Heritage Silkstone

 Silkstone Man Killed by Lightning 1899 There was no newspaper report of the meteorite landing in John Haynes' pond in the early 1870s (see previous blog). Luckily for us John Ness Dransfield's personal recollection forty years after the event gave us chance to share this story. There were reports on and around 18th June 1872 that a "dreadful thunderstorm" hit the area - maybe this was the same event ? Two houses in the village were struck by lightning and it was reported that the daughter of a John Schofield was hit by lightning "whilst in the act of putting a knife to her mouth". It was said that she was "black in the face and insensible" and that "she never spoke until the following day, when she was restored to consciousness." The thunderstorms of June 1872, said to be the worst in living memory in some areas, were widespread throughout Yorkshire and the North of England and although there were lots of newspaper reports of damage, and...

  A Meteorite Hits Silkstone It's suprising what other unusual unexpected stories you sometimes stumble across. When looking into the sale of John Haynes' land and properties in 1911 I found a newspaper article which gives details of some historical items of interest that were donated to the Penistone Grammar School Museum by the trustees of John Haynes in Oct 1911. One of the objects was "a very large and heavy meteorite". The story of how John Haynes came to own a meteorite is best told directly from the 1911 newspaper article without any alterations:- "One day in the early seventies of the last century, Messrs John F Moorhouse of New Chapel, Penistone, John Greaves and James L Nokes of Thurlstone, and John N Dransfield, of Penistone, were at Mr Haynes's shooting over Silkstone Fall Wood and other of his preserves. After finishing shooting, and whilst sat at Mr Haynes' house - then called Beacon Villa - waiting for dinner, a heavy storm came on, during ...

  1911 Land and Properties sold at Silkstone Common John Haynes was born in Silkstone on 20 th Nov 1830. Son of John Haynes, blacksmith, he was initially taken on in the blacksmith’s shop working for his father on Blacksmith Row in Silkstone. During this time as a boy he would take work his father had done over the moors to the contractors building the Woodhead Tunnels, which were completed in 1853. In the early 1860s he joined up with his brother in law, Abraham Lawton, in opening up collieries on Silkstone Common. The venture was a success and in the great coal boom of the 1870s, having a good offer made for it, they sold the business. After a short retirement Mr Haynes bought Stanhope Silkstone Colliery in 1886, turning around its’ fortunes, and also opened up Hallroyd Colliery in Silkstone Common and owned New Sovereign Colliery, Dodworth. According to GH Teasdale writing in 1901, John Haynes had built Beacon Villa in 1867. It was probably around this time of great prosp...

The Early Co-Operative Movement in Silkstone Until recently there was a Co-Op in Silkstone at the garage and the closest one to Silkstone now is in Dodworth which many will be familiar with. However, the roots of the Co-Operative movement in Silkstone go back 165 years to a single shop and a few pioneering individuals. There is reference to a co-operative society in the village going back to the early 1860s. In June 1863 the Silkstone Pioneers Industrial Society (also referred to as the Silkstone Industrial Co-Operative Society and the Silkstone Pioneers Co-Operative Society) held its' 5th half-yearly meeting at The Fox and Hounds Inn. This would mean that the Co-operative movement began in Silkstone in 1861 which is the same year as it was established in Barnsley and would possibly have been one of the earliest in the district. Notes added by AH 26/3/26 - a newspaper article recently discovered and dated 1st Aug 1902 gives a history of early friendship societies etc in Silkstone i...

  WHY ARE SOUTH YORKSHIRE BUILDINGS KNOWN AS THE BARRACKS OR SPARROW BARRACKS South Yorkshire Buildings in Silkstone Common have been known as Sparrow Barracks or simply The Barracks by generations of locals going back to when they were built in the 1870s. I had always thought that the name was peculiar to the cottages in Silkstone Common but there were also “Sparrow Barracks” in other areas – notably Mexborough and Deepcar in South Yorkshire and Newark, Notts and Hampton-In Arden in the West Midlands. The name Sparrow Barracks is not a recent nickname, and was used for the South Yorkshire Buildings way back in time. In a speech by the Chairman of The Penistone and District Education Sub Committee, Dr ACJ Wilson, in 1913 at the official opening of the new school at Silkstone Common, he recalled his first visit to the village 35 years previously. He had been asked to visit a poor patient who lived in the South Yorkshire Buildings. He had remarked that that was rather a “high s...

  Hall Royd Walk Estate In February 1966 adverts appeared in the local press in connection with the new estate being built at Silkstone Common. The first phase of Hall Royd Walk - two and three bedroom bungalows - were being built to an "outstanding design" by Tarmac-Waddington. The main selling points in the advert were "the magnificent living room with an attractive feature fireplace". Kitchens were "well-equipped" and bathrooms had "suites of the very latest design." Prices, "inclusive of a landscaped garden, began at £3,450 requiring a deposit of only £175. In comparison a "modernised terrace house with sitting room, living room / kitchen, pantry, 3 bedrooms, outside toilet and private yard" in Silkstone Common was being advertised for sale at the same time for £700. The first phase of bungalows built by Tarmac in early 1966 was followed by the construction of a number of two storey semi detached "Scandinavian Styled 3 Bed...