Heritage Silkstone

 The Monstrous Balloon 1855 In 1901 the Barnsley Chronicle published a series of articles by GH Teasdale titled "The Ancient Parish of Silkstone". Teasdale was a mining surveyor employed by the Clarke's of Noblethorpe Hall who lived at the time at Bloomfield House, Silkstone Common. In one of the articles, he recounted an incident of 46 years earlier which must have been talked about for years by the local inhabitants of Silkstone and district. The story is best told in Teasdale's own words written back in 1901 in the Chronicle. "During the summer (September) of 1855 much excitement prevailed at Silkstone one evening. An object in the sky approached and gradually descended to terra firma. It was a monstrous balloon. Many of the inhabitants were afraid - some said the world was going to be at an end, and so on. The aeronaut would have dropped into the close known as Slack Well, but it being standing corn, and knowing that the farmer would resent his intrusion, and...

  CHAPEL YARD, SILKSTONE 1891 - 1969 Chapel Yard (also known as Chapel Fold and Chapel Street) was a group of around 13 cottages located between the two chapels opposite the Vicarage and Church Terrace on land which is now occupied by the Health Centre and its’ car park. Various members of the Horsfield family lived here throughout the 1900s. The first three cottages on the right of the row of six next to the main road belonged to my grandfather Percy Horsfield at the time that they were demolished in 1969. The map above and photograph below shows the Chapel Yard area between the two chapels prior to 1954 before the old vicarage was demolished. Percy’s father was James Horsfield, a well known character in the village. Born in 1854 and died in 1932 at the age of 78, he had lived at Chapel Yard for at least 41 years from 1891 which is where he is recorded in the census of 5 th April 1891. The 1881 census and those before do not record individual house addresses – James’ address ...

 SILKSTONE FEAST IN VICTORIAN TIMES 1857 - 1862 The local feast holidays generally originated from historical religious festivals and medieval traditions surrounding churches, patron saints or annual events such as harvest time etc. They eventually evolved into community events and industrial holidays.  "Silkstone Feast" is written in the diary of John Hobson a gentleman tanner of Dodworth Green on Monday 1st August 1726. In 1727 his diary entry was "July 30th, at Church, Silkstone Feast", and in 1728, "August 4th, at Church, Silkstone Feast". By the mid 1850s, tradition was that it began on the first Sunday after 9th August and lasted for 3 or 4 days into the following week. Once a year for a few days only, the employees at local collieries, factories and other places of work were given time off by their employers. The villages of Silkstone and Silkstone Common would be thronged with locals and visitors alike as trains from Barnsley and Penistone would st...