Stainforth () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and

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 the

City of Doncaster The City of Doncaster is a metropolitan borough with city status in the United Kingdom, city status in South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its principal settlement, Doncaster, and includes the surrounding suburbs of Doncaster as well as ...

, 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 West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is around north-east of

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, close to Hatfield and Thorne. It had a population of 6,342 in the 2001 census, reducing slightly to 6,282 at the 2011

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

Etymology

The place-name means 'stony ford' from Old English ''stanig'' 'stony' and ''ford'' ' ford'. Its name was recorded as 'Stenforde' in the Domesday Book in 1086 and was later recorded as 'Staneforde' in 1428.

History

Stainforth was established in the Anglo Saxon period and is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086), as a small settlement of 7 households. In 1066, it was under Earl Harold, but after the Norman Conquest it was given by William the Conqueror to William of (de) Warenne. In 1348, Stainforth received a

Royal Charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

, entitling it to hold a weekly

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

on Fridays and an annual ten-day fair. The town briefly thrived as a commercial centre and

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

and attracted traders from as far afield as the

Isle of Axholme The Isle of Axholme is an area of Lincolnshire, England, adjoining South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is located between Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, both of which are in the traditional West Riding of Lindsey, and Doncast ...

, but the market soon slumped as

Bawtry Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies south-east of Doncaster, west of Gainsborough and north-west of Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. ...

grew in importance. George Porter (later Lord Porter of Luddenham), the Nobel prize winning chemist, was born in the town in 1920. Stainforth railway station opened on 7 July 1856, and closed on 1 October 1866. The town is now served by Hatfield and Stainforth railway stations. Speedway racing was staged at the Greyhound Stadium in the town in 1930. The original "professional" promotion failed, and a few meetings organised by a riders' co-operative were staged at the venue. More recently, Stainforth was a mining village, with the Hatfield Main Colliery at its centre. The colliery was open for around 90 years, from when it entered full production in 1921 up to its closing in 2015. During the 1972 national strike, a miner from Hatfield Colliery, Freddie Matthews, was killed by a truck while picketing during the strike, which led to a huge crowd at his funeral. Hatfield Colliery from the west - geograph

Hatfield Colliery from the west - geograph

The colliery began reopening in 2006 and resumed full production in January 2008. The colliery closed in June 2015, and the shafts were filled. As a result, the work that was due to begin on a new 900 MW

coal-fired power station A coal-fired power station or coal power plant is a thermal power station which burns coal to generate electricity. Worldwide there are about 2,500 coal-fired power stations, on average capable of generating a gigawatt each. They generate ...

and industrial estate, Hatfield Power Park, is looking unlikely. The power station would have been linked by a 40-mile (60 km) pipeline to Barmston in the East Riding of Yorkshire, from where CO₂ would have been released into porous layers beneath an impermeable bed of the North Sea as part of a

carbon capture and storage Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a process by which carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial installations is separated before it is released into the atmosphere, then transported to a long-term storage location.IPCC, 2021Annex VII: Glossary at ...

scheme. The colliery and the surrounding area have been used in a number of television series and films, most notably ''

Dalziel and Pascoe Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional Yorkshire detectives featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill. Characterisation and style Dalziel is d ...

'' and ''

Brassed Off ''Brassed Off'' is a 1996 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Mark Herman and starring Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor. The film is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure ...

'', and more recently
Faith
'.

References

External links

Stainforth Town CouncilStainforth OnlineOpen Domesday entry
{{authority control Villages in Doncaster Towns in South Yorkshire Civil parishes in South Yorkshire

Etymology

History

See also

References

External links