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{{Short description|Town in South Yorkshire, England}}
{{infobox England place|
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
|Latitude= 53.5022
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}
|Longitude= -1.3402
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}
|Place= Wath-upon-Dearne
{{Infobox UK place
|Population = 7545
|country = England
|District= ]
|static_image_name = Wath upon-Dearne Town Centre - geograph.org.uk - 57208.jpg
|County= ]
|static_image_caption = The Market Cross, Montgomery Square, Wath-upon-Dearne
|Region= ]
|coordinates = {{coord|53.5022|-1.3402|display=inline,title}}
|Ceremonial= ]
|official_name = Wath upon Dearne
|Traditional= ]
|map_type = South Yorkshire
|Constituency= ]
|population = 16,964
|Euro= ]
|population_ref = (cite ])<ref>, citypopulation.de, citing 2021 Census</ref>
|PostalTown= ]
|metropolitan_borough = ]
|Police= ]
|Fire= South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service |metropolitan_county = ]
|region = Yorkshire and the Humber
|Ambulance= South Yorkshire Ambulance Service
|constituency_westminster = ]
|PostCode= S63
|post_town = ROTHERHAM
|DiallingCode= +44-01709
|postcode_district = S63
|GridReference= SK465975
|postcode_area = S
<!-- Info for link to old-maps.co.uk -->
|dial_code = 01709
|OldMapsYear= ]
|os_grid_reference = SE438008
|OldMapsEasting= 000000
|OldMapsNorthing= 000000
|OldMapsCounty= 00xx000 <!-- Optional -->
}} }}
'''Wath upon Dearne''' (shortened to '''Wath''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|w|ɒ|θ}} or often hyphenated) is a town south of the ] in the ], ], England, {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} north of ] and almost midway between ] and ]. It had a population of 11,816 at the 2011 census.<ref name="2011 census">{{NOMIS2011 |id=1237320697 |title=Wath Ward (as of 2011) |access-date=13 October 2018}}</ref> It is twinned with ] in France.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624184158/http://www.twinning.org.uk/uk_twinnings.htm |date=24 June 2007}}</ref>

'''Wath-upon-Dearne''', also known as '''Wath-on-Dearne''' or simply '''Wath''', is a small town on the south side of the ] in ], ], lying 5 miles (8 km) north of ], close to mid-way between ] and ].


==History== ==History==
Wath can be traced to ]. It appears in the 1086 ] as ''Wad'' and ''Waith''. It remained for some centuries a rural settlement astride the junction of the old Doncaster–Barnsley and Rotherham–] roads, the latter a branch of ]. North of the town was a ford across the ]. The name has been linked to the ] ''vadum''<ref name="Martin"/> and the ] ''vath'' (ford or wading place).<ref>F. W. Moorman, ''West Riding Place Names'' (Leeds: privately printed for Thoresby Society), 1910.</ref> The town received a ] in 1312–1313 entitling it to a weekly Tuesday ] and an annual two-day fair, but these were soon discontinued. The market was revived in 1814.<ref>David Hey, ''Medieval South Yorkshire'' (Ashbourne:Landmark Publishing) 2003 {{ISBN|978-1-84306-080-2}}</ref>


