Northfield & Thornhill
Northfield & Thornhill are northward continuations of Masbrough. The names here are easy to interpret as the hill of thorns and the north field. The north field was one of the fields outside the town owned in common by the townspeople and farmed under the strip system in Medieval times and later.
Until 1909 refuse and rubbish was collected by horse and cart and dumped in a site at Northfield called Spion Kop or Mother Cush; and a hefty heap it was too. A refuse destructor was then built opposite the power station to burn the rubbish and provide fuel for the generation of power.
There is some poor quality housing in Thornhill north of the recreation ground and B&Q (now closed) with Thornhill Primary School on Henley Rise being one of the few places of note. The rest of the area contains factories, works, and depots. Up here can be found bakeries, clothing factories, glass works, chemical works, distribution depots, oil storage facilities and of course, steelworks.
Although it does not have its own appellation on my map just west of Thornhill and Northfield is the area called The Clough or in Yorkshire, T'Clough of 'Up t'Clough on t'third nail', an expression much beloved by old Rotherhamites. Some would have it this refers to the recreation ground for whatever reason but I think it is more likely to refer to refer to Clough Hill. Clough Hill and Constitution Hill rise to the north of the housing and have never been incorporated into the housing sprawl.