The Unofficial
Website
Kilnhurst
The name Kilnhurst means the kiln in the wood. The collieries were for a long time a major employer but these have all closed. At one time the west bank of the Kilnhurst Cut of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Canal up to Swinton was a mass of heavy industry including glass factories, steel mills and chemical companies including the tar distillery. Much of this has now gone; some areas have already been reclaimed and covered with housing; others are still undergoing the same process. The east bank between the canal and the River Don was a massive tip with the boggy area of Kilnhurst Ings to the south. The tip is no longer used and has been well overgrown with a wide variety of plant species that like derelict land including japanese knotweed, buddleia and policeman's helmet. There is a pleasant concessionary walk along the levees of the river here, although there is still a lot of detritus still hanging around from the June 2007 floods.
I had no more than a short stroll around the village which has a pleasant church with amongst others a memorial to to the miners killed at the colliery. Opposite the church there is a building that looks as if it was the schoolhouse but there is no longer a summoning bell. There's a new community centre and a very large and well-kept sports ground with a variety of facilities and children's play area. I looked in vain for the sort of posh house that might have been the manor but could not find one. My map shows a Kilnhurst Hall off an unnamed lane running south along the canal off Glasshouse Street but I've never been down there and know nothing about it.
St Thomas' Church, Kilnhurst
Other Pages to Visit
For more information about the area:-
Visit Kilnhurst Ings onsite at Recreation in Rotherham >> Parks >> LNRs >> Kilnhurst Ings.
Visit Kilnhurst Colliery onsite at The History of Rotherham >> Trade & Industry >> Coal Mining >> A Short History of the Mains >> Kilnhurst Colliery.
Village Links
Other Useful Information
Famous People from Kilnhurst
Charles Sergeant Jagger b. 1885 d. 1934
Aged 14 he was apprenticed as a metal engraver to Mappin and Webb. He won a scholarship but was unable to take it up due to the out break of the First World War. He enlisted in the
Artists' Rifles, served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front and was wounded three times and gassed twice. Jagger's most important commission was the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde
Park Corner in London.
I have read of other Jaggers who were patrons of the arts in Kilnhurst.