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The Crofts
The Crofts is the name of the street that runs around the back of the Town Hall. It is joined by a footpath called Snail Hill which climbs up steeply from High Street. At another corner it is joined by the equally steep footpath up Quarry Hill from Wellgate.
The famous Rotherham Beast Market was held here on a site pretty much where the Town Hall now stands.
The row of boarded up old houses behind the Town Hall. I have not yet found out what is happening to them. Probably the usual "When in doubt, do nowt". Summer 2001 there is talk of another Wetherspoon's pub.
I walked up this way Summmer 2006 and whilst the buildings have been done out at least one of them is empty again. You'll be glad to hear they weren't transformed into a pub.
In part this may be one of the oldest remaining buildings in Rotherham.
If you look around the back you can see that the chimneys have been built on after the house which might indicate that the original building is from the early Fifteenth Century. This used to be the Master's House when Rotherham had a workhouse. It is now a dental surgery.
Also on the Crofts where it adjoins Stanley Street is the old building which was once the Bluecoat School run by the Feoffees of Rotherham.
This has been through several incarnations over the years and is now a Wetherspoon's pub called the Bluecoat.