Rotherham () is a large
minster and
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
in
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
...
, 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 the
Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham
The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest town, Rotherham, but also spans the outlying towns of Maltby, South Yorkshire, Maltby, Swinton, South Yorkshire, Swinton, ...
. Rotherham is also the third largest settlement in South Yorkshire after
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...
and
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, which it is located between.
Traditional industries included glass making and flour milling. Most around the time of the
industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, it was also known as a
coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
town as well as a contributor to the steel industry.
The town's
historic county is
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
. From 1889 until 1974, the County of York's ridings became counties in their own right, the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
was the town's county while South Yorkshire is its current county.
Rotherham had a population of 109,691 in the
2011 census. The
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
, governed from the town, had a population of , the
most populous district in England.
History
Early history
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
settlements are known in the area covered by the district. This includes a small Roman fort to the south-west in the upper flood meadow of the Don at
Templeborough
Templeborough (historically Templebrough) is a suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The suburb falls within the Brinsworth and Catcliffe ward of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The area takes its name from the remains of the ...
.
![Old Rotherham](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Old_Rotherham.jpg)
Rotherham was founded in the very early
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
. Its name is from Old English ''hām'' 'homestead, estate', meaning 'homestead on the Rother'. The river name is of Brittonic origin for 'main river', ''ro-'' 'over, chief' and ''duβr'' 'water'. Another river that also came to be called the
Rother is in
East Sussex
East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...
. The
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
settlement, with an
ecclesiastical parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
, was established on a Roman road's
ford over the River Don and the area around it.
The 1086
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
records a manor previously held by
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage ...
Hakon in 1066 tenanted by
William the Conqueror
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
's half-brother,
Robert de Mortain
Robert, Count of Mortain, 2nd Earl of Cornwall (–) was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother (on their mother's side) of King William the Conqueror. He was one of the very few proven companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastin ...
. The 1086 record shows an absentee lord who held the most inhabited
manor,
Nigel Fossard. Today's
town area also includes eight outlying Domesday estates. Eight adult male householders were counted as villagers, three were smallholders and one the priest, three
ploughlands were tilled by one lord's plough team and two and a half men's plough teams were active. The manor also had a church, roughly four acres of meadow and seven woodland acres. Rotherham had a mill valued at half a pound sterling.
[
Nigel Fossard's successors, the De Vesci family, rarely visited the town and did not build a castle. However, they maintained a Friday market and a ]fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks.
Types
Variations of fairs incl ...
. In the mid 13th century, John de Vesci and Ralph de Tili gave all their possessions in Rotherham to Rufford Abbey
Rufford Abbey is a country estate in Rufford, Nottinghamshire, England, two miles (4 km) south of Ollerton. Originally a Cistercian abbey, it was converted to a country house in the 16th century after the Dissolution of the Monasteries ...
. It was part of a period of growing wealth for the church. The monks collected tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
s from the town and gained rights to an extra market day on Monday and to extend the annual fair from two to three days.[David Hey, ''Medieval South Yorkshire'']
The townsmen of Rotherham formed the "Greaves of Our Lady's Light", an organisation which worked with the town's three guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...
s. It was suppressed in 1547 but revived in 1584 as the feoffees of the common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person who has ...
s of Rotherham, and remains in existence.
In the 1480s the Rotherham-born Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...
, Thomas Rotherham
Thomas Rotherham (24 August 1423 – 29 May 1500), also known as Thomas (Scot) de Rotherham, was an English cleric and statesman. He served as bishop of several dioceses, most notably as Archbishop of York and, on two occasions as Lord C ...
, instigated the building of a College of Jesus or Jesus College, Rotherham to rival the colleges of Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. It was the first brick building in what is now South Yorkshire and taught theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...
, religious chant and hymns, grammar
In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes doma ...
and writing
Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols.
Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
.
The college and new parish church of All Saints made Rotherham an enviable and modern town at the turn of the 16th century. The college was dissolved in 1547 in the reign of Edward VI
Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...
, its assets stripped for the crown to grant to its supporters. Very little remains of the original building in College Street. Walls of part of the College of Jesus are encased within number 23 and Nos 2, 2A, 4 (later for a time ''Old College Inn'', a beerhouse), 6 and 8 Effingham Street. A doorway was rescued from the demolition and relocated to nearby Boston Park in 1879. Fragments of walls are the earliest surviving brick structure in South Yorkshire and are remains of the key institution to Rotherham's growth into a town of regional significance. Sixty years after the college's dissolution Rotherham was described by a wealthy visitor as falling from a fashionable college town to having admitted gambling and vice. The history of Thomas Rotherham and education in the town are remembered in the name of Thomas Rotherham College.
Industrial Revolution
The region had been exploited for iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
since Roman times, but it was coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
that first brought the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
to Rotherham. Exploitation of the coal seams was the driving force behind the improvements to navigation on the River Don, which eventually formed 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 lock ...
system of navigable inland waterways.
In the early Industrial Revolution major uses of iron demanded good local ore and established processing skills for iron strength, qualities found in Rotherham's smelting plants and foundries. Iron, and later steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...
, became the principal industry in Rotherham, surviving into the 20th century. The Walker family built an iron and steel empire in the 18th century, their foundries producing high quality cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
, including some for the ship of the line HMS ''Victory'', and cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...
s, one of which was commissioned by Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
.
