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Brampton & Brampton Bierlow
Brampton is Old English for a steep enclosure or area covered in brambles. Bierlow is Old Norse for township law which was a settlement with a measure of self government or one where the law was administered. This would have been an important centre for the
area, very probably with a fort or castle but I know of no remains there. Although my map shows Brampton Bierlow as a small village to the south of the bigger village of Brampton, both names seem to be used and interchangeable. Brampton Bierlow is often used to distinguish the village from Brampton-en-le-Morthen which another settlement entirely.
According to the Domesday book published in 1086 Arnthorr the Priest held lands at Brampton and at West Melton with arable land for five plough teams before 1066. Under the Norman William The Conqueror he retained some of his land whilst the King had kept some land in Brampton and West Melton for himself.
In the reign of king Edward I one half of Brampton was held by William Fleming and the other half appears to have belonged to the Honour of Tickhill and was held by the FitzSwein family. Adam FitzSwein, founder of the abbey at Monk Bretton, gave the abbey all his estate at Brampton. The Poll Tax Return for 1379 seems to indicate that the village, then called 'Brampton juxta Wath' was almost as large a settlement as Wath as there are 96 tax payers listed at Brampton whilst here were 114 at Wath. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey estates passed to the Wentworth family who also obtained the Fleming half of the manor.
For many centuries life in Brampton and similar villages moved slowly along at the pace of the agricultural year. The Dearne and Dove Canal arrived just to the north in the 1800s although this was never a very profitable canal and seems to have had little impact on village life. Then along came King Coal and the area changed massively. There were a number of small pits in the area, then the first shaft of Cortonwood Colliery was sunk in 1873. Housing for the miners was built and the village changed forever. Cortonwood colliery closed in 1985 - see Wath Upon Dearne & the Surrounding Villages – Cortonwood.
The closure of the pits had a devastating effect causing great unemployment and depression all over the area. The development of the old Cortonwood pit site after coal washing and reclamation has brought new jobs and new hope to many.
Other pages to visit Rotherham Town & Borough >> Feature Articles >> Rotherham's Halls & Stately Homes >> Brampton Hall.