Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for ROTHERHAM

ROTHERHAM, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in W. R. Yorkshire. The town stands on the river Rother, at its junction with the river Don and the Tinsley canal, and on the North Midland railway, at its junction with the Sheffield and Rotherham railway, 5½ miles N E of Sheffield; takes its name from its situation on the Rother; belonged to successively Acune the Saxon, Nigel de lovetot, the Vescis, Ruffordabbey, and the Talbots; had a college of ecclesiastics, founded in 1483, by Thomas de Rotherham, who was a native, and became Archbishop of York; suffered muchdecline in prosperity, by the suppression of that collegeafter the Reformation; was garrisoned by the parliamentarians, and taken by the royalists, in the civil wars of Charles I.; is now a seat of petty-sessions, quarter-sessions, and county-courts, and a polling-place; is governedby town commissioners and 12 feoffees; occupies a diversified site, partly valley, partly rising-ground; includes the suburb of Masbrough, on the left side of the Don, and separately noticed; presents a substantial and somewhat picturesque appearance; acquired several new streetssubsequent to 1850; publishes a weekly newspaper; and has a head post-office, ‡ two railway stations with telegraph, two banking offices, three chief inns, a town hall, a police station, a corn exchange, an ancient five-arched-bridge, two churches, nine dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a public cemetery, an independent theological college, a mechanics' institute, a public subscriptionlibrary, a news-room, an endowed grammar school with £24 a year, two other endowed schools with £77 and £20, a large British school or Lancasterian school, two national schools, endowed alms-houses with £68 a year, other charities £655, a dispensary, and a workhouse.

The town hall was built in 1826, at a cost of more than £5,000; and serves also as the court-house. The corn exchange was built in 1842, at a cost of £950. The bridge is surmounted by an ancient chapel, which waslong used as the town prison. The church dates from the time of Edward IV.; is a very fine specimen of later English architecture; consists of nave, aisles, transepts, chancel, N and S chapels, and porch, with central tower and crocketted spire; and was thoroughly repaired in 1845. The Independent chapel was built in 1867, at a cost of about £4, 500; and is in the decorated English style, and cruciform, with tower and spire. The Independent college and the Roman Catholic chapel are in Masbrough The public cemetery is in Moorgate-road, and was formed in 1842. The subscription library wasestablished in 1775, and has about 3,000 volumes. The workhouse was built in 1839, at a cost of £5,000; and stands in a plot of about 5 acres. A corn and cattle market is held on every Monday; a butter and poultry market, on every Friday; a large general market, on every second Monday; fairs, on Whit-Monday and 1 Dec.; and a hiring fair, on the first Monday of Nov. A considerable transit trade is carried on, bothfrom wharves and from the railway stations; and there are large factories for iron and steel, factories for railway carriages, railway wheel-works, and general forgings, works for hot moulds, pipe clay, earthenware, and porcelain, glass-works, pyroligneous acid and British gum-works, manufactures of oil case covers and combs, flax-mills, rope-yards, saw-mills, and breweries. The town's limits include parts of Rotherham, Whiston, and Brinsworth townships. Pop. in 1851, 6, 325: in 1861, 7, 598. Houses, 1, 484.

The township comprises 2, 140 acres. Real property, £24, 249; of which £259 are in iron-works and £830 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 6, 325; in 1861, 8, 390. Houses, 1, 638. The parish contains also the townships of Tinsley, Brinsworth Kimberworth, Greasbrough, Orgreave, Catcliffe, and part of Dalton. Acres, 12, 640. Pop. in 1851, 16, 730; in 1861, 24,003. Houses, 4, 832. The manors of Rotherham and Kimberworth belong to the Earl of Effingham. Very handsome residences ofgentry, manufacturers, and merchants, are on an eminence 1 mile S E of the town. The Roman Ridge waypasses about 1¼ mile to the W; and the Roman station Ad Fines was near Ickles Hall. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York. Value, £300.* Patron, the Archbishop of York. The p. curacies of Masbrough, Kimberworth, Greasbrough, and Dalton are separate benefices.—The sub-district contains the townships of Rotherham, Tinsley, Brinsworth, and Dalton, and the parishes of Wickersley and Whiston. Acres, 10, 633. Pop.in 1851, 9, 273; in 1861, 12,094. Houses, 2, 413. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Kimberworth, containing the townships of Kimberworth and Greasbrough, and the parish of Rawmarsh; the sub-district of Beighton, containing the townships of Orgreave and Catcliffe, and the parishes of Treeton, Aston-with-Aughton, and Beighton, the last electorally in Derbyshire; the sub-district of Wath, containing four townships of Wath-upon-Dearne parish; and the sub-district of Maltby, containing the parishes of Maltby, Ravenfield, and Hooton-Roberts, and the townships of Thrybergh, Bramley, and Laughton-le-Mor then. Acres, 50, 591. Poor-rates in 1863, £16, 165. Pop. in 1851, 33,082; in 1861, 44, 350. Houses, 9,031. Marriages in 1863, 386; births, 1, 775, of which 111 were illegitimate; deaths, 1, 121, of which 568 were at ages under 5 years, and 17 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 3, 846; births, 15, 207; deaths, 8, 381. The places of worship, in 1851, were 21 of the Church of England, with 8, 988sittings; 6 of Independents, with 1, 914 s.; 1 of Baptists, with 500 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 40 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 36 s.; 29 of Wesleyans, with 6, 312 s.; 6 of Primitive Methodists, with 645 s.; 6 of Wesleyan Reformers, with 380 s.; 1 undefined, with 60 attendants; and 1 of Roman Catholics, with 200 s. The schools were 36 publicday schools, with 3,059 scholars; 57 private day schools, with 1, 652 s.; and 58 Sunday schools, with 5, 704 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Rotherham AP/CP       Rotherham SubD       Rotherham RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place: Rotherham

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