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Summary of Dominant Character

These character areas represent the majority of the areas of nucleated settlement1 established by the time of and mapped by the 1st 6inch survey of the Barnsley area by the Ordnance Survey published between 1851-4.

Character area boundaries within this zone have been drawn to include areas developed at this time and also related peripheral areas, especially plots directly relating to a residential property, village greens, churches, former manorial sites and open areas surrounded by development. Within this zone most character areas include some 20th century infill, where this has respected earlier property boundaries and scales it has generally been included within units of earlier character. Where it has introduced new plan forms and patterns within an areas of older settlement it has been shown on the mapping included in the ‘gazetteer’ as being characteristic of a later period.

Typical built forms of these villages include parish churches and vernacular buildings of the medieval (1066-1539) and post-medieval (1540-1749) periods although later developments often include more ‘polite’ architectural forms related to the gentrification of some settlements by landed estates, and the construction of middle class villa housing in the 19th century in addition to brick built terraced buildings from the mid 19th century onwards. 20th century modifications usually include examples of semi detached and detached suburban housing, primary schools and shop fronts.

Relationships with Adjacent Character Zones

This zone includes historic settlement cores of villages that are still isolated within rural countryside in addition to those that have become absorbed within the large-scale suburbanisation of the district. Historically these villages have frequently been surrounded by common arable open field systems, typically enclosed in the post-medieval period, often in thin reverse s shaped fields. In the east of the district these field systems have largely been subject to 20th century boundary removal and are discussed within the ‘Agglomerated Enclosure’ zone. In the west of the district however, strip patterns often survive better and these areas are discussed within the ‘Strip Enclosure’ zone.

Many of the settlements within this zone have been subject to expansion, in some cases leading to the historic core being completely surrounded by ‘Industrial Settlements’, ‘Planned Industrial Settlements’, ‘Late 20th Century Private Suburbs’ or other settlement zones. The Industrial and Planned Industrial settlements are the most common zones to be immediately associated with the historic cores. This relationship is most apparent in the east of the district on the Middle Coal Measures (see figure 1) where the rich coal seams have been extensively mined in the 20th century leading to the expansion of settlements this area. An exception to this is Billingley which has been little altered since the 18th century and probably largely maintains its medieval plan form.

The lower coal measures have also been subject to coal extraction but mines in this area generally fell out of use at an earlier date to those in the east of the district, many closing before the first edition OS map survey (1850s). The work force at many of these early mines would often have had duel occupations (Hey 1986, 221), combining mining with farming or other industries such as woollen weaving, nail making and wire making. These industries did not have the same large scale impact on the settlement size as the later mining in the east, but where they were prevalent settlements did expand onto areas of former common or within the historic core of the village. Thurlstone, Penistone, Cawthorne, Dodworth, High Hoyland and Pilley show utilisation of commons or greens for housing prior to the 19th century.

Settlements in the west of the district often didn’t expand significantly beyond their historic core until the mid to late 20th century when they became increasingly attractive to commuters. Suburbanisation of this group of settlements typically began as ribbon development along main roads before further growth outside the historic boundaries of the settlement. Most of the smaller villages in this zone have experienced

Figure 1: Distribution of the ‘Nucleated Rural Settlements’ zone against the geology in Barnsley.
Based on OS mapping © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Sheffield City Council 100018816. 2007

continuing infilling of their historic core area and piecemeal replacement of older buildings through the 20th century as part of a similar trend. This pattern of suburbanisation is also true in the east of the district but often occurs around the earlier industrial and planned industrial settlements.

Several of the ‘Nucleated Rural Settlements’ within Barnsley also have an important relationship with the ‘Private Parklands’ zone. In the case of Wortley and Worsbrough this relationship and close proximity prevented the large scale industrial expansion typical of many settlements in the area. These villages were maintained as fairly picturesque settlements that could be seen from the park and hall. It was possible to restrict the expansion of these settlements because much of the land belonged to the hall owner. At Cawthorne however the parkland was developed late in the history of the settlement and in the earlier history of the settlement there were not the same limits on incoming migrant workers that were seen at many ‘closed’ estate villages (Hey 1986, 240).

Former areas of parkland at Brierley and Tankersley also impacted on the ‘Nucleated Rural Settlements’ of Grimethorpe and Tankersley. These towns were adversely affected by the creation of the nearby parks, leading to the villages depopulation (Harrison & Watson 2006; Hey 1975, 111).

Inherited Character

Where later development of the settlement has included little more than the piecemeal replacement of properties within existing historic boundaries, the form of the medieval settlement often survives well. Thurlstone is a clear example of a planned medieval village that has retained its pattern of narrow plots running perpendicular to the main high street. This type of pattern can be seen to a greater or lesser extent in a number of the historic cores within this zone.

This style of planned row village is fairly common in the north of England in the medieval period and is believed to have replaced an earlier pattern of scattered hamlets. The development of a communal open field system of farming is also believed to be contemporary with this replanning (Aston 1985, 72). There are good examples of ‘row’ villages at Thurlstone, Cawthorne, Dodworth, Silkstone, Royston, Brierley, Great and Little Houghton, Wombwell, Nether Hoyland and Monk Bretton. Other settlements in this zone have aspects of planning but without the clear pattern of regular plots that these villages exhibit on historic maps. There are, however, settlements within this zone that are likely to have developed from mere hamlets which were not redesigned in the medieval period.

