it in order to build houses on parts of the estate.

Mosborough Hall then remained empty until purchased by the present owners in 1974. After two and a half years of restoration of its original rooms, the restaurant was opened in April 1976 and the bedrooms completed in September 1977 and both buildings and staff have provided hospitality, service and good food to many guests and intend to do so for many years to come.

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