Bawtry is a small market town and civil parish which lies at the point where the western branch of the Roman road Ermine Street crosses the River Idle in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England and met the Great North Road. Nearby towns include Gainsborough to the east, Retford south south-east, Worksop to the south-west and Doncaster to the north-west. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 3,204.