Wath can trace its existence back to Norman times, having an entry in the Domesday book. For hundreds of years it remained a quiet rural settlement astride the junction of the old Doncaster-Barnsley and Rotherham-Pontefract roads. Until the ] the town was home to a racecourse of regional importance, linked to the estate at nearby ]; the racecourse later fell into disuse although traces of the original track can easily be found between Wath and ] and its memory is left in local street names. There also was a pottery at Newhill, close to deposits of clay, although this always lived under the shadow of the nearby ] in Swinton. Until ], Wath was in the ] of the ]. Until the mid-19th century the town had a racecourse of regional importance, linked to the estate at nearby ]. This fell into disuse, but traces of it can be seen between Wath and ] and it is remembered in street names.<ref> on Racecourse Road on the Wath/Swinton border, built on the line of the course.</ref> There was a ] at Newhill, close to deposits of clay, but it was overshadowed by the nearby ] in Swinton.<ref name="Martin">W. Keble Martin, ''A History of the Ancient Parish of Wath-upon-Dearne (South Yorkshire),'' W. E. Farthing, 1920.</ref> About the turn of the 19th century, the poet and newspaper editor ], resident at the time, called it "the Queen of Villages". This rural character changed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries, as coal mining developed.<ref name="queen"/> From 1892 to 1974 Wath Hall served as the local seat of government for Wath upon Dearne.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 September 2020 |title=Wath Hall: bought by the people, for the people |url=https://www.aroundtownmagazine.co.uk/wath-hall-bought-by-the-people-for-the-people/ |accessdate=9 April 2021 |publisher=Around Town}}</ref>


===Coal mining===
High quality ] had also been dug out of outcrops and near-surface seams in primitive bell-pits for many hundreds of years, and it was the development of the deep-mining industry from the 19th Century that was to affect the area the most. Several high-grade coal seams are close to the surface in this area of South Yorkshire, including the prolific Barnsley seam. The population of the area swelled and the local infrastructure was developed for the coal industry. The local economy became overly reliant on this one single industry; this was to store up problems for the future.
The town lies over the ], where high-quality ] was dug from outcrops and near-surface seams in primitive ]s for several centuries. Several high-grade seams are close to the surface, including the prolific ]. The rising demand for coal arose from rapid local industrialisation in the 19th and early 20th century.<ref name="queen"/> The population swelled and local infrastructure developed round the coal-mining, but this reliance on one industry led to future problems.


The ] was built to access the local collieries and passed through the town just to the south of the High Street on a large embankment with a large turning pound known locally as the 'Bay of Biscay'. This was closed in stages from 1934 to 1961 and much of the line of the canal was used for road improvement works in the late 1960s and again in 1985 (named 'Biscay Way'). The ] opened in stages from 1798 to 1804 to access the collieries on the south side of the Dearne Valley. It passed through the town on an embankment just north of the High Street and then turned north into the valley. This wide section was known locally as the "Bay of Biscay". The canal closed in 1961 after many years of disuse and poor repair.<ref name=glister>Roger Glister, ''The Forgotten Canals of Yorkshire: Wakefield to Swinton via Barnsley; The Barnsley and Dearne & Dove Canals'' (Barnsley:Wharncliffe Books) 2004 {{ISBN|1-903425-38-7}}</ref> Much of the canal line has since been used for roads, one of them called Biscay Way.<ref name="queen"/>


By the 20th century, heavy industry was evident in the area with many large, busy collieries and a large modern colliery complex, coal preparation and coking plant at nearby ], which was visible and detectable by nose from miles around. By the 20th century, heavy industry was evident, with many large collieries – ] and ] were the two usually mentioned. After the ], the collieries clustered around ] developed into a complex, also covering coal preparation, coal products and a ] plant, which was not only visible, but polluted the air for miles around.


===Railways===
Rail took over from the canal as a means of transporting coal out of the area, and Wath-upon-Dearne became a railfreight centre of national importance. One of the biggest and, for its time, most modern railway ] in the UK was built north of the town in 1907. It was one of the eastern ends of the trans-] ] electrified railway (also known as the ]), a project which spanned the ]. It also once had three railway stations, all on Station Road - ], ] and ] in order of distance from the town centre. This most distant station was the last to close in 1968.
Rail took over coal transportation from the canal. Wath upon Dearne became a rail-freight centre of national importance. ], built north of the town in 1907, was one of the biggest and for its time one of the most modern railway ] in the country, as one of the eastern ends of the trans-] ] ] (also known as the ]), a project that spanned the ] and partly responded to the need to move large amounts of Wath coal to customers in ].