Rotherham's cast iron industry expanded rapidly in the early 19th century, the Effingham Ironworks, later Yates, Haywood & Co, opened in 1820. Other major iron founder An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term 'iron founder' is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron foun ...
s included William Corbitt and Co; George Wright and Co of Burton Weir; Owen and Co of Wheathill Foundry; Morgan Macauley and Waide of the Baths Foundry; the Masbro' Stove Grate Co belonging to Messrs. Perrot, W. H. Micklethwait and John and Richard Corker of the Ferham Works. G & WG Gummer Ltd exported brass products across the world, supplying fittings for hotels, hospitals, Turkish baths and the RMS Mauretania. Their fittings could also be found on five battleships used in World War II and HMS Ark Royal.
The Parkgate Ironworks was established in 1823 by Sanderson and Watson, and changed ownership several times. In 1854, Samuel Beal & Co produced wrought iron plates for Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
's famous steamship the SS ''Great Eastern''. In 1864, the ironworks was taken over by the Parkgate Iron Co. Ltd, becoming 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 ...
in 1888. The company was purchased by Tube Investments Ltd in 1956 and closed in 1974. Steel, Peech and Tozer's massive Templeborough steelworks (now the Magna Science Adventure Centre
Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction, appealing primarily to children, located in Rotherham's former Templeborough steelworks.
Location
The site used to be home to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steel works (also ...
) was, at its peak, over a mile (1.6 km) long, employing 10,000 workers, and housing six electric arc furnace
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc.
Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ...
s producing 1.8 million tonnes of steel a year. The operation closed down in 1993.
The first railway stations, Holmes
Holmes may refer to:
Name
* Holmes (surname)
* Holmes (given name)
* Baron Holmes, noble title created twice in the Peerage of Ireland
* Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond (born 1971), British former swimmer and life peer
Places
In the Uni ...
and Rotherham Westgate both on the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway opened on 31 October 1838. Holmes station was located close to the works of Isaac Dodds and Son
Isaac Dodds and Son was a locomotive manufacturer based in the Holmes district of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Isaac Dodds took over part of the works of Samuel Walker and Company in Rotherham sometime while he was Superintendent of the ...
, pioneers in the development of railway technology. Later railway stations included 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 Cen ...
on 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 ...
, which opened in July 1873, the 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 ...
on 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 the Rotherham Masborough railway station also on the North Midland Railway.
Rotherham Forge and Rolling Mill occupied an island in the river known as Forge Island. Its managing director was Francis Charles Moss of Wickersley before his death in 1942. The site was later occupied by a Tesco superstore and is set to be the location for a new leisure development with a proposed cinema, food and drink outlets and a hotel.
Joseph Foljambe established a factory to produce his Rotherham plough, the first commercially successful iron plough
A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...
.
A glass works
Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass.
Glass container ...
was set up in Rotherham in 1751, and became Beatson Clark & Co, one of the town's largest manufacturers, exporting glass medicine bottles worldwide. Beatson Clark & Co was a family business until 1961, when it became a public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange ( ...
. The glass works operated on the same site, although the family connection ceased and the company is owned by Newship Ltd, a holding company linked to the industrialist John Watson Newman. It continues to the manufacture glass containers for the pharmaceutical
A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...
, food and drinks industries. In the 19th century, other successful industries included pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
, brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wi ...
making and the manufacture of cast iron fireplaces. Precision manufacturing companies in the town include AESSEAL, Nikken Kosakusho Europe, MTL Advanced, MGB Plastics and Macalloy. Rotherham is the location of the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), which is home to a number of world-class companies including Rolls-Royce and McLaren Automotive.
Milling grain into flour was a traditional industry in Rotherham, formerly in the Millmoor area, hence Rotherham United F.C.'s nickname "The Millers". Flour milling continued at the Rank Hovis
RHM plc, formerly Rank Hovis McDougall, was a United Kingdom food business. The company owned numerous brands, particularly for flour, where its core business started, and for consumer food products. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange an ...
town mill site on Canklow Road until September 2008. The site of the mill is now a warehousing and distribution facility for local logistics company 4S Distribution.
Enterprise Zone 1983
In 1983 Rotherham became a designated Enterprise Zone with benefits and incentives given to attract new industry and development in the area. Within the first year ten new companies were established within the zone. The former chemical works at Barbot Hall, which had been empty and derelict, was developed into a new industrial estate and named 'Brookside', after Mangham Brook, running alongside it.
Floods of 2007
Rotherham was affected by flooding in the summer of 2007, which caused the closure of central roads, schools, transport services and damaged residential and commercial property, including the Parkgate Shopping complex and the Meadowhall Centre
Meadowhall is an indoor shopping centre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It lies north-east of Sheffield city centre, and from Rotherham town centre. It is the largest shopping centre in Yorkshire, and currently the eleventh-largest ...
, which suffered considerable internal water damage. Ulley Reservoir caused major concern and forced the evacuation of thousands of homes when its dam showed signs of structural damage, threatening to break and release water into the suburbs of Treeton
Treeton is a village and civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is located about south of the town of Rotherham and east of Sheffield City Centre.
History
There is evidence of Mesolithic and N ...
, Brinsworth and Canklow
Canklow is a suburb of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Canklow is less than south from Rotherham town centre and approximately north-east from Sheffield city centre. It forms part of the Boston Castle ward for the Metropolitan Borough of ...
as well as potentially flooding the Junction 33 electrical sub-station. Rother FM
Rother FM was a local radio station serving Rotherham. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.
