Imposing bank buildings are such an important part of our High Street that it is difficult to imagine the town without them, yet just over 200 years ago such bank­ing services as existed were provided by enterprising shopkeepers.

Banking has a long history. The Jews were the earliest money lenders. Lombard merchants from northern Italy settled in London and established themselves as money lenders after the expulsion of the Jews in the 12th century. The law, about the middle of the 17th century, legalised the giving and taking of interest. Goldsmiths' shops were the equivalent of banks of deposit. In 1694 the Bank of England was established......

John Butterfield did not claim to be an architect but he did have a major impact on early Victorian Doncaster by designing the town’s most important public buildings.

He was born in Horsforth near Leeds on 18th August 1800. His father, also called John, was a carpenter. By 1819 the family had moved to Doncaster but we know nothing more for nearly 20 years. By 1838 John Butterfield the younger seems to have been self-employed because he was asked by Doncaster Corporation in September of that year to value timber at Rossington for £60. In January 1839 he was described as a ‘respected valuer of trees’. Only a few weeks later Butterfield became an employee of the Corporation when he was appointed to ‘manage the estates and woods and to superintend the different works and workmen of the Corporation’. Shortly afterwards he was also appointed bailiff. Later he was referred to as the Steward as well as the Surveyor. In this article we will look only at his architectural work. ......

Sir Edmund Beckett was the fifth son of Sir John Beckett of Gledhow, Leeds, In 1816 he took the surname of Denison, from his wife's side of· the family, but in 1872 on the death of his brother, he resumed the family name of Beckett.
In 1818 he came to reside in Doncaster; living in a large house in Hall Gate, opposite Prince's Street. In later years he moved to "The Hall" South Parade which is now a privately owned building...