Wath once had three railway stations: ] in Moor Road, ] and ] both in Station Road. Wath North, the most distant, was the last to close in 1968, under the ]. There has been talk of opening a station on the ] at Manvers, roughly a mile from the town centre.
The local coal industry was at the forefront of the sudden dramatic decline of the British coal mining industry, which was precipitated by a change of government economic policy in the early 1980s. This had very severe knock-on effects in the many reliant local industries, and caused much local hardship. The ] was sparked by the impending closure of Cortonwood Colliery in ], a neighbouring village. Along with the whole of the Dearne Valley, Wath was classified as an impoverished area and received much public money, including European funds. These were put into regenerating the area from the mid-nineties onward causing a certain amount of economic revival, and changing the character of the area to be more rural as large areas of ex-industrial land were turned back into scrub-land and countryside, dotted with light industrial and commercial office parks.

===The decline of coal===
The local coal industry succumbed to a dramatic decline in the British coal-mining industry precipitated by a change in government economic policy in the early 1980s. This had knock-on effects on many subsidiary local industries and caused local hardship.

The ] was sparked by the impending closure of ] Colliery in ], a neighbouring village often seen as part of Wath. Along with the whole of the Dearne Valley, Wath was classified as an impoverished area and received public money, including European funds. These were put to regenerating the area from the mid-1990s onwards, causing a degree of economic revival. It made the area more rural, as much land to the north of the town once used by collieries and marshalling yards was returned to ] and countryside, dotted with ] and commercial office parks. This regeneration of what was still classified as ] has involved building it over with industrial and commercial parks. Large housing developments have also been started.


==Today== ==Today==
]]]
] live at Montgomery Hall, Wath-upon-Dearne, Sunday 1 November 1987 (left to right: Heather Brady, Lal Waterson, Rachel Waterson, ], ], Mike Waterson, Dave Brady, Jim Boyes)]]
Wath upon Dearne centres on Montgomery Square, with the town's main shops, the library and the bus station. To its west is the substantial ] All Saints Church,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wathparishchurch.co.uk |title=All Saints Parish Church, Wath upon Dearne |website=wathparishchurch.co.uk |access-date=10 March 2020}}</ref> on a small leafy green, with ], the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the ].


Today Wath is still emerging from the coal-industry collapse, although jobs and some low-level affluence have returned. After a hiatus between the clearing of former colliery land and recent redevelopment, when the area felt rather rural, the construction of large distribution centres to the north of the town is restoring an industrial feel, but without the pollution issues of coal. Several distribution warehouses for the clothing chain ] have opened. Much new housing is being built on reclaimed land.
Wath-upon-Dearne is centred on Montgomery Square, where the town's main shops, library and bus station are located. Immediately West is the substantial Norman All Saints Church, in a small leafy green with the Town Hall, the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the Dearne Valley College. There are several busy pubs in the town centre.


Wath Festival, held round the early May ], is a folk and acoustic music and arts festival founded by members of the Wath Morris Dancing Team in 1972. It has grown to host known names on the folk, acoustic and world music scene. While festival events occur across the town, most larger concerts are held at the Montgomery Hall Theatre and Community Venue. Those appearing have included ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ].
Today Wath is still emerging from the hardship caused by the sudden collapse of its major industry. However over the past decade jobs and a certain albeit relatively low level of affluence have returned to the area. In very recent years, after a hiatus when the area felt rather rural, the construction of several very large distribution centres to the north of the town is once again bringing an industrial feel to the area, although without the pollution issues that were connected with the coal industry. A significant amount of new housing is also being built at Manvers, which should increase the town's population in future years.


The festival marked its 40th anniversary in 2012. Wath won Village Festival Of The Year in the 2013 FATEA Awards.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazineOld/Winners2013.html |title=FATEA – Fatea Awards Nominations 2013 |website=www.fatea-records.co.uk |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref> The festival has been a supporter of young artists such as ], and ]. It has also hosted the Wath Festival Young Performers' Award, founded in 2011.
The town no longer has a direct rail link, although there has been talk of opening a station on the Sheffield-Wakefield-Leeds line at Manvers, roughly a mile from the town centre.


