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D Tickhill lies eight miles south of Doncaster, between Maltby and Harworth, on the busy conjunction of the A631 and A60 roads, and adjacent to the A1(M) motorway. The River Torne passes close to the south-east of the town where it is the boundary between South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, eventually meeting the River Trent.

Notable buildings in Tickhill include the substantial ruins of Tickhill Castle which contain a private residence leased by the Duchy of Lancaster, St Mary's Church - a large 13th-century parish church, the parish room, an old hospital called St Leonard's, and the Buttercross.

"Tickhill" is an Old English place-name, meaning either "Hill where young goats are kept" or "Hill of man called Tica". It is composed of one of either ticce ("young goat") or the name Tica, and the word hyll. The village was not recorded in the Domesday Book but was recorded as Tikehill sometime on the 12th century.

Shortly after the Norman Invasion, William I of England gave the lands around Tickhill to Roger de Busli, who built a castle on a small hill. Richard de Busli, grandson of Roger's brother Arnold, co-founded nearby Roche Abbey with Richard FitzTurgis in 1147.

During the Middle Ages, Tickhill was the second most important town, after Doncaster, in what is now South Yorkshire. The Domesday Book lists the settlement under the former estate centre at Dadsley, now lying on the northern edge of the town. Dadsley was served by a church atop All Hallows Hill, which by 1361 had been downgraded to a chapel. Evidence suggests that the chapel was unused after the English Reformation, and was razed in the mid-17th century.

Tickhill's eponymous hill was probably the base of what is now the motte of Tickhill Castle. The town grew up around the castle, and St Mary's was built soon after to replace All Hallows as the settlement's main church.

Initially, Tickhill was one of England's most successful new towns. It gained a friary and St Leonard's Hospital. The Guild of St Cross was established in the town, and it is believed to have acted as the settlement's main governing body. In 1295, Tickhill sent two members to Parliament, but did not do so subsequently.

As castles declined in importance during the mediaeval period, so did Tickhill. By the 16th century, only a hall was occupied on the castle site, but the market and an annual fair on St Lawrence's Day survived. A little trade was gained from its position on the main road to Bawtry. In 1777, a butter cross was erected in the marketplace in an attempt to revive the weekly market, but this ceased in the 1790s.

Strafforth and Tickhill was one of the wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Tickhill Psalter, an outstanding medieval illuminated manuscript was made in the Worksop Priory Nottinghamshire, is currently on display in New York City. It is named after John de Tickhill, born locally and who was made Prior of Worksop in the 14th century.