Transcript Kimberworth Castle.
Ariel View
This is the earliest detailed plan of Kimberworth.
It was made in 1854.
It shows us a great deal about the history of the village.
The endowed school mentioned in the other programme is clearly marked. The old field patterns around the village show that this was a farming community, although there are coal mines nearby. At this stage it is still very much a separate village.
The drawing on the title page shows Kimberworth in 1864.
This shows Kimberworth in 1901. It shows the new Board School. Although many new houses that had been built since the 1850s it was still a separate village.
This is a list of the occupations that are listed in a Rotherham Directory for 1833 in the Kimberworth area. What does it tell us?
Can you find any names that you recognise?
Goodinson Han. Schoolmistress Le Tall EmI. bdg. & day school Lodge Geo. Shopkeeper Nicholson Mary, victualler, Green Dragon Walker Joseph. cart owner Wood Wm, beer house Woodcock G. maltster & farmer
Colliery Owners
Barber & Sellars, Blackburn bank Chambers Robert Joseph & Son, Holmes Hague Thos. Thorpe Common Parker Fras. Bradgate Walker Joshua and Co.
Blacksmith
HaIl Saml.
Shoemakers
Hodson Win. Taylor Jph.
Tailors
Hirst George Linton Jph.
Farmers
Deakin John Barber John Bray John. 6 Brooke Rd. Duke John Fletcher Thos. FroggattJph. Hayton Jph. Kirk Edwin Kirk Sl. sen. Kirk Samuel, and butcher Sellars Wm. Warns John Warns Jph. Wing Wm. Raybould Jas. Rodgers Jph. Woodhead W.
Wheelwrights and Joiners
Lockwood SI. Oxley Wm.
Fork Makers
Brown Geo. Barker Jph.
The Kimberworth area is very fortunate in having some especially important surviving remains from ancient times.
The Roman Ridge
.
Everyone has heard of Hadrian’s Wall that was built across the north of England to keep invaders from coming south but few people know that a similar line of defence was built by the Ancient Britons across South Yorkshire to protect them from attack by the Romans. Amazingly, sections of this sixteen mile long fortification can still be traced as it snakes across Kimberworth towards the Dearne valley. Much of it follows the line of Meadowhall Road.
Kimberworth Castle.
At the time of the Norman Conquest Kimberworth was a separate manor. It was given by William the Conquerer to a very powerful knight called Roger de Busli who had many other manors as well. The manor extended from the Don and along the Blackburn rook. Roger built a a motte and bailey castle at the highest point in the middle of the manor.
Although most of the castle site has been built over by modern housing the top of the mound can still be explored. It is surrounded by the houses on Wilding way and The Motte. The history of the families of the lords of the manor can be found at the website www.rotherhamweb.com
Kimberworth Deer Park
In the 1200s the Lords of the Manor of Kimberworth were called the de Viponts. They created a huge deer park to the north of Kimberworth. Much of the area of this park is now covered by the Grange Park golf course. It still has some important areas of ancient woodland. One of the family was the lady Idonea de Vipont. She lived all her life in the manor house in Kimberworth until her death in 1334. You might spot her name around the area.
The two buildings are completely different in style.
The older building is quite severe, all in brick with a symmetrical front, very little ornamentation and plain windows.
Only the fancy numbering of the date lettering adds any decorative feature.
The designer of the 1914 building, however, has created a wonderfully decorative building which is full of interest to look at. It is still symmetrical to match the other building but it is covered with swirls, flower designs and contrasting colours. The windows are decorated and are divided into sections by flowing limestone mullions that contrasts with the red of the brickwork. There is a very elaborate decoration over the door and two little towers rise above the level of the roof decorated with flower designs. This sort of design was very popular at this time. It was known as
‘art nouveau’
. The architect was James Totty of Rotherham. This building would be great fun to draw. See what you can find out about art nouveau
The next four photographs hang at the back of the church. They were found when an old store room was being cleared. The first two show the laying of the foundation stone of the new church on Thursday April 17th 1913. The third picture shows the official opening being performed by the Mayor of Rotherham, Alderman P.B. Coward, on February 5th 1914. The fourth picture shows the eight men who administered the affairs of the new church. What sort of things do these photographs tell us about the people who lived in Kimberworth in the early 20th century?
The Dukes, whose names you can see on the greengrocers shop in the early pictures of Lockwood’s Row, were an extensive Kimberworth family. We have already seen that they were listed in the Directory in 1833. A number of the Duke children attended the school and there are a number of headstones in the churchyard record their deaths. In August 1907 Ethel Duke was employed as pupil teacher at the infants school. She was there until 1909. George and Henry Duke operated the coking ovens that stood near the ponds where Old Hall school is now. There is even a lane called ‘Duke’s Lane’ that goes down to Droppingwell Lane
This is a very important building because very few buildings of this date survive in South Yorkshire.
This large Victorian house on Church Street was the Vicarage.
Sunday School For many Kimberworth children the various local Sunday Schools were an important part of their education and social life. These are the memories of going to the Sunday School at St. Thomas’s by Jean Green in the 1940s. Jean lived at 28 Meadowhall Road and went to Kimberworth school.
‘Some of the happiest days of my life were spent in the church hall, but the first time I went there was when we started at Sunday School. This took place every Sunday afternoon. Members of the church would teach groups of children according to their age and sex. As we grew older we were allowed to help with the teaching of younger pupils. The youngest pupils met in the small rooms in the Old Hall, but most of the groups met in the new main hall. There were about ten children to a group and they sat in circles with their teacher. Miss Jolly from the Post Office taught the older girls in the small room near the stage. Very soon dad became the superintendent. He sat on the stage at the end of the hall and after the teachers had finished their lessons everyone joined together for a prayer. There must have been up to 200 pupils attending during these war years. Everyone had the same lesson which was taken from a book but each teacher did it in their own way. However there were so many groups in the hall they had to be quiet so there wasn’t much scope for doing much more than telling a story and asking a few questions.’
The graveyard that surrounds St. Thomas’s has many Victorian memorials. Local families are well represented, and there are familiar names from the school log books. Here is a grave of members of the Duke family.
This programme has been researched and created by Peter Machan, Sheffield History Desk, on behalf of The project has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
We would like to acknowledge the help given by Rotherham Archives, who provided all the archive photographs, in preparing this educational programme
.