The event includes dancing by local morris and sword-dancing groups, street performances, workshops, children's events and a Saturday morning parade from Montgomery Hall through Montgomery Square and back to St James's Church, for a traditional throwing of bread buns from the parish church tower. Local schools, organisations and local Labour MP ] have joined in festival activities.
Held every May Bank Holiday, Wath Festival is the biggest folk festival of its kind in the region, with a growing national reputation. Some of the biggest names in the folk scene have appeared in recent years. It is also very much a community festival with traditional dancing, street performances, workshops, children's festival and the famous throwing of the bread buns from the Parish Church Tower.


The ]'s Old Moor nature reserve lies a mile to the north-west of the town.<ref name="RSPB"></ref> It occupies a "flash", where mining-induced ] of land close to a river has created ].
==Population==


==Sport==
Population figures vary from roughly 15,000 to the figure of 7,545 given in the infobox. This latter figure is the population of the ] Wath-upon-Dearne ] at the 2001 census, minus one area that is geographically a part of Swinton but included in the Wath ward for convenience. The former figure appears to include the neighbouring settlements of ] and ] which were included the former Wath-upon-Dearne ].
] served the community from the 1880s to the ], playing in the ] and reaching the 1st Round of the ] in 1926. No senior team has represented the settlement since the 1950s, and Wath remains one of the largest places in Yorkshire without one. However, it has a ] team that plays in the Yorkshire Division 2.


==Education==
==Famous people with links to Wath==
The four primary schools for ages 3–11 are Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Wath Central Primary, Wath C of E Primary and Wath Victoria Primary. The two secondary schools are ] (for ages 11–16 ) and the larger ], which has a sixth form and covers 11–18-year-olds, which was the result of an amalgamation between the Wath Grammar School and the Wath (Park Road) Secondary Modern School in January 1964. Both take students from a wider area.


A large further education college, ], based in Wath, has a main campus at Manvers and a smaller one near the town centre.
* ], the former leader of the ] and current ] ], was a pupil at Wath-upon-Dearne Comprehensive School at the time when he made his famous maiden political speech at the Conservative Party conference, aged 16.


==Media==
* ] was born and educated in Wath, and was the local ] MP for many years.
Local news and television programmes is provided by ] and ]. Television signals are received from the ] TV transmitter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Emley_Moor|title=Emley Moor (Kirklees, England) Full Freeview transmitter|date=1 May 2004|website=UK Free TV|accessdate=4 December 2023}}</ref> Local radio stations are ], ] (formerly ]), ], ], ] and Rockingham Radio, a community based station which broadcast from the town. <ref>{{cite web |url=https://radio.rockingham.media/ |title=Rockingham Radio |accessdate=4 December 2023}}</ref> The town is served by the local newspaper, ''Rotherham Advertiser''. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpapers.co.uk/england-yorks/rotherham-advertiser/|title=Rotherham Advertiser|date=15 October 2013|website=British Papers|accessdate=4 December 2023}}</ref>


==Transport==
* ], poet and so-called ''Bard of Barnsley'', was educated at the town's secondary school in the days when it was a ].
{{Infobox station
|name = Wath-upon-Dearne bus station
|symbol_location = bus |symbol =
|type =
|image =
|alt =
|caption =
|address = Montgomery Road, Wath-upon-Dearne town centre
|borough = ] (])
|country = England
|owned = ]
|operator = ]
|bus_stands = 4
|bus_operators = ], ]
|parking = No
|bicycle = Yes
| accessible = Yes
}}
'''Wath-upon-Dearne bus station''' in Montgomery Road in the town centre provides the main public-transport hub. It has four bus stands on an otherwise pedestrianised section of Montgomery Road, next to Montgomery Square, High Street and the Wath-upon-Dearne Community Library. The bus station's one-way system down Montgomery Road is accessed from the ] to the north and feeds buses out into Church Street to the south.


