Wath upon Dearne

Wath can be traced back to Norman times, It has an entry in the 1076 Domesday Book as Wad and Waith. It remained for some centuries a rural settlement astride the junction of the old Doncaster–Barnsley and Rotherham–Pontefract roads, the latter a branch of Ryknield Street. North of the town was the ford of the River Dearne. The origin of its name has been linked to the Latin vadum[3] and the Old Norse vath (ford or wading place).[4] The town received a Royal Charter in 1312–1313. entitling it to a weekly Tuesday market and an annual two-day fair, but these were soon discontinued. The market was revived in 1814.[5]

Until the mid-19th century the town had a racecourse of regional importance, linked to the estate at nearby Wentworth. This fell into disuse, but traces of the track can be seen between Wath and Swinton and it is remembered in street names.[6] There was a pottery at Newhill, close to deposits of clay, but it was overshadowed by the nearby Rockingham Pottery in Swinton.[3] About the turn of the 19th century, the poet and newspaper editor James Montgomery, resident at that time, called it "the Queen of villages". This rural character changed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries, as coal mining developed.[7]

Blue Murder live at Montgomery Hall, Wath-upon-Dearne, Sunday 1 November 1987 (left to right: Heather Brady, Lal Waterson, Rachel Waterson, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Mike Waterson, Dave Brady, Jim Boyes)

Wath upon Dearne is centred on Montgomery Square, which contains the town's main shops, the library and the bus station. Immediately to the west is the substantial Norman All Saints Church,[9] on a small leafy green with the Town Hall, the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the Dearne Valley College. There are several pubs in the town centre, including a branch of Wetherspoons and Wath Tap, Rotherham's first micro-pub specialising in locally brewed real ale.

Today Wath is still emerging from the sudden collapse of the coal industry, although jobs and some low-level affluence have returned. After a hiatus between the clearing of the former colliery land and recent redevelopment, when the area felt rather rural, the construction of large distribution centres to the north of the town is restoring an industrial feel, but without the pollution issues connected with coal. Recently several large distribution warehouses for the clothing chain Next have opened. Much new housing is being built on this reclaimed land.

Wath Festival, held around the early May bank holiday, is a folk and acoustic music and arts festival founded by members of the Wath Morris Dancing Team in 1972. It has grown to host some well-known names on the folk, acoustic and world music scene. While festival events occur across the town, most of the larger music concerts are held at the Montgomery Hall Theatre and Community Venue. Artists recently appearing include Dougie MacLean, Fairport Convention, Martin Simpson, John Tams, Frances Black, John McCusker, Stacey Earle and Eddi Reader.

The festival celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012 and won Village Festival Of The Year in the 2013 FATEA Awards.[10] The festival has been a supporter of upcoming young artists such as Lucy Ward, and Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar. It has also hosted the Wath Festival Young Performers Award, founded by the young Sheffield-based musician Charlie Barker in 2011, who handed it over to a festival committee in 2014. Winners of the Young Performers Award include Luke Hirst & Sarah Smout, Sunjay, Rose Redd and Hannah Cumming.

The event includes traditional dancing from local Morris and Sword Dancing groups, street performances, workshops, children's events, and a Saturday morning parade from Montgomery Hall through Montgomery Square and back to St James's Church, for a traditional throwing of bread buns from the parish church tower. Local schools, organisations and local Labour MP John Healey are active in celebrating the town's history and contributing to community activities at the annual festival.

The RSPB's Old Moor nature reserve lies a mile to the north-west of the town.[11] It occupies a "flash", where mining-induced subsidence of land close to a river has created wetlands.

Wath Athletic F.C. served the community from the 1880s to the Second World War, playing in the Midland League and reaching the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1926. No senior team has represented the settlement since the 1950s, and Wath remains one of the largest areas in Yorkshire without such a team. However, it has a Rugby Union team that plays in the Yorkshire Division 2.

There are four primary schools, all serving ages 3–11: Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Wath Central Primary School, Wath C of E Primary School, and Wath Victoria Primary School. The town's two secondary schools are Saint Pius X Catholic High School (an 11–16 school) and the much larger Wath Academy, which has a sixth form and provides 11–18 education. Both take students from a wider area. Wath (Park Road) Secondary Modern School closed in 1963.

A large further education college, Dearne Valley College, based in Wath, has a main campus at Manvers and a smaller one near the town centre.

• Anthony Arkwright, spree killer, was convicted in 1989 of murdering three people in 1988.[12]
• David Bret, show-business biographer, born in Paris, was adopted into a family (Spurr) here, and attended Wath Grammar School in 1961–1966.
• Lucy Clarkson, Lara Croft Tomb Raider model, was born in Rotherham and educated at Wath Comprehensive School.
• Rob Dawber was scriptwriter for the Ken Loach film, The Navigators.
• Simon Farnaby, actor, plays characters in the CBBC TV show Horrible Histories.
• William Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond, former leader of the Conservative Party and cabinet minister, was a pupil at Wath Comprehensive School.
• Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath, local Labour MP for many years, was born and educated in Wath.
• Rev. William Keble Martin, botanist and botanical illustrator and vicar of Wath, is remembered in a street name, Keble Martin Way.
• Ian McMillan, poet and so-called Bard of Barnsley, was educated at the town's secondary school when it was a Grammar School.
• James Montgomery, Scottish-born poet and Sheffield newspaper editor, lived in Wath at the turn of the 19th century. He is remembered in the names of Montgomery Hall and Montgomery Square.[7]
• Sir Charles Curran, Director-General of the BBC, 1969–1977, was educated in Wath.
• Jorge (George) Robledo, professional footballer, lived in a house later occupied by David Bret and his adoptive parents. The Chilean National played for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Newcastle United and scored the winning goal for Newcastle in the 1952 FA cup final against Arsenal. He was the first non-Irish foreign national to be a League top scorer.
• Eduardo (Ted) Robledo, brother of George, also played professionally for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Newcastle United.

• Wath-upon-Dearne