It sits close to the border of Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, being just under 13 miles from Doncaster.

[3] Within the parish lies the settlement of Mattersey Thorpe, originally consisting of a few farms.

About a mile to the east of the village are the remains of Mattersey Priory on a gravel island in the River Idle.

[4] On 21 January 1999, four people died when a Tornado GR1 jet from RAF Cottesmore collided with a Cessna light aircraft above the village.

At the same time, the Tornado continued flying over woodland spilling fuel before crashing into fields about a mile away, exploding before impact.