Places to Visit in Rotherham Centre
Rotherham Minster
Rotherham Town Hall
The Chapel of Our Lady on Rotherham Bridge
The Walker Mausoleum
The Museums and Art Galleries in Rotherham can visited at Culture in Rotherham.
There are many places to SEE in Rotherham town centre but sadly there are not many places to LOOK AROUND inside. Only the Minster, previously the
Parish Church is open on a regular daily basis, and this is worth the visit. The Chapel on the Bridge is open occasionally, whilst the Town Hall also has occasional open days. You can look around the outside of the Walker Mausoleum but the truth is
you could well miss it if you don't know what you are looking for - I did.
You can also have a wander around The Streets of Rotherham but I have to say, that having wandered around myself with a tourist's eye I found little to impress me. Some of Victorian Rotherham still exists if you take the time to look at the buildings above the shop fronts. However modern shop fronts disfigure more buildings than they enhance.
In the 19th Century Rotherham enjoyed a long period of prosperity doubtless based on the wealth of the Iron and Steel industry. Much of this was invested in new building. A new courthouse and jail were opened in 1826 but this building was demolished in the Twentieth century when yet another new courthouse was built (this is now the Town Hall), is a most solid and substantial edifice built on the site of the beast market. The parish church was subject to massive restoration. As the century progressed the old timber and lath buildings were demolished to make way for new ones of brick and stone.
Many of the Victorian buildings have gone themselves, demolished for road widening and new building in the course of the Twentieth Century, some like the old town centre slums, deservedly so. It seems to me that Rotherham has always been a town quicker with the bulldozer than the preservatives. One that has always been anxious to get rid of the old and put on the new, even if they were the Emperor's new clothes.