The
Unofficial Website
Kimberworth & the Surrounding Villages
including Blackburn, Bradgate, Droppingwell, Hill Top, Kimberworth Park & Richmond Park
These villages are situated to the north west of Rotherham. Evidence of
settlement before Saxon times is small but it seems likely that both Celt and Roman mined iron ore and smelted charcoal hereabouts: I've also read that the Romans dug gravel from pits
in the area to build their roads. There are several options offered for the meaning of the name Kimberworth which is Saxon in origin but the one considered most likely is that it means
Cyneburg's enclosure. Cyneburg was a daughter of King Penda of Mercia and it may have been part of her dower lands. A manor existed here from Saxon times. The boundaries were delineated
in the west by Blackburn Brook, in the south and east by the River Don as far as Rotherham and including Masbrough, whilst in the north it adjoined the manor of Ecclesfield near the
present Thundercliffe Grange and included Scholes.
Kimberworth is an old village which was for a very long time quite separate from Rotherham. It had a motte and bailey castle, manor house and chapel. Richmond Park and Hilltop are to the west of the old village, Blackburn even further west, whilst Droppingwell is to the north-west. Bradgate is to the east going towards Rotherham. Old place names mentioned in the manor are:-
- Blacaburna (1162) then Blacburn (1623) now Blackburn
- Bradgat (1475) now Bradgate
- Gilb(er)thorpe Hill (1561) now Hilltop
- Jordan Damm (1645) & Jordan Feld (1371) see Masbrough Villages
- Le Walkesworth Foldes (1416) now Walkworth Farm
- Madhou (1300) later Mead Hall and then Meadow Hall
- Moriksburgh (1220) later Masbrough see Masbrough Villages
- Stanyforth (1523)
The Villages
Blackburn
Please visit the village of Blackburn here.
Bradgate
The broad street or way. This lead from Kimberworth to Rotherham and I think that for a long time it was part of the stock route to the beast market in Rotherham. In 1850 it was a tiny hamlet with an inn, a well and a quarry. By 1888 it looks as if the new road now called Wortley Road was in existence. In time this became the main road, rather cutting off Kimberworth village. By 1916 the area was becoming built up. By 1937 Bradgate Park had been made on a an area formerly fields. Later housing now covers much of the rest. I don't know when the quarry closed but it was in production for a long time. I think it was also the site of Bradgate Brickworks which is an Site of Special Scientific Interest; that is if it still exits because they were building housing last time I passed.
More pages about Bradgate:-
Please also visit onsite at Recreation in Rotherham >> Parks >> Urban Parks >> Bradgate Park.
Please also visit onsite at Recreation in Rotherham >> Parks >> SSSIs >> Bradgate
Brickworks.
Droppingwell
The road drops down the steep valley side from Droppingwell towards Sheffield. There were wells and springs here hence the name which I have also found recorded as Drippingwell. Old Ordnance Survey maps show the areas south and north of Little Common Lane covered in old coal and iron ore workings. In 1850 there was a colliery with coking ovens and a coal pit. I can trace the outline of the ovens but the colliery and it seem to have gone by 1888 when there was a small quarry. If I remember rightly much of the land around here used to belong to the Watson family. Some time after after about 1900 the land along both sides of Upper Wortley Road began to be developed for housing and any bits they missed have been filled in since. On the Grange Park side of Droppingwell Road there are open areas, woodlands, the golf course and Watson's tip; still toxic after all these years.
Hill Top
The top of the hill from Richmond Park. At one time it was known as Gilberthorpe Hill. There is still the old farm, housing, the big rubbish tip stretching down to Tinsley Viaduct, woods and sports grounds.
Kimberworth
Please visit the village of Kimberworth here.
Kimberworth Park
Kimberworth Park is largely an area of 1950s housing estates to the north of Kimberworth. If you are into the history of Rotherham don't get it confused with Kimberworth Deer Park which existed the west of Kimberworth throughout the Middle Ages. The deer park was created some time in the Middle Ages and was extended by the Lady of Kimberworth, Idonea de Vipont who died in 1334. The new housing is roughly upon the same site but I think it has been a fair few years since there have been any deer in the vicinity.
A separate parish was created and the church of St John was opened in 1957 to provide for the inhabitants of the new estates.
More pages about Kimberworth Park:-
For more about Barkers Park in visit onsite at Recreation in Rotherham >> Parks >> Urban Parks >>
Barkers Park.
Richmond Park
In 1850, according to the Ordnance Survey map, there was precisely nothing at Richmond Park. By 1888 there was a school and the beginning of the housing estates that exist today.