Orgreave
The name of Orgreave means 'the pit from which ore was dug'. This village is mentioned by name in the Domesday Book, so this means that iron mining was associated with this area before 1086. It was a soke which was part of the manor of Tinsley owned by Roger de Busli and there was sufficient arable land at Orgreave for two plough teams. Another version of the name is Norgrave which could have an entirely different meaning.
One Robert de Orgrave is named as a witness to an undated 13th century charter of Gervase de Bernack. At some time before the reign of Edward III, Orgreave became part of the estates of the Furnivals, lords of Sheffield and Hallamshire. From the Furnivals, it descended to the Dukes of Norfolk. There is no separate assessment for Orgreave in the 1379 Poll Tax returns but Robert de Orgrave, smith, and his wife appear in the Tinsley return.
In the 18th century, the Harrison family became established at Orgreave Hall. In 1725 William Harrison of Orgreave, gent., had a 21 year lease of the tithes of corn, grain and hay at Orgreave from Frederick Henry Howard, son of Henry, Duke of Norfolk. In 1808 the Harrisons and the other landowners within the township came to a private agreement to enclose the remaining commons and waste saving themselves the cost of obtaining an inclosure act.
Orgreave was yet another area blighted by coal mining which came early to the village when the Dore House Colliery was sunk in 1795. This pit was later reopened by Richard Sorby of Rotherwood Hall, who sank the Orgreave Colliery in 1851. The pit was purchased by the Fence Colliery Co. in 1870 and production was halted in 1871-2 to allow major redevelopment. The colliery company was reformed as Rothervale Collieries Ltd in 1874. In 1918 Rothervale Collieries constructed a coking plant at Orgreave and in the same year they became part of United Steel Companies. The coke from the Orgreave plant was supplied to the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe while the gas produced during the coking was piped to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steelworks at Templeborough. When the coal mines were nationalised in 1947, the coking plant passed into the ownership of the United Coke and Chemical Co. Ltd. and eventually became part of British Steel. Orgreave Colliery closed in 1981. One of the bitterest battles of the Miners' Strike in 1984 during the reign of Maggie was fought here. You might just remember that the miners lost, thus the coking plant is no more. The area has been massively opencast, a procedure that entailed the demolition of Orgreave Hall. The 17th century Hall, a Grade 2 listed building, had been occupied by the Rotherwood Social and Athletic Club. It had been empty for several years and was in poor repair. Attempts to save the Hall in situ or by rebuilding it on another site failed and the house was removed during 1995.
No colliery housing was built in the village: the miners travelled from the surrounding villages. Orgreave became part of the newly-created Brinsworth parish in 1903. Even today there is a small population and no church, pub or school. A bit of Orgreave is also tucked away next to that part of Sheffield called Woodhouse Mill.