Studios and coverage
Rother FM was originally based in Rotherham but later moved to Don ...
evacuated its studios, passing its frequency temporarily to neighbouring station Trax FM. A stretch of the M1 motorway
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...
was closed for three days owing to the flood risk in the event of a breach of the reservoir. Fire service and police officers used thirteen high-powered pumps to lower the water level in the reservoir and reduce pressure on the dam wall, which was damaged but held. By summer 2008, the reservoir and surrounding country park reopened.
A new wetland and flood storage area, Centenary Riverside park, has since been built by Rotherham Council and the Environment Agency to prevent flooding in the future. The Wildlife Trust for Sheffield and Rotherham
Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering Sheffield and Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It has 15 reserves with its base in Sheffield.
Reserves
The trust manages fifteen reserves:
: Agden Bog
: Blacka Moor
: Carbr ...
manages the site as a local nature reserve. The site is home to the massive sculpture Steel Henge, a Stonehenge replica which is in fact made from iron ingots.
Child sexual exploitation scandal
Following a 2012 article published in ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' alleging the cover-up of organised, large-scale sexual abuse of young children by gangs of people of Pakistani origin in Rotherham, Rotherham Council commissioned Professor Alexis Jay
Alexandrina Henderson Farmer Jay, OBE (born 25 April 1949) is a British academic. She is visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde and the independent chair of thCentre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection(CELCIS).
Follow ...
, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, to lead an independent inquiry about the handling of the cases and a suspected child exploitation network. She issued an exploitation report stretching beyond police-level investigated cases. Her report of August 2014 revealed an unprecedented scale of reported child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
within an urban area of this size over a 16-year period. Subsequently, Eric Pickles
Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar from 1992 to 2017. He served in David Cameron's Cabinet as Secretary of State f ...
, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction ...
, commissioned Louise Casey
Louise Casey, Baroness Casey of Blackstock, (born 29 March 1965) is a British government official working in social welfare.
She was the deputy director of Shelter in 1992, head of the Rough Sleepers' Unit (RSU) in 1999, a director of the ...
to conduct a Best Value
Best Value was government policy in the United Kingdom affecting the provision of public services in England and Wales. In Wales, Best Value is known as the Wales Programme for Improvement. A statutory duty of Best Value applies in Scotland.Audi ...
investigation of Rotherham Council. She issued a report of her findings in February 2015.
Both reports stated that a majority of the known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage, and reported a denial of severity which was to a large extent the responsibility of Councillors. Casey's report concluded that at the time of her inspection the council was not fit for the purpose, and identified some necessary measures for preventing further repetition.[ On 4 February 2015, after receiving Casey's report, Pickles said that commissioners would be appointed to run the council pending new elections, and the council leader and cabinet resigned en masse to allow for a 'fresh start'. The ]National Crime Agency
The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...
was called in to investigate whether Rotherham councillors were complicit in hiding the depth and scale of the child abuse (the figure of 1,400 children is now said to be conservative) due to a "fear of losing their jobs and pensions" following a concern that they might be considered "racist" if they spoke out. Also, according to the new report, the councillors were driven by "political correctness
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
".
Jayne Senior
Jayne Senior, MBE, is a British youth worker and manager of the Swinton Lock Activity Centre near Mexborough in South Yorkshire, England.
Senior is a former manager of Risky Business in Rotherham, a youth project set up in 1997 by Rotherham Coun ...
, a former youth town worker, was reported to have worked for more than a decade to expose rampant child sexual abuse in Rotherham, but she was met with "indifference and scorn". Senior was awarded an MBE in the 2016 Birthday Honours
The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...
.
Landmarks
Rotherham Minster
The Minster Church of All Saints or Rotherham Minster is the Anglican minster church of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The Minster is a prominent example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and various architectural historians have rated ...
or All Saints' Church in All Saints Square built largely of neat-cut pieces of sandstone and low-pitch lead roofs dates from the 15th century and includes parts from earlier Saxon and Norman structures. Clayton and Bell working to George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...
's designs constructed the east window. Stained glass makers and designers A. Gibbs, Camm Brothers, Heaton, Butler and Bayne and James Bell are known makers of the other windows. Gargoyles flank its clock on each face. It has a "recessed octagonal spire with crocketed arrises and pinnacled shafts rising from corner faces and a gilded weathervane." Architectural critics Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...
and Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992.
Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...
considered it "the best perpendicular tyle
Tyle may refer to:
People
* Chris Tyle (born 1955), American musician
Places
* Tyle Mill, England
* Tyle or Tylis
Other
* 21970 Tyle, minor planet
See also
* Tile
Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured f ...
church in the country" and "the best work in the county", respectively. It is a listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
in the highest category of architecture, Grade I.
Close to the town centre is the 15th-century Chapel of Our Lady of Rotherham Bridge (or "Chapel on the Bridge"), beside Chantry Bridge (a road bridge opened in the 1930s). It is one of four surviving bridge chapels in the country. The chapel was restored in 1923, having been used as the town jail and a tobacconist's shop.
Built in the 18th century, Clifton House houses Clifton Park Museum
Clifton Park and Museum is a city park and municipal museum located in Clifton Park, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Clifton Park Museum is located in Clifton House and is one of several publicly owned museums and visitor attractions admi ...