The land is owned by the local council, ], not the ]. As such, it is not listed as an official SYPTE Interchange, despite its relative size, and it lacks a ticket office, waiting room and toilet facilities.
* ], former ] ] model, was born in Wath-upon-Dearne and educated at Wath Comprehensive School.


==External links== ===Services===
{{As of|2021|01}}, the stand allocation is:
{|class="wikitable"
!'''Stand'''
!'''Route'''
!'''Destination'''
|-
! rowspan="2"|WS1
!22X
||] {{rint|gb|rail}} {{rint|bus}} {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ] {{rint|gb|rail}} (])}}}}
|-
!226
||] {{rint|gb|rail}} {{rint|bus}} {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ] {{rint|gb|rail}} and ] (])}}}}
|-
!WS2
!220
||] {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ] and ] (])}}}}
|-
! rowspan="2"|WS3
!220
||] {{rint|bus}} {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ] and ] {{rint|gb|rail}} (])}}}}
|-
!226
||] {{rint|gb|rail}} {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ] {{rint|gb|rail}} and ] {{rint|gb|rail}} (])}}}}
|-
! rowspan="3"|WS4
!22a, 22c
||] {{rint|gb|rail}} {{rint|sheffield}} {{rint|bus}} (circular) {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ], ] {{rint|gb|rail}}, ] and ] {{rint|sheffield}} (])}}}}
|-
!22X
||] {{rint|gb|rail}} {{rint|sheffield}} {{rint|bus}} {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ], ] and ] {{rint|sheffield}} (])}}}}
|-
!72, 72a
||] {{rint|gb|rail}} {{Nb4}} {{right|{{small|via ], ] {{rint|gb|rail}}, ], ] and ] (])}}}}
|}


==Notable people==
*
*] (born 1967), ], was convicted in 1989 of murdering three people in 1988.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The sick killer who lived up to his Ripper boasts |url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/the-sick-killer-who-lived-up-to-his-ripper-boasts-1-2399397 |access-date=14 April 2018 |work=The Yorkshire Post |date=18 June 2002}}</ref>
*
*] (born 1954), show-business biographer, born in Paris, was adopted into a family (Spurr) here, and attended Wath Grammar School in 1961–1966.
*
*] (1956–2001) was scriptwriter for the ] film, '']''.
*] (born 1973), actor, plays characters in the ] TV show '']''.
*] (born 1961), once leader of the ] and cabinet minister, was a pupil at ].
*] (1931–2003), longstanding local ] MP, was born and educated in Wath.
*] (1881–1945), sculptor for ], was born in the town.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/news-opinion/wedgwood-fairyland-lustre-pottery-found-2939661 |title=Wedgwood 'Fairyland Lustre' pottery found in inconspicuous apartment is worth thousands |last=Kirk |first=Nigel |date=8 June 2019 |work=Nottinghamshire Live |access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref>
*] (1877–1969), botanist, botanical illustrator and Anglican Vicar of Wath, is remembered in the name Keble Martin Way.
*] (born 1956), poet sometimes called the ''Bard of Barnsley'', attended the town secondary school when a ].
*] (1771–1854), Scottish-born poet and ] newspaper editor, lived in Wath in the early 19th century. He is remembered in Montgomery Hall and Montgomery Square.<ref name="queen">{{Cite web |url=http://www.aroundtownpublications.co.uk/online/village-history/rotherham/wath-upon-dearne.html |title=Wath-upon-Dearne the 'Queen of villages' |access-date=20 September 2009}}</ref>
*] (1921–1980), Director-General of the BBC, 1969–1977, was educated in Wath.
*] (Jorge, 1926–1989), Chilean national and footballer, lived in a house later held by David Bret and his parents. He played for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Newcastle United, scoring winning goal for the last in the 1952 FA cup final against Arsenal.
*] (Eduardo, 1928–1970), brother of George, also played for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Newcastle United.

