Wales is a village and a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in 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, Swinton, Wath-upon-Dearne, Dinnington and also the vill ...

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. In N ...

, England.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

part of 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 ...

, it borders to the south

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and is astride 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 lat ...

. The civil parish of Wales, which has a population of 6,455, increasing to 7,069 at the 2011 Census, encompasses the village and neighbouring settlement

Kiveton Park Kiveton Park is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, from the Norman conquest to 1868, Kiveton was a hamlet of the parish of Harthill-with- ...

History

Wales shares its name with the country of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, and the derivation may well be the same if it bears the same Anglo Saxon (and Germanic) root meaning ''Romanised foreigner(s)''. A term used to refer to those in the western regions of the Roman Empire (see:

Etymology of Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 20 ...

). The suggestion, therefore, is that there was a continued

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

presence here, that was distinctively Roman, following the arrival of the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, 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- ...

at the turn of the 6th century. An alternative explanation suggests that the settlement's name may be derived from the word ''Waelas'', meaning "field of battle". The earliest reference to Wales is in 1002, when

Wulfric Spot Wulfric (died ''circa'' 1004), called Wulfric Spot or Spott, was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman. His will is an important document from the reign of King Æthelred the Unready. Wulfric was a patron of the Burton Abbey, around which the modern town of ...

, a Saxon

thegn In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...

, is recorded as owning ''Walesho''. Sir William Hewet,

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

in 1559, was born in Wales, and his descendants, the Dukes of Leeds, would come to dominate the area. The collieries at Waleswood and

historically provided employment in the area, including to migrants from Wales' namesake country, until Kiveton Park Colliery was closed in September 1994.

Waleswood

Waleswood is a small hamlet located to the north-west of Wales. Historically the hamlet was known for Waleswood Hall, and later

Waleswood Colliery Waleswood Colliery was a coal mine situated between Swallownest and Wales Bar, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The colliery was adjacent to the Rotherham to Clowne road and the main line of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Rai ...

, which also featured a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

. Much of the former colliery site is now occupied by the

Gulliver's Valley Gulliver's Valley is a theme park and resort located in Rotherham, England. Construction began in 2018 at a planned cost of £37 million. The first phase, costing £7.5 million, was due to open in spring 2020 but the opening was de ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

Wales Bar

Wales Bar is another hamlet, located to the west of Wales. The village contains typical 20th Century miners housing, with many of the former occupants working in the surrounding collieries at Waleswood and Brookhouse.

Geography

The village of Wales itself is located at approximately , at an elevation of around 300 feet (100 m) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. It lies on the A618 and B6059 roads. The

bisects the parish, while the southern boundary is partly marked by the

Chesterfield Canal The Chesterfield Canal is a narrow canal in the East Midlands of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was one of the last of the canals designed by James Brindley, who died while it was being constructed. It was opened in 1777 a ...

whose

Norwood Tunnel Norwood Tunnel was a , and brick (3 million of them) lined canal tunnel on the line of the Chesterfield Canal with its Western Portal in Norwood, Derbyshire and its Eastern Portal in Kiveton, South Yorkshire, England. Origins The Chesterfiel ...

runs under meadowland to the south. To the west of the village is

Rother Valley Country Park The Rother Valley Country Park is a country park in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, close to Rotherham's border with Sheffield and Derbyshire. It covers 3 square kilometres (740 acres), has four artificial lakes, recre ...

Education and employment

Education in Wales is provided by Wales Primary School and

Wales High School Wales High School is an academy school for 11- to 19-year-olds, in Kiveton, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Opened in 1970, the school provides education for nearby villages, including Kiveton Park, Harthill, Todwick, Wales, Thurcro ...

. The

industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

at ''Wales Common'' continues to be a large source of employment (not least the food manufacturer

Greencore Prepared Foods Greencore Group plc is a food corporation, company in Ireland. It was established by the Irish government in 1991, when Irish Sugar was privatised, but today Greencore's products are mainly convenience foods, not only in Ireland but also in the ...

) &

LuK Luk or LUK may refer to: Surname Luk or Loke is the Cantonese romanization of several (but not all) Chinese surnames that are romanized as Lu in Mandarin. It may refer to: *Lu (surname 陆) * Lu (surname 禄) *Lu (surname 逯) *Lu (surname 鹿) O ...

, part of the multi-national manufacturing group producing clutch & automotive parts.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in South Yorkshire Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham Civil parishes in South Yorkshire