Owston Ferry Sign
Owston Ferry lies along the River Trent. In 1086 it was listed in the Domesday Book as ‘Ostone’. The area was at one time owned by Geoffrey de La Guerche and it is believed he was responsible for building Kinnard Castle. This was a 12th Century motte-and-bailey fortification which was used to control the crossing of the waterways. It has since been demolished after it passed to Roger de Mowbray in 1173. Roger had supported a rebellion of Henry the Young King against his father King Henry II. As punishment it was destroyed by Royal forces. Owston Ferry was the birthplace of Philippa Foot who was a philosopher and inventor of a branch of ethics known as ‘trolleyology’. This poses the question what you would do if there was a runaway trolleybus. It is on course to hit five people or you could divert it so it would enter a different track where it would hit one person. She was born in 1920 and died in 2010 in Oxford. Owston Ferry is also the ancestral burial place of the Sheffield family. The Sheffield family were wealthy landowners on the Isle of Axholme as well as owning Normanby Hall near Scunthorpe. During the 1600’s John Earl of Mulgrave had the Sheffield tombs removed from St. Martins church and relocated at a church in Burton-upon-Stather. Here there is an effigy of one of the Sheffield family members and a tablet explaining the relocation.
Image and text copyright Isle of Axholme and Hatfield Chase Landscape Partnership.
