I grew up in the steel and coal town of Rotherham, in Yorkshire England.
There have been settlements at the confluence of the Rivers Rother and Don for over 2,000 years, but my home town of Rotherham was not officially founded until the early Middle Ages. It established itself as a key Saxon market town, lying on a Roman road near a forded part of the River Don.
After the Norman Conquest, the town was mentioned in the Domesday Book – William the Conqueror’s census of the country – and became part of the possessions of Lord Nigel Fossard, and his successors. In the mid-13th century the town was given to Rufford Abbey.
In the 1480s the Rotherham-born Archbishop of York, Thomas Rotherham, instigated the building of The College of Jesus to rival the colleges of Cambridge and Oxford. It was the first brick building in what is now South Yorkshire and taught theology, singing, grammar and writing. Eventually the college became the Thomas Rotherham College; the original building dating from the 15th century was my high school.
Other noted buildings in Rotherham are the 15th Century parish church of All Saints and the chapel on the bridge which dates from 1487 and is one of a handful of surviving Bridge Chantries.
There is a connection between Rotherham and the revolutionary war in the USA, particularly Boston MA. It seems that a local lord, Thomas the 3rd Earl of Effingham (not making that up), being a nobleman with liberal ideals, approved of the American Colonists’ rights for their independence. Rather than fight in a war which he considered to be unjust, the Earl resigned his commission. In an impassioned speech in the House of Lords, the Earl spoke of the injustice of the proposed taxation to be levied upon tea, stating that Britain had no right to exercise this power.
So strong was his opposition to the events in the Americas that he decided to name his new shooting lodge Boston Castle, in honor of the “Boston Tea Party”. The castle was the scene of many parties but “tea that obnoxious beverage” was barred!
The region had been exploited for iron since Roman times, but it was coal that first brought the Industrial Revolution to Rotherham. Rotherham iron was very highly regarded for its strength. Iron, and later steel, became the principal industry in Rotherham, surviving into the late 20th century.