==See also==
*]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Wath upon Dearne}}
*


{{South Yorkshire}} {{South Yorkshire}}
{{South Yorkshire bus stations}}

{{authority control}}


]
] ]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 08:07, 15 November 2024

Town in South Yorkshire, England

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Human settlement in England
Wath upon Dearne
The Market Cross, Montgomery Square, Wath-upon-Dearne
Wath upon Dearne is located in South YorkshireWath upon DearneWath upon DearneLocation within South Yorkshire
Population16,964 (cite 2021 census)
OS grid referenceSE438008
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townROTHERHAM
Postcode districtS63
Dialling code01709
PoliceSouth Yorkshire
FireSouth Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°30′08″N 1°20′25″W / 53.5022°N 1.3402°W / 53.5022; -1.3402

Wath upon Dearne (shortened to Wath /ˈwɒθ/ or often hyphenated) is a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, 5 miles (8 km) north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster. It had a population of 11,816 at the 2011 census. It is twinned with Saint-Jean-de-Bournay in France.

History

Wath can be traced to Norman times. It appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as Wad and Waith. It remained for some centuries a rural settlement astride the junction of the old Doncaster–Barnsley and Rotherham–Pontefract roads, the latter a branch of Ryknield Street. North of the town was a ford across the River Dearne. The name has been linked to the Latin vadum and the Old Norse vath (ford or wading place). The town received a royal charter in 1312–1313 entitling it to a weekly Tuesday market and an annual two-day fair, but these were soon discontinued. The market was revived in 1814.

Until local government reorganisation in 1974, Wath was in the historic county of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Until the mid-19th century the town had a racecourse of regional importance, linked to the estate at nearby Wentworth. This fell into disuse, but traces of it can be seen between Wath and Swinton and it is remembered in street names. There was a pottery at Newhill, close to deposits of clay, but it was overshadowed by the nearby Rockingham Pottery in Swinton. About the turn of the 19th century, the poet and newspaper editor James Montgomery, resident at the time, called it "the Queen of Villages". This rural character changed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries, as coal mining developed. From 1892 to 1974 Wath Hall served as the local seat of government for Wath upon Dearne.

Coal mining

The town lies over the South Yorkshire coalfield, where high-quality bituminous coal was dug from outcrops and near-surface seams in primitive bell pits for several centuries. Several high-grade seams are close to the surface, including the prolific Barnsley and Parkgate. The rising demand for coal arose from rapid local industrialisation in the 19th and early 20th century. The population swelled and local infrastructure developed round the coal-mining, but this reliance on one industry led to future problems.

The Dearne and Dove Canal opened in stages from 1798 to 1804 to access the collieries on the south side of the Dearne Valley. It passed through the town on an embankment just north of the High Street and then turned north into the valley. This wide section was known locally as the "Bay of Biscay". The canal closed in 1961 after many years of disuse and poor repair. Much of the canal line has since been used for roads, one of them called Biscay Way.

By the 20th century, heavy industry was evident, with many large collieries – Wath Main and Manvers Main were the two usually mentioned. After the Second World War, the collieries clustered around Manvers developed into a complex, also covering coal preparation, coal products and a coking plant, which was not only visible, but polluted the air for miles around.

Railways

Rail took over coal transportation from the canal. Wath upon Dearne became a rail-freight centre of national importance. Wath marshalling yard, built north of the town in 1907, was one of the biggest and for its time one of the most modern railway marshalling yards in the country, as one of the eastern ends of the trans-Pennine Manchester–Sheffield–Wath electrified railway (also known as the Woodhead Line), a project that spanned the Second World War and partly responded to the need to move large amounts of Wath coal to customers in North-West England.

Wath once had three railway stations: Wath Central in Moor Road, Wath (Hull and Barnsley) and Wath North both in Station Road. Wath North, the most distant, was the last to close in 1968, under the Beeching Axe. There has been talk of opening a station on the Sheffield–Wakefield–Leeds line at Manvers, roughly a mile from the town centre.

