THORPE-IN-BALNE is a township in the parish of Barnby-upon-Don, in the Southern division of the Riding, wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, Doncaster union and county court district, situated about 6 miles west from Thorne and 7 north from Doncaster; the river Don separates this township from that of Baraby, where there is a station on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway. A chapel formerly stood at Thorpe, which Hunter assigns, from its architecture, to the time or Henry II. and which probably Owed its origin to Ote de Tilli, whose cross is the ornament of Hall Cross Hill, Doncaster; the sanctity of this chapel was violated and the peace of the village disturbed in 1452, by a riot and forcible abduction, the particulars of which are fully recited in an Act of Parliament passed in that year for the redress of the grievances and better protection of women. The Wesleyans have a chapel here. Philip Bryan Davies Cooke esq. is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are P. B. D. Cooke esq. C. S. A. Thellusson esq. of Brodsworth Hall and Mr. Joseph Denby. The soil is clay; subsoil clay. The chief crops are wheat, beans, oats and seeds. The area is 1,507 acres; rateable value, £1,571; population in 1871 was 110.

Tree school (mixed), endowed with £10 yearly, Robert Smith. master.