Religious Dissent
From what I have read Rotherham was always a town strong on non-conformism in matters religious and otherwise. The Non-Conformists first worshipped in a house in Ratten Row (now Church Street). In 1706 a chapel was built in Down's Row. About fifty years later this was replaced by the Church of Our Father in Moorgate. Their great benefactor was Thomas Hollis who also founded the Hollis School where children were taught free of cost.
John Wesley preached in the town between about 1752 and 1788, and in 1761 the Octagon Chapel in Bunting Croft had been built. (The present day Talbot Lane Methodist Chapel is on the site.) In the 1760s a breakaway group of Methodists formed the Masbrough Independent Chapel. The first building, erected in 1763, was replaced by a new one in 1777. This still existed in 1971, although no longer used as a chapel. I have not been up to see if it still exists: Yes I think that it is the carpet warehouse.
Joshua Walker founded the Rotherham Independent Academy (later known as Rotherham Independent College) in 1795 to train men for the Independent ministry.