The Unofficial
Website
Parkgate
including Aldwarke
You'll find gates all over Rotherham though it never had any city walls. Gate
in Old English does not mean gate, but 'gade' i.e. street or way. So Parkgate means the way to the park and the park in question was Aldwarke. I have always presumed it so but others
will have it that the park in question was Wentworth Woodhouse.
The Villages
Aldwarke
The River Don flows in a series of loops to the east of Aldwarke where there had presumably been an old wharf or aldwarke in ancient times. There was a manor house and farm here until about 1900. Now the whole area is covered by the massive Aldwarke Steel Works and the Aldwarke Sewage Works.
More Pages:-
Aldwarke Photographs
Parkgate
It is first mentioned in a will dated 1559 as 'Parkyeate' but Jeffery's map of West Yorkshire from about 1770 shows no settlement, but what appears to be an area of bog. Parkgate began to develop from about 1823 when an ironworks was built there by Sanderson and Watson. Housing, mostly tenements for the workers followed and the rise in population was explosive and Parkgate soon became larger than the old village of Rawmarsh.
Christ Church in Parkgate was built in the mid Nineteenth Century. It was demolished in the mid Twentieth Century, though the Old Rectory still exists as Holly House. There are many non-conformist chapels still in existence but most of them are now in the hands of other trades.
Old Ordnance Survey maps - the oldest I have is 1851 - shows Parkgate as an area of heavy industry. Iron and Steel works, coking ovens and quarries covered much of the area. Between 1851 and 1901 many tenements of back to back housing were built for the workers in these trades. Some of this housing is still in existence but much had gone along with virtually all the heavy industry. The site of Parkgate Iron and Steel Works is now a retail park.
Tradesmen and shopkeepers opened premises on Broad Street and Rawmarsh Hill to serve the growing population. Most of the buildings are intact today but traffic through Parkgate is very heavy so trade is not what it used to be. The Carnegie Library opened in 1905 and it is still there.
Parkgate Miners' Institute - A number of people have expressed concern about the state of the Parkgate Miners' Institute. It has been empty for about three years after its closure to community groups on health and safety grounds. According to RMBC it is being used for storage pending decisions about its future. Apparently the property was vested to the Official Custodian of Charities in 1963 so there are queries about its ownership. Talks are taking place with the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation.
More Pages:-
Parkgate Photographs
Some Recollections of Parkgate
Village Links
For more useful information about Parkgate visit the Links and Other Useful Information on the Rawmarsh Page.