This brook forms the boundary of Wallingwells (Ntt) (= bubbling spring ) so the same spring may have given its name to both townships. It was almost certainly the presence of a water supply that led to the foundation of a settlement here.
This settlement was not large enough to feature as a separate township in the 1379 Poll Tax returns. In 1402 William Terrrington and Ellen his wife granted a lease of their manor of Gildingwells to Hugh Cressy for life.
The Benedictine nunnery at Wallingwells, just over the boundary in Nottinghamshire, held land in Gildingwells. By the early 19th century, almost all the land in the parish was in the hands of St Ledger of Park Hall, Firbeck.
The village has never been large. In 1811 the population was 62, rising to 91 in 1841 and then falling to 66 in 1901. In the present century the population has fluctuated, falling to 61 in 1951 before rising to 103 in 1991. The township was never large enough to warrant a church of its own and was part of the parish of Laughton.
Gildingwells became part of the newly-formed ecclesiastical parish of Woodsetts in 1841. In 1881 Sir Thomas W. White of Wallingwells is recorded lord of the manor and the parish was entirely agricultural.
(Extracted from:- R.M.B.C, Patchwork of parishes, 1997)
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