Kilnhurst
The name Kilnhurst means the kiln in the wood: as a village it has not figured much in history. A family called the Mountforts held land here in the 16th Century. John Darley who was an ironmaster in York married Alice Mountford and bought the manor of Kilnhurst from his wife's brother. In 1584 it consisted of 3 messuages, 3 cottages, and a watermill with lands in Upper Haugh, Rawmarsh, Swinton, and Kilnhurst. As the site was very convenient for the River Don, with nearby coal and iron ore deposits Darley may well have started an iron foundry there. Kilnhurst Hall, if it is the same hall, is down a lane well south of the village itself. In 1822 Kilnhurst Hall was the seat of William Turner, Esq.
By 1720 there was a forge at Kilnhurst run in partnership by William Westby Cotton and his brother-in-law Thomas Cotton. A hammer mill was built there in John Smeaton in 1765. In May 1826 Richard Slagg, of Kilnhurst Forge, obtained a patent for his invention of an improvement in the manufacture of springs chiefly applicable to carriages.
The River Don here runs through a series of meanders. The Kilnhurst Cut of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation was built in about the 1740s to straighten out the course of navigation. It became easy for industries situated along the river and canal to export their goods.
From around 1746 there were two potteries in Kilnhurst: one owned by George Green, and the other Septimus Frost. There was also a corn mill.
Kilnhurst was formally a hamlet as it had no church. As the 19th Century progressed Kilnhurst began to get the benefits of civilisation with a National School built in 1835. There was a Wesleyan Chapel. Housing for the miners at the new colliery was built and a new parish was created. The parish church Church of St Thomas was completed in 1859. In 1862 Kilnhurst contained 858 inhabitants.
The first shafts of the colliery were sunk in the 1850s, reaching the Barnsley Seam in 1858. Deeper shafts were sunk in the 20th Century to reach the other coal seams that underlie the area. Kilnhurst Colliery closed in 1989.
My map of 1901 shows Kilnhurst as a village of workers' cottages with a large areas of allotments and a few big houses. Industry was the Thrybergh Hall Brickworks, Thrybergh Hall Saw Mill, Kilnhurst Collieries, Kilnhurst Pottery, Victoria Glass Works, Kilnhurst Forge, Queen's Foundry. There was a station, two schools, two Methodist chapels as well as the church
Later in the 20th Century 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 a 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 was 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 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.
St Thomas' Church, Kilnhurst
The parish church on Highthorn Road at Kilnhurst was opened in 1859.
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.