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Greasbrough
The village of Greasbrough is situated about 2½ miles north and ever so slightly west of Rotherham Town Centre. It straddles the main road between Rotherham and Barnsley which makes the centre of the village very congested with traffic and causes rat runs in otherwise very quiet streets. I have found no property of great antiquity, no halls or manor houses in the village itself but it is situated between Wentworth Woodhouse and Barbot Hall. Even the Church is Nineteenth Century. Yet it is obviously an old settlement.
A hoard of Roman coins minted between 238AD and 282AD was found close to the Roman Ridge where it runs near the allotments on Wagon Lane. So there must have been somebody with a bit of brass worth hiding in Greasbrough in Roman times, although no other remains have been found.
'Brough' in the name of a place often indicated that there was a fortified farmstead or settlement there. Greasbrough is first recorded the Domesday Book "In
Geresbrook Godric had three carucates of land taxable where two ploughs are possible. Roger now has there one plough and three villeins and three bordars with one plough. Woodland pasture 3 furlongs long and two
wide. Value before 1066 40s; now 20s."
The brough therefore could also mean brook. Greas does not mean grease but possibly grass or gravel.
Godric had owned a half share of the manor which was given to Roger de Busli. The other half which was held for King Harold was given to Earl Warenne in 1066.
Poll Tax in Greasbrough
The Poll Tax record of 1379 indicated that there were 108 assessed persons in Greasbrough, but this did not included clergy, children under 16, paupers and anybody who managed to avoid getting assessed. The list of trades included 1 merchant, 8 smiths, 5 wrights, 3 tailors, 2 fullers and 1 weaver.
Hearth Tax in Greasbrough
The Hearth Tax of 1672 records 82 properties in Greasbrough, of which 17 were poor and two empty. The largest assessment was on Edward Gill (Car House) with 19 hearths and there were 7 smithies and a common oven.
Coal Mining in Greasbrough
Coal was mined early around Greasbrough. I have not found any obvious traces of the bell pits which can be found elsewhere around Rotherham but records show that John Hirst leased collieries in Swinton and Greasbrough from the Wentworth Estate in 1723 for £200 (no mean sum). In 1736 William Spencer of Bramley Grange leased several collieries in the Rotherham area including Barbot Hall and Greasbrough Fields which employed no more than six 'getters' at a rental of £126pa. The arrival of the Don Navigation in Rotherham in 1740 (there was a later spur up to Greasbough) enabled the coal from Greasbrough and other Rotherham areas to be exported cheaply to other parts of Britain. Parts of the Parkgate seam underly much of the Greasbrough area and were mined by numerous shallow shafts rarely more than 25 ft deep. Wooden and later iron tram roads transported the coal to the canals. I believe that most of these small pits closed in the 1830s as did the upper part of the canal.
Greasbrough's Churches and Chapels
Until 1849 Greasbrough was a parochial chapelry with almost 1,300 inhabitants living in the village and at Ginhouse, Bassingthorpe, Cinder Bridge, Nether Haugh, and part of Parkgate. It was called the chapel of the Holy Trinity and was probably founded in Anglo-Saxon times. Certainly there was a minister there in 1150. After the Reformation the chapel, chapel house and some land were purchased by the Steward of Greasbrough for the benefit and use of the inhabitants. It was demolished in 1826 to make way for the new church. The chapel stood within the grounds of the present church which is now surrounded by a nice green area but the churchyard here does not appear to have been used for burials as there are no gravestones or monuments. There is a separate graveyard. St Mary's, which replaced the chapel of ease (i.e. it was not licensed to perform marriages) that had previously existed there, was completed built in 1828. An ecclesiastical district was then formed from the parish of Rotherham. In 1846 St Mary's was granted a license to perform marriages so the folk of Greasbrough did not have to tramp into Rotherham to get wed. Administration of Greasbrough became the responsibility of Rotherham after 1936.