. The remains of the 16th-century College of Jesus are in the town centre. Boston Castle, in the grounds of Boston Park, was built as a hunting lodge by Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham
Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham, PC (13 January 1746 – 19 November 1791), styled Lord Howard until 1763, was a British nobleman and Army officer, the son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham, and his wife Elizabeth. ...
between 1773 and 1774 to mark his opposition to British attempts to crush the Americans in their war for independence. It is named after Boston, Massachusetts, the scene of the Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...
.
On the outskirts of Rotherham, a brick-built glass making furnace, the Catcliffe Glass Cone
The Catcliffe Glass Cone is a glass cone in the village of Catcliffe in South Yorkshire, England. It is the oldest surviving structure of its type in Western Europe, and it is a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument. Only thre ...
, is the oldest surviving structure of its type in Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
and one of four remaining in the United Kingdom – the others being the Red House Cone
The Red House Cone is a glass cone located in Wordsley in the West Midlands, adjacent to the Stourbridge Canal bridge on the A491 High Street. It is a high conical brick structure with a diameter of , used for the production of glass. It w ...
in the Wordsley centre of the Dudley Glassworks in the West Midlands, Lemington Glass Works west of Newcastle upon Tyne and Alloa
Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot wher ...
in Scotland. Threatened with demolition in the 1960s, it has been preserved as a Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
and stands as a focal point in a sheltered housing complex and close to the path leading up the Rother valley.
South of Maltby in the east of the district, half-way to Worksop
Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from th ...
are the ruins of Roche Abbey, among the small minority in the United Kingdom bearing multi-storey walls, as most others are no more than foundations or a single storey of ruins following the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s.
Education
Rotherham has three further education institutions and colleges. These are Thomas Rotherham College, Dearne Valley College
Dearne Valley College is a further education college situated in the Manvers Park area of Wath-upon-Dearne, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It also has a campus near Wath-upon-Dearne
Wath upon Dearne (s ...
and the Rotherham College of Arts and Technology
Rotherham College (formerly Rotherham College of Arts and Technology shortened to RCAT) is a further education college in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England.
It was established as Rotherham School of Science and Art in the 19th century.
From ...
. The Rotherham College of Arts and Technology has a campus in the Rotherham town centre and a second site in Dinnington, as well as a nearby, smaller campus for the construction-based subjects taught, such as bricklaying.
Governance
Local governance
The Labour Party, who have controlled the authority since its 1974 incorporation currently hold a two-seat majority of local government seats. Rotherham's shadow cabinet local opposition is currently the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
with 18 of the seats. Independent(s) account for one seat. Although Labour retained control of the council, the Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
went from zero to 20 seats at the May 2021 election.
Having had elections by thirds every other year. The method of election is changing to ''whole council elections'' every four years, from 2016.
In 2013, Professor Alexis Jay
Alexandrina Henderson Farmer Jay, OBE (born 25 April 1949) is a British academic. She is visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde and the independent chair of thCentre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection(CELCIS).
Follow ...
published a report about the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal
The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consisted of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England from the late 1980s until the 2010s and the failure of local authorities to a ...
(1997–2013). Following the report's publication, the council leader, Roger Stone of the Labour Party, resigned – an act of contrition the report said should have been made years earlier – saying he would take full responsibility for "the historic failings described so clearly in the report." Labour Councillors Gwendoline Russell, Shaukat Ali and former council leader Roger Stone were suspended from the Labour Party, as was former Deputy Council Leader Jahangir Akhtar, who had lost his council seat in 2014. Chief Executive, Martin Kimber, said no council officers would face disciplinary action.[ Kimber announced on 8 September that he intended to step down in December 2014, and offered his "sincere apology to those who were let down". The council's director of children's services, Joyce Thacker, also left the authority by mutual agreement. Malcolm Newsam was appointed as Children's Social Care Commissioner in October 2014, and subsequently Ian Thomas was appointed as interim director of children's services.]
Shaun Wright
Shaun Wright (born January 1968) is a British politician. He was the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012 to 2014. He was the first person to hold the post, to which he was elected as a Labour Party candidate on 15 November 2 ...
, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham.
...
from 2012, was the Labour councillor in charge of child safety at the council for five years from 2005 to 2010. He initially refused demands to resign as PCC from the Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...
, Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
, as well as members of his own party and local Labour MP Sarah Champion, saying: "I believe I am the most appropriate person to hold this office at this current time." He resigned from the Labour Party on 27 August 2014, after an ultimatum by the party to either resign or face suspension from the party. Wright stood down as PCC on 16 September, saying that the prominence given to his role distracted from "the important issue, which should be everybody's focus – the 1,400 victims outlined in the report – and in providing support to victims and bringing to justice the criminals responsible for the atrocious crimes committed against them."
The former Chief Constable, Meredydd Hughes, who served from 2004 to 2011 and who had unsuccessfully stood for the Labour Party nomination in the Police Crime Commissioner elections, was told by Labour MP Keith Vaz
Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987 to 2019. He was the British Parliament's longest-serving Br ...
that he had 'failed' abuse victims.
The inspector, Louise Casey aided by seven assistant inspectors produced the Inspection Report on 4 February 2015.[Report of Inspection of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, February 2015]
HC1050, Louise Casey CB. Following its conclusion that the council was not fit for purpose the minister directed that the powers of the council (RMBC) be transferred to his department and the cabinet would need to resign unless RMBC made sufficient representations within 14 days to contradict the report. The Secretary of State empowered a team of five Commissioners to replace councillors before a full election in 2016 and on the Report's strength, stated that as the authority was not currently fit for purpose its powers would not revert until the dis-empowered councillors could prove their fitness to carry out all of the council's duties without intervention. One of these commissioners was appointed to specialise in child protection.
