The parish of Wadworth, St John lies on the magnesium limestone ridge, which runs from North to South through the Doncaster district. Like other parishes on the ridge, it is relatively small, with an area of around three thousand acres. It comprised a single township and its population was concentrated in the village about four miles south-west of Doncaster in the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill. A further similarity, which Wadworth shares with other places on the limestone ridge – including Brodsworth, Campsall, Hickleton, High Melton, Hooton Pagnel, Owston, Sprotbrough and Warmsworth – was the concentration of land ownership in very few hands. The parish was a peculiar, and its probate records from 1639 to 1819 are held as a separate series amongst the records of the archdiocese of York now at the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research.

By the fifteenth century a branch of the Fitzwilliam family of Sprotbrough had settled in Wadworth, as witnessed by two fine tombs of that period still to be found in the church. This branch moved its seat to Aldwark, some seven miles east along the river Don, on inheriting the estate through marriage. Both Aldwark and Wadworth passed by similar means to the Foljanbe family.

The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, stands on a high point in a village perched close the edge of the limestone ridge. It is visible even from a distance by virtue of its tall west tower, dating from the fifteenth century. The origins of the present church is of a late Norman structure of the twelfth century, to which was subsequently added two aisles and a south chapel. This chapel contains one of the Fitzwilliam tombs, a freestanding tomb-chest with inscription commemorating Katherine (died 1435) and Edmund Fitzwilliam (died 1465). An earlier tomb-chest, supporting two recumbent effigies, is that of Edmund Fitzwilliam (died 1430) and his wife and is illustrated in Joseph Hunter, South Yorkshire: The History and Topography of the Deanery of Doncaster.

The church still houses the parish chest, with three locks one of whose keys were each held by the incumbent and the two churchwardens, and which once contained the church plate and the parish records. The plate was stolen in 1835, but the records fortunately did not share the same fate as nearby Loversall, St Katherine where in February 1844, thieves, whilst ransacking the church, burnt the records.

The parish records, with the exception of the registers, do not predate the eighteenth century, although from the early years of that century there are series of accounts for the churchwardens, the constables and overseers of the poor and overseers’ papers, including settlement certificates and examinations and removal orders. From 1809 to 1837, the account books of the overseers are particularly detailed and the records relating to poor relief are augmented by the minutes of the select vestry, established in 1820. For the last three decades of the ‘old’ poor law, before the parish was amalgamated into the Doncaster poor law union in 1837, these provide detailed information about the working of the poor law in a larger than average rural parish. Doncaster Archives, P21/4/A1-A4.

A memorandum to be found after each of the baptisms, marriage and burial entries in 1599 (folios 5, 18 and 28v) record the copying of entries from the ‘olde paper Booke’. It would appear that even at that date that part of the register for the thirty-six years since the beginning of registration in 1538 no longer survived.

The register ceased to be used after 1634, although only thirty-two of its fifty-five folios had been filled. It was resumed sixty years later in 1695, and it was then used up to 1746. The sixty-year gap does not mean there is such a long lapse in registration, although there is a gap of almost two decades. The survival of bishop’s transcripts for two isolated years between 1635 and 1653 suggests that a register may have been kept and subsequently lost.

The final composite register is in fact four printed paper registers for baptisms, banns, marriages and burials bound up together, and runs from 1790 to 1812. The registers begin in February 1574/5. There are eight volumes of registers up to 1837. The parish register from 1575 to 1837 has been published by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society Parish Register Section as volume 157 in its series in 1997.

Doncaster Archives holds the following registers for St John the Baptist, Wadworth :

• Baptisms 1574-1951
• Marriages 1574-1963
• Burials 1574-1950