The decline of coal

The local coal industry succumbed to a dramatic decline in the British coal-mining industry precipitated by a change in government economic policy in the early 1980s. This had knock-on effects on many subsidiary local industries and caused local hardship.

The 1985 miners' strike was sparked by the impending closure of Cortonwood Colliery in Brampton Bierlow, a neighbouring village often seen as part of Wath. Along with the whole of the Dearne Valley, Wath was classified as an impoverished area and received public money, including European funds. These were put to regenerating the area from the mid-1990s onwards, causing a degree of economic revival. It made the area more rural, as much land to the north of the town once used by collieries and marshalling yards was returned to scrubland and countryside, dotted with light industrial and commercial office parks. This regeneration of what was still classified as brownfield land has involved building it over with industrial and commercial parks. Large housing developments have also been started.

Today

Wath Hall
Blue Murder live at Montgomery Hall, Wath-upon-Dearne, Sunday 1 November 1987 (left to right: Heather Brady, Lal Waterson, Rachel Waterson, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Mike Waterson, Dave Brady, Jim Boyes)

Wath upon Dearne centres on Montgomery Square, with the town's main shops, the library and the bus station. To its west is the substantial Norman All Saints Church, on a small leafy green, with Wath Hall, the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the Dearne Valley College.

Today Wath is still emerging from the coal-industry collapse, although jobs and some low-level affluence have returned. After a hiatus between the clearing of former colliery land and recent redevelopment, when the area felt rather rural, the construction of large distribution centres to the north of the town is restoring an industrial feel, but without the pollution issues of coal. Several distribution warehouses for the clothing chain Next have opened. Much new housing is being built on reclaimed land.

Wath Festival, held round the early May bank holiday, is a folk and acoustic music and arts festival founded by members of the Wath Morris Dancing Team in 1972. It has grown to host known names on the folk, acoustic and world music scene. While festival events occur across the town, most larger concerts are held at the Montgomery Hall Theatre and Community Venue. Those appearing have included Dougie MacLean, Fairport Convention, Martin Simpson, John Tams, Frances Black, John McCusker, Stacey Earle and Eddi Reader.

The festival marked its 40th anniversary in 2012. Wath won Village Festival Of The Year in the 2013 FATEA Awards. The festival has been a supporter of young artists such as Lucy Ward, and Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar. It has also hosted the Wath Festival Young Performers' Award, founded in 2011.

The event includes dancing by local morris and sword-dancing groups, street performances, workshops, children's events and a Saturday morning parade from Montgomery Hall through Montgomery Square and back to St James's Church, for a traditional throwing of bread buns from the parish church tower. Local schools, organisations and local Labour MP John Healey have joined in festival activities.

The RSPB's Old Moor nature reserve lies a mile to the north-west of the town. It occupies a "flash", where mining-induced subsidence of land close to a river has created wetlands.

Sport

Wath Athletic F.C. served the community from the 1880s to the Second World War, playing in the Midland League and reaching the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1926. No senior team has represented the settlement since the 1950s, and Wath remains one of the largest places in Yorkshire without one. However, it has a Rugby Union team that plays in the Yorkshire Division 2.

Education

The four primary schools for ages 3–11 are Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Wath Central Primary, Wath C of E Primary and Wath Victoria Primary. The two secondary schools are Saint Pius X Catholic High School (for ages 11–16 ) and the larger Wath Academy, which has a sixth form and covers 11–18-year-olds, which was the result of an amalgamation between the Wath Grammar School and the Wath (Park Road) Secondary Modern School in January 1964. Both take students from a wider area.

A large further education college, Dearne Valley College, based in Wath, has a main campus at Manvers and a smaller one near the town centre.

Media

Local news and television programmes is provided by BBC Yorkshire and ITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from the Emley Moor TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Sheffield, Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire (formerly Dearne FM), Heart Yorkshire, Capital Yorkshire, Hallam FM and Rockingham Radio, a community based station which broadcast from the town. The town is served by the local newspaper, Rotherham Advertiser.

