Smithies is an area of

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England. It lies about two miles north-east of the town centre. Smithies was historically a village in the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Monk Bretton Monk Bretton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately two miles north-east from Barnsley town centre. Until 1974 it was in the West Riding of Yorkshire. History Monk Bretton has bee ...

in the parish of Royston in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

, on the border with the township of Carlton. Monk Bretton became a separate

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in 1866, and in 1921 was absorbed into the

County Borough of Barnsley The County Borough of Barnsley, and its predecessor, the Municipal Borough of Barnsley, was a local government district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, from 1869 to 1974. Barnsley became a municipal borough ...

. In 1974 the county borough was abolished, and Smithies became part of the

Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley The Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley is a metropolitan borough in South Yorkshire, England; the main settlement is Barnsley and other notable towns include Wombwell, Worsbrough, Penistone and Hoyland. The borough is bisected by the M1 mo ...

in the new county of South Yorkshire.

Coal mining

A number of

collieries Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. 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 extrac ...

were worked in Smithies between 1856 and 1929. East Gawber Hall Colliery, located to the north of the village, opened in 1856 and was worked until the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The remains of the colliery's Guibal fanhouse, built around 1875, are listed as a historic monument. The Wallsend Main Colliery was sunk before 1901. and was worked with the adjacent Primrose Main Colliery, which was working before 1891. The Wallsend Main Colliery Company was wound up in January 1921. The Central Silkstone Colliery was sunk in 1907. It was purchased by the East Barnsley Colliery Company (based in Smithies) around 1919, and continued in use until at least 1924. Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery on the south edge of Smithies was notorious for an explosion in October 1883 that killed 20 miners. While the inquest was being held about the initial explosion, a second underground blast severely injured two more men. The colliery was connected underground with East Gawber Hall, and after the disaster, Wharncliffe Carlton was sealed off from East Gawber Hall and flooded to quench the underground fires, before it could be re-opened. By 1929, all of the collieries had closed and been demolished.

Facilities

Smithies is home to a

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

express shop, a bakery, Fish and Chip Shop, Unisex Salon, Local Shop,

KFC KFC Corporation, doing business as KFC (an abbreviation of Kentucky Fried Chicken), is an American fast food restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken and chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, it is the world's se ...

(on the border), and has a 2005 Harron Homes housing estate, split between here and

. Smithies is connected to

Barnsley Interchange Barnsley Interchange is a combined rail and bus station in the centre of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. It was first opened in 1850 as ''Barnsley Exchange'' railway station and is north of Sheffield Midland railway station, Sheffield. It is on the ...

7 days a week by the number 12 bus service, which operates every 15 minutes Monday-Saturday and every 30 minutes on Sundays. Monday to Saturday, bus 34 and 34a run hourly and are both loop buses, alike no.12, operating via

, Cudworth and Shafton. 34 operates the loop in the direction of Barnsley to Shafton via here and 34a operates via Monk Bretton and Shafton first, before entering Smithies and returning to town. The 34 and 34a bus services stopped operating for several weeks after Tates Travel went into liquidation, this route was soon taken over by

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

, the only bus operator serving Smithies (except school bus routes). Smithies has two schools, Springwell Community School, catering for this with special needs. Alongside Holy Trinity Catholic and Church of England School which has both a primary and secondary school in one. Holy Trinity is served by a bus service to

Grimethorpe Grimethorpe is a village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and W ...

operated by Waterstones and several coach companies operate services to Royston, Cudworth and Baurgh Green.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Smithies, South Yorkshire Geography of Barnsley Coal mines in South Yorkshire Coal mining disasters in England History of South Yorkshire Underground mines in England