Representation in the national legislature
Like all of South Yorkshire the area consists of representatives of the Labour Party at the Parliamentary level whose seats have been almost universally cast among analysts as 'safe
A safe (also called a strongbox or coffer) is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or fire. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face being removable or hinged to form a door. The body and ...
', that is having enjoyed 'substantial' majorities over a 'long' period of time; a typecast which heightens the incumbency factor present in first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...
elections. The town's seat, including all its near suburbs, has been held by Labour MPs since a by-election in 1933. After the resignation and jailing of Denis MacShane
Denis MacShane (born Josef Denis Matyjaszek; 21 May 1948) is a British former politician, author and commentator who served as Minister of State for Europe from 2002 to 2005. He joined the Labour Party in 1970 and has held most party offices. ...
in November 2012 due to expenses abuse, this area required a by-election in 2012 and Sarah Champion for Labour became the MP at that by-election.
Geography
The town in great part occupies the slopes of two hills; that in the west is the start of a north-west crest topped by Keppel's Column
Keppel's Column is a tower Grade II* listed building between Wentworth and Kimberworth in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Keppel's Column is one of several follies in and around Wentworth Woodhouse park; the others include Hoober Stand ...
,a folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
; that in the east is a narrower crest alongside the Rother known as Canklow Hill, topped by a protected
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
laid out public area, Boston Park, less than 500 metres east of and 80 metres above the Rother. The Rother here is between 32 and 34 metres above sea level. The south scarp here is slightly higher still, the Canklow Hill Earthworks, a Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
, one of relatively few in the borough, as pre-dating recorded history.
Rotherham's commercial town centre occupies the valley in between these hills on the navigable part of the River Don flowing from the south-west after it has turned approximately due north. The town centre is less than below and north of the confluence of the Rother flowing from the south. The Mid Don Valley continues adjoining towns in the north of the Metropolitan Borough.
Beyond the town centre and away from the Don Valley, the Rotherham district is largely rural, containing a mixture of retired people, larger properties, some farming and tourism and the landscaped 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 ...
estate, where the last surviving kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
of the Rockingham Pottery can be seen.
Aside from two regular roads and two bypasses (one being the motorway network), Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...
is connected directly by the Trans Pennine Trail which passes the Meadowhall shopping centre on both sides (which between the two places) as it includes Sheffield as southern detour.
Rotherham Central station
Rotherham Central railway station is in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The station was originally named "Rotherham", becoming "Rotherham and Masborough" in January 1889 and finally "Rotherham Central" on 25 September 1950.
The station ...
has frequent trains connecting to Sheffield in a time of 14 minutes; Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
through a change in Sheffield is accessible in a similar circa 70 minutes to nearer Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...
and York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
as many towns and suburbs in South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire are all stops on Rotherham's railway – it is Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
which has the East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running b ...
providing express intercity services.
Green belt
Rotherham is within a green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
region that extends into the wider surrounding counties, and is in place to reduce urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
, prevent the towns in the Sheffield built-up area conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land pre ...
reuse, and preserve nearby countryside. This is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas, and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.["]
The green belt was first adopted in 1979, and the size in the borough in 2017 amounted to some , covering 72% of the overall borough. The green belt surrounds the Rotherham urban area, with larger outlying towns and villages within the borough such as Treeton, Swallownest and Thurcroft also exempted. However, smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such as Morthen
Morthen is a hamlet in South Yorkshire in England, lying between Brampton-en-le-Morthen and Laughton-en-le-Morthen. David Hey, ''Medieval South Yorkshire'' The population of the hamlet as taken at the 2011 Census was less than 100. Details are ...
, Ulley
Ulley is a village and civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 172. It is located about south of the town of Rotherham and east of Shef ...
, Guilthwaite, Hooton Roberts
Hooton Roberts is a village and civil parish situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England.
The village was home to the Gatty family of Ecclesfield. Nicholas Comyn Gatty, son of the Rev. Reginald Gatty, was bor ...
and Old Ravenfield are 'washed over', so minimising unsuitable development in these.
A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure interests, with rural landscape features, greenfield areas and facilities including the Wentworth Woodhouse estate and temple, River Rother, northern portions of the River Don and Hooton Brook, Pinch Mill Brook, several golf courses, Ulley reservoir, Herringthorpe allotments, Rotherham Roundwalk and Sheffield Country Walk/Trans-Pennine trails, Thurcroft Hall, and Valley Park.
Demography
In 2011, Rotherham had a population of 109,691, this figure is for an urban subdivision and roughly corresponds with ward and output area boundaries. The population in 2001 was 117,262 but the figure includes Catcliffe
Catcliffe is a village and civil parish on the north-west bank of the River Rother in South Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,108. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, approximately sout ...
which was a separate subdivision a decade later, so there may not have been an actual decrease in population.
The population of Rotherham is increasing slightly because 110,550 people lived in the town in 2014.
In 2011, 14.4% of Rotherham's population were non-white compared with 8.1% for the surrounding borough. Rotherham town has over double the percentage of Asian people
Asian people (or Asians, sometimes referred to as Asiatic people)United States National Library of Medicine. Medical Subject Headings. 2004. November 17, 200Nlm.nih.gov: ''Asian Continental Ancestry Group'' is also used for categorical purpos ...
compared with the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham
The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest town, Rotherham, but also spans the outlying towns of Maltby, South Yorkshire, Maltby, Swinton, South Yorkshire, Swinton, ...
and a slightly larger percentage of black people.
