Parkgate is a suburb of

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has since been consumed by its neighbour,

Rawmarsh Rawmarsh (locally ) is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-northeast from Rotherham town centre and south-southwest of Swinton. ...

and is in the ward of Rawmarsh from which it has been indistinguishable since the early 20th century.

Toponymy

Its name is said to originate from its location at the end point of the parkland of

Wentworth Woodhouse Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. The building has ...

. Although it marks the old entry gates of the parkland, the Wentworth estate stretched far past it, encompassing 90,000 acres of what was beautiful English countryside. The area gives its name to the Parkgate Seam, important in the

South Yorkshire Coalfield The South Yorkshire Coalfield is so named from its position within Yorkshire. It covers most of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and a small part of North Yorkshire. The exposed coalfield outcrops in the Pennine foothills and dips under Permian ro ...

Economy

Parkgate is near the location of the

Park Gate Iron and Steel Company The Park Gate Iron and Steel Company was a British company that smelted iron ore and turned it into rolled steel and semi-finished casting products. Its works was at Parkgate, South Yorkshire on a triangular site bounded on two sides by the main ...

. It is also home to the Parkgate Shopping Outlet.

Transport

Roads

The A633 runs through Parkgate.

Rail

The area was served by

Parkgate and Rawmarsh railway station Parkgate and Rawmarsh railway station, originally named Rawmarsh was situated in Parkgate, adjacent to the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company's works. It served the communities of Parkgate and Rawmarsh, in South Yorkshire, England. The station w ...

, originally named

which was situated in Parkgate, adjacent to the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company's works. It was constructed by the

North Midland Railway The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840. At Derby, it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at wha ...

and opened in 1840. The station was closed on 1 January 1968. The area was also served by

Parkgate and Aldwarke railway station Parkgate and Aldwarke railway station was a railway station situated in Parkgate a district of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway company's line between Rotherham Road and Kilnhurst Centr ...

which was opened in July 1873 by the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

company. The station was originally known as "Aldwarke". The station was closed to passengers on 29 October 1951. The nearest rail station now is Rotherham Central.

Tram-train

In August 2008 plans were announced for an extension to

Sheffield Supertram The Sheffield Supertram is a tram and tram-train network covering Sheffield and Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. The infrastructure is owned by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), with Stagecoach responsible for t ...

to Rotherham Central station. In September 2009 it was decided that the extension would terminate at Parkgate Shopping Centre. The proposed route was to have been in operation by 2015, extended to May 2018, eventually opening on 25 October 2018, only to be temporarily closed after a collision with a lorry on the first day of service. The motive power is a fleet of seven

Vossloh Vossloh AG is a rail technology company based in Werdohl in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The SDAX-listed group has achieved sales of around €930 million in 2016 with more than 4,000 employees (as of 2017). Vossloh is a global ...

Citylink Class 399 tram-trains which are specially equipped to operate on both tram and mainline railways, with a service frequency of three trains per hour.

Canals

The

Greasbrough Canal The Greasbrough Canal was a private canal built by the Marquess of Rockingham to serve his coal mining interests in and around the village of Greasbrough, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1780, and the Newbiggin branch was ...

, also known as Earl Fitzwilliam's Canal joins the

River Don Navigation The River Don Navigation was the result of early efforts to make the River Don in South Yorkshire, England, navigable between Fishlake and Sheffield. The Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden had re-routed the mouth of the river in 1626, to imp ...

at Parkgate. Both are part of the

Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation (S&SY) is a system of navigable inland waterways (canals and canalised rivers) in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England. Chiefly based on the River Don, it runs for a length of and has 27 locks ...

Cultural references

Parkgate pumping station is a Newcomen engine house, built circa 1823. The building is intact and houses an electric pump. Parkgate and Rawmarsh railway station and the adjoining steel works, together with other locations in the

area, were featured in the 1958 film ''

Tread Softly Stranger ''Tread Softly Stranger'' is a 1958 British crime drama directed by Gordon Parry and starring Diana Dors, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The film was shot in black-and-white in film noir style, and its setting in an industrial town in northe ...

'' starring

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was p ...

. Diana Dors's co-star George Baker is seen arriving at platform 1 of "Rawborough" station.

Sport

There is a football club, Parkgate F.C., based in the suburb, and the defunct clubs Parkgate & Rawmarsh United, Parkgate Works Sports and Parkgate Welfare F.C. was also prominent.

References

Geography of Rotherham {{SouthYorkshire-geo-stub