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From the Diary of Celia Fiennes
Celia Fiennes, granddaughter of the 1st Viscount Saye and Sele made many journeys through England during the years from about 1685 to 1703. She visited Rotherham once about 1697 and this is what she had to say. Disclaimer - any eccentricity of grammar or spelling is all Celia's own.
"Thence to Rotheram 12 miles, its most in a deep clay ground, and now the ways are more difficult and narrow. Rotheram is a good market town well built all of stone, the Church stands high in the middle of the town, and looks finely, its all stone and carv'd very well all the outside."
Now Celia was a woman renowned for poking her nose into all sorts of things that did not usually interest women in those days. Coal mines, salt mines and all sorts of other interesting enterprises drew her attention. Either she did not stay in Rotherham very long or found nothing to interest her here.