Culture and attractions
Museums
The Magna Science Adventure Centre
Magna Science Adventure Centre is an educational visitor attraction, appealing primarily to children, located in Rotherham's former Templeborough steelworks.
Location
The site used to be home to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steel works (also ...
, an interactive science and adventure centre built in a former steel works in Templeborough, has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region.
Clifton Park Museum
Clifton Park and Museum is a city park and municipal museum located in Clifton Park, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Clifton Park Museum is located in Clifton House and is one of several publicly owned museums and visitor attractions admi ...
medium-sized museum in Clifton Park. Admission is free.
Entertainment
The Civic Theatre and an Arts Centre is in the town centre.
The Westgate district of the town centre is home to many pubs, bars and clubs and is the focal point of Rotherham's nightlife.
In 2019, work began on the former Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...
site on forge island to build a multiplex cinema, 4 restaurants, new urban public space and a hotel. The project is due to open in phases with the cinema opening in 2022.
Events
Rotherham holds several public events through the year:- A fashion show Rotherham Rocks in July, takes place in 'All Saints Square' and Rotherham by the Sea, in August, is held in Clifton Park, which is transformed into a seaside beach with sand, deckchairs and other traditional seaside attractions. Rotherham Show is an annual event, held in Clifton Park, with stalls from all sectors of the community, shows and live bands in September. The Magna Centre also every year also hosts one of the countries largest Real Ale festivals, which is hosted over 4 days.
In 2016 Rotherham's first carnival took place. The People's Parade which included over 400 people including costumes from Rampage, Luton – Batala a 50 piece Brazilian samba band and hundreds of local people, schools and community groups. The parade lead to a festival in the park with flags, decor 'Eh Up Rotherham' sign, rides, stalls Djs and bands, workshops and activities.
In 2022, Rotherham played host to the UEFA Women's Championship, hosting several games at the New York Stadium.
Parks
Clifton Park, in the town centre is a large park and also includes sport facilities, an outdoor paddling pool, a small fairground and an adventure park. It has been voted and nominated several times over the past few years for numerous awards. The park also holds several events annually including the great Rotherham show and annual fireworks display which both attract thousands of people each year.
Minster Gardens is an urban park in the heart of the town centre, next to Rotherham Minster
The Minster Church of All Saints or Rotherham Minster is the Anglican minster church of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The Minster is a prominent example of Perpendicular Gothic architecture and various architectural historians have rated ...
and All Saints Square. It has an amphitheatre
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
and space for open-air events, with stepped seating, lawns, grass terracing and a meadow area.
Music
Rotherham has several Brass band clubs. It has also produced many classic and progressive rock bands, supported by the Classic Rock Society
Classic Rock Society, also known as CRS, was founded by Martin Hudson in 1991 in Rotherham, England, at the Florence Nightingale public house, and quickly progressed to become a large and well recognised organisation helping to forward the cause o ...
, such as Jive Bunny
Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers were a British novelty pop music act from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The face of the group was Jive Bunny, a cartoon rabbit who appeared in the videos, and also (as a human being in a costume) did pro ...
, Bring Me the Horizon
Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan Fis ...
, and Morris Minor and the Majors
Morris Minor and the Majors was a British band from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, formed by the comedians and writers Tony Hawks and Paul Boross. The group became famous with their 1987 song "Stutter Rap (No Sleep til Bedtime), Stutter Rap ...
.
Shopping
Rotherham town centre has various chain stores including Tesco Extra. Following the availability of "Vitality Grants" from 2009 onwards, a number of new independent businesses opened in the town centre such as Yella Brick Road. In 2015, Rotherham won the Great British High Street award for its independent town centre shopping. Judges praised the transformation of key properties and the restoration of its "historic core". A plaque commemorating the award was unveiled by Secretary of State for Local Government & Committees Sajid Javid MP in September 2016. As of 2021 the majority of the retail in Rotherham is made up of a thriving independent scene with lots of new start up businesses opening in the town centre. Due to the close proximity of Sheffield City Centre, Meadowhall shopping centre and the towns Parkgate Retail Park Rotherham has struggled to attract major brands. This has created the opportunity for Rotherham to proposition itself as an independent alternative.
In film, art and literature
In film
Chef-writer Jamie Oliver
James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Oliver reache ...
's television series ''Jamie's Ministry of Food
''Jamie's Ministry of Food'' is a four-part Jamie Oliver food docu-series that aired from 30 September to 21 October 2008.
Premise
The series was based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. Oliver aimed to make the town "the culinary capital of the Uni ...
'' (2008) was based in Rotherham. He aimed to make Rotherham "the culinary capital of the United Kingdom" by his 'Pass it on' scheme, teaching groups some of which went on to work in restaurants.
The Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, back ...
' song " Fake Tales of San Francisco" has a tribute line: "Yeah I'd love to tell you all my problem. You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham".
The 2013 film ''Five Pillars'' was largely set and filmed in Rotherham, which is also the hometown of the writer and director.
Sport
Football
For the 2022–23 season, the town's association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team, Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
, will play in the EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
, the second tier of English Football. The team currently plays at the New York Stadium
The New York Stadium (known as the AESSEAL New York Stadium for sponsorship purposes) is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Opened in July 2012, it is the home ground of Rotherham United. Its name was inspired by the com ...