Figure 2: Thurlstone
Cities Revealed aerial photography © the GeoInformation Group, 2002 overlain with 1851 OS mapping © and database right Crown Copyright and Landmark Information Group Ltd (All rights reserved 2008) Licence numbers 000394 and TP0024

Aston (1985, 72) has suggested that the large numbers of planned villages in the north of England was an opportune development after William the Conqueror’s ‘harrying of the North’ which led to many settlements recorded as ‘waste’ in the Domesday Book (1086). Other research has suggested that there is a link between replanning of settlements in the medieval period and high status land owners such as abbots and bishops (Sheppard 1974; 1976 cited in Aston 1985). In Barnsley, both Dodworth and Monk Bretton have clear associations with Pontefract Priory (Monk Bretton Priory being a daughter of Pontefract) (Sykes 1993, 233-4; Hey 1986, 59). The town of Barnsley itself (described within the ‘Complex Historic Town Cores’ zone) was similarly replanned by the monks of Pontefract (Elliot 2002, 25-27). In this circumstance the village was actually re sited to the south east of the original settlement at Old Barnsley.

Comparison of the best-preserved examples of planned medieval villages in this zone with SMR data (SYAS 2008) reveals that many of these character areas contain known manorial sites dating to the medieval period. Legibility of these sites depends on the level of later growth at the settlement of which it is a part. Where later medieval and modern growth has been absent or limited such sites may still include significantly legible components of the medieval form.

Later Characteristics

The later development of these settlements is intimately related to the processes of industrial expansion and suburbanisation discussed above. The identification and designation of many historic cores as conservation areas in the 1960s and 1970s has served to preserve the character of these settlements. Outside of conservation areas, or where redevelopment preceded their creation, suburbanisation has frequently reduced the legibility of historic forms. A common cause of this reduction of legibility is the amalgamation of historic plots in order to produce larger plots of land for the development of estate housing. Settlements within this zone that have had fairly substantial alteration by modern developments include Bolton Upon Dearne, Carlton, Darton, Higham, Lower Cudworth, Royston, Wombwell and Worsbrough. These settlements however retain earlier buildings and street patterns. Ardsley, Grimethorpe, Goldthorpe, Kexbrough, Little Houghton, Mapplewell, Monk Bretton and Pilley have also been substantially altered since the 19th century, mostly by the building of terraced and semi detached housing for colliery workers.

Areas within this Zone

• ‘Thurlstone Historic core’
• ‘Cawthorne Historic Core’
• ‘Monk Bretton Historic Core’
• ‘Carlecotes Village’
• ‘Ingbirchworth Village’
• ‘Roughbirchworth’
• ‘Penistone Historic Core’
• ‘Snowden Hill’
• ‘Howbrook’
• ‘Wortley Village’
• ‘Thurgoland Historic Core’
• ‘Hoyland Swaine Historic Core’
• ‘Silkstone Historic Core’
• ‘Pilley Historic Core’
• ‘Tankersley’
• ‘High Hoyland’
• ‘Kexbrough Historic Core’
• ‘Darton Historic Core’
• ‘Higham Historic Core’
• ‘Mapplewell Historic Core’
• ‘Dodworth Historic Core’
• ‘Worsbrough Village’
• ‘Upper Hoyland’
• ‘Wombwell Historic Core’
• ‘Darfield Historic Core’
• ‘Billingley’
• ‘Goldthorpe Historic Core’
• ‘Bolton Upon Dearne Historic Core’
• ‘Thurnscoe Historic Core’
• ‘Little Houghton’
• ‘Great Houghton Historic Core’
• ‘Brierley Historic Core’
• ‘Royston Historic Core’
• ‘Shafton Historic Core’
• ‘Carlton Historic Core’
• ‘Lower Cudworth Historic Core’
• ‘Upper Cudworth Historic Core’
• ‘Ardsley Historic Core’
• ‘Keresforth’
• ‘Nether Hoyland Historic Core’
• ‘Barnsley Old Town’
• ‘Langsett Village’
• ‘Grimethorpe Historic Core’

Each character area listed above has been described and mapped separately in the Nucleated Settlement Gazetteer. As a result this zone description will concentrate on a brief overview only.

Bibliography

Aston, M.

1985 Interpreting the Landscape: Landscape Archaeology and local History. London and New York: Routledge.

Elliot, B.

2002 Glimpses of Medieval Barnsley. In: B. Elliott (ed.), Aspects of Barnsley 7. Barnsley: Wharncliffe Books, 23-38.

Harrison, M. & Watson, M.R.

2006 Brererley, A History of Brierley [online]. Available from: www.brierley59.freeserve.co.uk/Brererley%20A%20%20history%20%20of%20%20%20Brierley.htm [accessed 01/05/08].

Hey, D.

1975 The Parks at Tankersley and Wortley. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal, 47, 109-118.

Hey, D.

1986 A Regional History of England: Yorkshire from AD 1000. London and New York: Longman.

Roberts, B.K.

1996 Landscapes of Settlement; Prehistory to the Present. London: Routledge.

SYAS

2008 South Yorkshire Sites and Monument Record [dynamic MS Access – GIS database] Sheffield: South Yorkshire Archaeology Service. Available by appointment with SYAS, Howden House, 1 Union Street, Sheffield, S1 2SH. Email: syorks.archservice@sheffield.gov.uk [accessed 07/05/08].

Sykes, S.

1993 The Patchwork Quilt: Finding Dodworth's Medieval Landscape. In: B. Elliott (ed.), Aspects of Barnsley. Barnsley: Wharncliffe Publishing Limited, 225-247.

1The term nucleated settlement is used to describe a pattern of settlement “where buildings are built together in clusters (i.e. hamlets or villages)” (Roberts 1996, 24)