Goldthorpe

Goldthorpe

Goldthorpe centre
Goldthorpe
Goldthorpe shown within South Yorkshire
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town ROTHERHAM
Postcode district S63
Dialling code 01709
Police South Yorkshire
Fire South Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
EU Parliament Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament

Goldthorpe is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it was anciently a small medieval farming village, Goldthorpe is recorded in the Domesday Book and was under the Manor of Bolton upon Dearne which was once owned by Roger de Busli. The village falls within the Dearne North Ward of the Barnsley MBC.

History

Early prehistoric pottery, a flint flake, Bronze Age cremation sites and Romano-British ditches and field systems have been found in the Goldthorpe area suggesting ancient occupation of the area over a long period of time.[1]

In the early 18th century Barnsley Attorney William Henry Marsden Esquire of nearby Burntwood Hall bought the Lord of the Manor of Bolton on Dearne with Goldthorpe for £10,000 together with over 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of land. Goldthorpe is recorded in the 1761-1767 Inclosure Awards. The Marsden family continued to hold the manor until 1815.

St John and St Mary Magdalene Church, Goldthorpe, built in 1916, is an early example of a ferro-concrete building. According to Nikolaus Pevsner, the pulpit bought by the church in 1931 is 18th century Flemish.

Goldthorp, Goldthorpe, Gouldthorpe and all variations of this surname, derive from this placename. A marriage in 1361, when Robert de Goldthorpe alias Robertson, son of Robert Lord of the Manor of Goldthorpe married Esabul de Shepley daughter of William de Shepley, half heiress with her sister Dionyssia to the Manor of Shepley. Descendants took the surname Goldthorpe remaining major land owners for almost 200 years, until the final heir sold up and left the area. Cadet branches remained in the Huddersfield are for many centuries mainly as wool weavers.

Economy

The area is now commonly referred to as the Dearne Valley and was a major coal mining area, but since the closure of the mines in the late 1980s, it has become a deprived economic area.

In April 2013 an estimated two thousand people took part in a mock funeral on the day of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's real funeral in London. A fake coffin was paraded through Goldthorpe, and an effigy of Thatcher burnt on the site of the former colliery. Many blame Thatcher for the demise of the coal industry during her time in office, although Goldthorpe Colliery actually closed under subsequent PM John Major in 1994.[2] In 1984 two teenage boys had died in Goldthorpe while collecting coal during the strike; a memorial to them was built in 2011.[3]

Facilities

Goldthorpe railway station opened in 1988 on the Wakefield Line.

Goldthorpe Market is located just off the A635 in Goldthorpe town centre. The main market days are Tuesday and Saturday. The market has 64 stalls.

Goldthorpe Library is a relatively new building (the previous library having been burnt down in an arson attack) situated in the middle of the town.

Schools

The main secondary school in the area is The Dearne Advanced Learning Centre which was previously known as the Dearne High School- a specialist humanities college Before it moved sites in 2011 which caters for around 1,300 pupils aged 11–16 years. There are three main primary schools: Dearne Goldthorpe Primary School (3-11, community school), Dearne Highgate Primary School (3-11, community school) and Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School (3-11, voluntary aided school).

Sports

Goldthorpe was represented in the FA Cup during the 1920s and 1930s by Goldthorpe United F.C. Goldthorpe is home to Dearne CC, a cricket club that was established in 1926 and currently plays in Division 5 of the South Yorkshire Senior Cricket League

Notable residents

  • The actor Brian Blessed once lived on Probert Avenue in Goldthorpe

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire". www.northernarchaeologicalassociates.co.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  2. ↑ "Former coal mining village of Goldthorpe marks funeral by torching Thatcher effigy". The Australian. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  3. ↑ "Mining village 'celebrates' Margaret Thatcher's funeral". BBC News. 17 April 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
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