Transport

Wath-upon-Dearne bus station
General information
LocationMontgomery Road, Wath-upon-Dearne town centre
Rotherham (S63 7RA)
England
Owned byRotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Operated byTravel South Yorkshire
Bus stands4
Bus operatorsFirst South Yorkshire, Stagecoach Yorkshire
Construction
ParkingNo
Bicycle facilitiesYes
AccessibleYes

Wath-upon-Dearne bus station in Montgomery Road in the town centre provides the main public-transport hub. It has four bus stands on an otherwise pedestrianised section of Montgomery Road, next to Montgomery Square, High Street and the Wath-upon-Dearne Community Library. The bus station's one-way system down Montgomery Road is accessed from the B6097 Biscay Way to the north and feeds buses out into Church Street to the south.

The land is owned by the local council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, not the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. As such, it is not listed as an official SYPTE Interchange, despite its relative size, and it lacks a ticket office, waiting room and toilet facilities.

Services

As of January 2021, the stand allocation is:

Stand Route Destination
WS1 22X Barnsley National Rail Bus interchange      via Wombwell National Rail (Stagecoach)
226 Barnsley National Rail Bus interchange      via Wombwell National Rail and Stairfoot (Stagecoach)
WS2 220 Cortonwood      via West Melton and Brampton Bierlow (Stagecoach)
WS3 220 Mexborough Bus interchange      via Manvers and Swinton National Rail (Stagecoach)
226 Thurnscoe National Rail      via Bolton-upon-Dearne National Rail and Goldthorpe National Rail (Stagecoach)
WS4 22a, 22c Rotherham National Rail Sheffield Supertram Bus interchange (circular)      via Manvers, Swinton National Rail, Rawmarsh and Parkgate Sheffield Supertram (First)
22X Rotherham National Rail Sheffield Supertram Bus interchange      via Manvers, Rawmarsh and Parkgate Sheffield Supertram (Stagecoach)
72, 72a Chapeltown National Rail      via Manvers, Elsecar National Rail, Hoyland, Tankersley and High Green (Stagecoach)

Notable people

See also

References

  1. Wath-upon-Dearne, citypopulation.de, citing 2021 Census
  2. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Wath Ward (as of 2011) (1237320697)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  3. UK Twin Towns Archived 24 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ W. Keble Martin, A History of the Ancient Parish of Wath-upon-Dearne (South Yorkshire), W. E. Farthing, 1920.
  5. F. W. Moorman, West Riding Place Names (Leeds: privately printed for Thoresby Society), 1910.
  6. David Hey, Medieval South Yorkshire (Ashbourne:Landmark Publishing) 2003 ISBN 978-1-84306-080-2
  7. geograph.org.uk page on Racecourse Road on the Wath/Swinton border, built on the line of the course.
  8. ^ "Wath-upon-Dearne the 'Queen of villages'". Retrieved 20 September 2009.
  9. "Wath Hall: bought by the people, for the people". Around Town. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  10. Roger Glister, The Forgotten Canals of Yorkshire: Wakefield to Swinton via Barnsley; The Barnsley and Dearne & Dove Canals (Barnsley:Wharncliffe Books) 2004 ISBN 1-903425-38-7
  11. "All Saints Parish Church, Wath upon Dearne". wathparishchurch.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  12. "FATEA – Fatea Awards Nominations 2013". www.fatea-records.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  13. RSPB Old Moor
  14. "Emley Moor (Kirklees, England) Full Freeview transmitter". UK Free TV. 1 May 2004. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  15. "Rockingham Radio". Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  16. "Rotherham Advertiser". British Papers. 15 October 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  17. "The sick killer who lived up to his Ripper boasts". The Yorkshire Post. 18 June 2002. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  18. Kirk, Nigel (8 June 2019). "Wedgwood 'Fairyland Lustre' pottery found in inconspicuous apartment is worth thousands". Nottinghamshire Live. Retrieved 8 October 2020.

External links

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