THORNE  , a

market town in the Doncaster parliamentary division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, ro m . N.E. of Doncaster by the North-Eastern railway, served also by a branch of the Great Central railway . Pop . (1901), 3818 . It lies near the river Don, in a low, flat district, which was formerly a marshy waste, resembling the fens of the eastern counties . Hatfield Chase, a portion of this tract south of Thorne, was partly drained by the Dutch engineer Vermuyden in the 17th century, and there were in the district numerous Dutch settlers . The Chase is generally considered to have been the scene of the battle of Heathfield in 633, when King Edwin of Northumbria fell before the heathen King Penla of Mercia . The Levels, as this district is generally named, are of remarkable fertility, and Thorne, having water communication with Goole and the Humber, is consequently an agricultural centre of importance; while some barge-building and a trade in peat fibre are also carried on . The church of St Nicholas is a fine building of various periods from the 12th century .