. Historically the town was represented by Rotherham Town, and Rotherham County
Rotherham County F.C. was an English football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. They spent a number of years in the English Football League before merging with rivals Rotherham Town in 1925 to form Rotherham United.
History
The club ...
, who both played in the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
.
Rugby
Rotherham Titans
Rotherham Rugby Union Football Club, or Rotherham Titans is a professional rugby union team from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system, following their relegation from the Nat ...
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
team reached the Guinness Premiership
Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...
in 1999 and 2003 before being relegated. The club plays at the Clifton Lane Sports Ground
Clifton Lane is a sports stadium located in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is the home ground of the professional rugby union team Rotherham Titans who play in the National League 1
National One (last season known as National Lea ...
. The town is also represented in rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
by the Rotherham Giants
Rotherham Giants is a rugby league team based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, playing in the Yorkshire Premier of the Rugby League Conference. It plays its home matches at Herringthorpe Stadium. Its A-team takes part in the Yorkshire & Humber ...
of the Rugby League Conference
The Rugby League Conference (RLC) (also known as the Co-operative Rugby League Conference as a result of sponsorship from The Co-operative Group), was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, ...
.
Cricket
Rotherham Town Cricket Club is an English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
amateur cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
club with a history dating back to 1846. The club ground is based on Clifton Lane. The club have 2 Saturday senior XI teams that compete in the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League
The Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League, known until 2020 as the Yorkshire South Premier League, was formed in early 2016, as part of the restructuring of club cricket in Yorkshire, and is an ECB Premier League. Of the twelve initial tea ...
, and a junior training section that play competitive cricket in the Sheffield and District Junior League.
Motor Racing
Former Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
team Virgin Racing
Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...
were based in Dinnington in the borough. IndyCar
INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis ...
and former ChampCar
Champ Car World Series (CCWS) was the series sanctioned by Open-Wheel Racing Series Inc., or Champ Car, a sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing that operated from 2004 to 2008. It was the successor to Championship Auto Racing Teams ...
and Formula One driver Justin Wilson was from Woodall, which is in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham. Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in the town about 1930.
Greyhound racing
Three greyhound racing
Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...
tracks existed in or around the town. They were Rotherham Greyhound Stadium
Rotherham Greyhound Stadium was a greyhound racing stadium in Holmes, Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
Origins
The stadium was constructed in 1933 in an area known as Holmes on the east side of Psalters Lane and the west side of Hartington Road an ...
(1933-1974); around Millmoor (1930-1933) and in Hellaby. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom.
History
The National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC) was formed in 1928 and this body would be responsible for regulation, licensing and the r ...
) and all three tracks were known as flapping tracks, which was the nickname given to independent tracks.
Notable sports persons
Hurdler Chris Rawlinson
Christopher "Chris" Lee Rawlinson (born 19 May 1972) is a former track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metre hurdles.
He also appeared in the 1995 series of the TV series ''Gladiators''.
After trying the pole vault, decathlon and ...
, Olympic gold medallist sailor Paul Goodison
Paul Martin Goodison MBE (born 29 November 1977, Brinsworth, Rotherham, South Yorkshire) is an English Olympic gold medal-winning sailor.
Background
He studied at Southampton Solent University completing an Undergraduate degree in ...
, Olympic silver medallist Peter Elliott, former England goalkeeper David Seaman
David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country's ...
, golfer Danny Willett
Daniel John Willett (born 3 October 1987) is an English professional golfer who plays on the European Tour. In April 2016, he won his first major championship at the 2016 Masters Tournament, becoming only the second Englishman to achieve the fea ...
and 2010 FIFA World Cup Final referee Howard Webb
Howard Melton Webb MBE (born 14 July 1971) is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.
Webb is co ...
are all from Rotherham.
Freedom of the Borough
Individuals
* Gavin Walker
Gavin is a male given name originating from Scotland. It is a variation on the medieval name Gawain, meaning "God send" or "white hawk" (or falcon). Sir Gawain was a knight of King Arthur's Round Table. ''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' is an ep ...
: 12 January 2022.
Military Units
* On Monday 3 August 2009 Rotherham became the first town to bestow the Freedom of the Borough
The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
on the Yorkshire Regiment
The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (abbreviated YORKS) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, created by the amalgamation of three historic regiments in 2006. It lost one battalion as part of the Army 2020 defence ...
, giving it the right to march through the town with "flags flying, bands playing and bayonets fixed". At a ceremony outside Rotherham Town Hall, the Regiment paraded two Guards of soldiers who had recently returned from Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
and the Colours
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
of the 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (Duke of Wellington's), led by the Kings Division Band, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Vallings, the battalion commanding officer
The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
. The Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Shaukat Ali
Shaukat Ali, also known as Shaukat Ali Khan, (3 May 1944 – 2 April 2021) was a Pakistani folk singer.
Early life and career
Born on 3 May 1944, into a family of artists in Malakwal, a town in District Gujrat (now falls in new District Mand ...
, on behalf of the borough, presented the Freedom Scroll to Colonel Simon Newton, who accepted the honour for the regiment. The regiment is the only military unit to become Honorary Freemen of the Borough.
Notable people
Rotherham is the hometown of the Chuckle Brothers
The Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy double act comprising Barry David Elliott (24 December 1944 – 5 August 2018) and Paul Harman Elliott (born 18 October 1947). They were known for their BBC children's programme ''ChuckleVision'', w ...
, Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and 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 ...
goalkeeper David Seaman
David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country's ...
along with World Cup and English Premier League referee Howard Webb
Howard Melton Webb MBE (born 14 July 1971) is an English former professional football referee who officiated primarily in the Premier League from 2003 to 2014, as well as for FIFA as a FIFA international referee from 2005 to 2014.
Webb is co ...
. Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...
began his acting career in Rotherham while actors Liz White, Ryan Sampson
Ryan Oliver Sampson is an English actor, best known for playing Alex Venables in '' After You've Gone'', Grumio in '' Plebs,'' and Tommo in '' Brassic''. He also played Luke Rattigan in the Series 4 two-part story of '' Doctor Who'', "The Sont ...
, Dean Andrews
Dean Andrews (born 6 August 1963) is an English actor. He is known for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC drama series ''Life on Mars''. He continued the role in the sequel series, '' Ashes to Ashes'', until 2010. As of April 2019, he ha ...
and Darrell D'Silva
Darrell Fitzgerald D'Silva (born 5 January 1964) is a British film and theatre actor, notable for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Early life and education
D'Silva was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. He is of Italian, Portugue ...
also hail from Rotherham, as does former leader of the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
, and Sir Donald Coleman Bailey
Sir Donald Coleman Bailey, OBE (15 September 1901 – 5 May 1985) was an English civil engineer who invented the Bailey bridge. Field Marshal Montgomery is recorded as saying that "without the Bailey bridge, we should not have won the war."
...
. Presenter James May
James Daniel May (born 16 January 1963) is an English television presenter and journalist. He is best known as a co-presenter of the motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond from ...
grew up in Rotherham. His co-presenter on Top Gear Jeremy Clarkson
Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' an ...
trained to be a journalist at the ''Rotherham Advertiser''.
Comedians Sandy Powell and Duggie Brown
Duggie Brown (born Barry Douglas Dudley; 7 August 1940 – 16 August 2022) was an English comedian and actor. He was the younger brother of actress and singer Lynne Perrie.
Stage work
During the early 1960s, Brown was a guitarist/vocalist in ...
were born in Rotherham, as was actress Lynne Perrie
Lynne Perrie (born Jean Dudley; 7 April 1931 – 24 March 2006) was an English actress, singer and television personality, best known as Mrs Casper in Ken Loach's 1969 film '' Kes'', Mrs Petty in the television series '' Queenie's Castle'', and ...
. Christopher Wolstenholme
Christopher Tony Wolstenholme (born 2 December 1978) is an English musician. He is the bassist and backing vocalist for the rock band Muse.
Early life
Chris Wolstenholme grew up in the English town of Rotherham before moving to Teignmouth, ...
of Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
, DJ Kritikal Mass, Dean Andrews
Dean Andrews (born 6 August 1963) is an English actor. He is known for his role as DS Ray Carling in the BBC drama series ''Life on Mars''. He continued the role in the sequel series, '' Ashes to Ashes'', until 2010. As of April 2019, he ha ...
of ''Life on Mars
The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars. Cumulative evidence suggests that during the ...
'', artist Margaret Clarkson
Margaret Clarkson (born August 13, 1941) was born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, England and trained as an artist at Rotherham School of Art and Ravensbourne (college)#History, Bromley College of Art. Later she became an art teacher in S ...
, band Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers and singer-actor Rob McVeigh were all born or mostly raised in Rotherham.
Twin towns
Rotherham's official twin towns are:
* Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin (; pcd, Saint-Kintin; nl, label=older Dutch, Sint-Kwintens ) is a city in the Aisne department, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It has been identified as the ''Augusta Veromanduorum'' of antiquity. It is named after Saint Qu ...
, France
Partner towns
Rotherham has three partner towns:
* Cluj-Napoca
; hu, kincses város)
, official_name=Cluj-Napoca
, native_name=
, image_skyline=
, subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County
, subdivision_name1 = Cluj County
, subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status
, subdivision_name2 ...
, Romania
* Riesa
Riesa is a town in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany. It is located on the river Elbe, approximately northwest of Dresden.
History
The name ''Riesa'' is derived from Slavic ''Riezowe''. This name, romanised as "Rezoa", appears first i ...
, Germany
* Zabrze
Zabrze (; German: 1915–1945: ''Hindenburg O.S.'', full form: ''Hindenburg in Oberschlesien'', Silesian: ''Zŏbrze'', yi, זאַבזשע, Zabzhe) is an industrial city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The west district of the Sil ...
, Poland
See also
*Listed buildings in Rotherham (Boston Castle Ward)
Boston Castle is a ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The ward contains 39 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, three are listed at Grade I, the high ...
*Rotherham Tramway
The Rotherham Tramway was a tramway system serving the West Riding town of Rotherham. Service began on 31 January 1903 and ended on 13 November 1949.
The network of six lines spread across the town and was linked to the tramway networks of She ...
*Trolleybuses in Rotherham
The Rotherham trolleybus system once served the town of Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Opened on , it was the fourth trolleybus system to be established in the United Kingdom, after the systems in nearby Bradford and Leeds, which ...
References
Further reading
Rotherham Timeline
Rotherham Greats
External links
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Boston Castle, Rotherham, website
*
{{Authority control
Towns in South Yorkshire
Unparished areas in South Yorkshire
Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham
Folly castles in England