Thrybergh History
Thrybergh comes from the old English meaning three hills. There are only the scantiest traces of early settlement in the area but given that it is good farming land it is likely that some of the area was cultivated. The village centre came into being at some time between the 6th and 9th centuries and was a Saxon manor with a church. Before 1066 it was one of the many estates owned by Northmann which might have been a name or a general title. In 1066 the manor was given to William de Percy who granted it to Rozelin. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 Thrybergh, then spelled Triberge, was a small settlement with only 2 villeins listed and was mostly waste, having been destroyed during the Harrying of the North.
The Middle Ages
The history of the land holdings at Thrybergh is very complicated. In 1166 William De Neville held a Knight fee's which consisted of the Manors of Thrybergh, Brinsworth, Dalton, and Bolton on Dearne.
The de Percy family owned the land but they let it to the de Hetons who sub-let it to the de Normanvilles. In 1260 Ralf de Normanville had a royal grant of free warren on his estates at Thrybergh, Dalton and Brinsworth. About 1316 the de Normanville estates passed to Adam de Normanville. In 1328 John, son of John de Heton conveyed his estate at Thrybergh to Sir Geoffrey le Scrope. Included in the conveyance were the homage and service of Sir Adam de Reresby for the lands which Adam held in Thrybergh.
The 1379 Poll Tax records 74 villagers assessed for tax. Chief amongst them was Sir Thomas de Reresby, his wife Alice and their children, Thomas and Alice. The Reresbys were to remain lords of Thrybergh until the 17th Century. Allowing for those not assessed the population of the village was likely to have been just over 100 persons.
The Reresby Family
In 1558 the estates of Lionel Reresby were reported to consist of the manor of Thrybergh (including part of Dalton) with two water mills, 5 houses, 10 cottages, land at Haworth, the manor of Ickles with two water mills, the manor of Brinsworth, houses and land at Masbrough, Rotherham and Swinton, the manor of Denaby and extensive estates in the Ashover area of Derbyshire. A rich man!
Sir John Reresby the great-great-grandson of Lionel was created a baronet by Charles I in 1642. His son, also Sir John Reresby achieved prominence during the reigns of Charles II and James II, when he served as Governor of York. His memoirs of his life and times were published after his death. On Sir John's death in 1689, the Reresby estates were worth £1700pa but within a few years his son, Sir William Reresby, had lost it at the gaming tables and was forced to sell up.
Later Owners of Thrybergh
Thrybergh, Denaby and Brinsworth were purchased by John Savile of Methley. They passed to his son Samuel Savile and after his death in 1735, the estate passed to his Samuel's daughter Elizabeth, who had married the Hon. John Finch, son of the Earl of Ailesford. Their only child ,Savile Finch, died in 1780 without heirs and left his estates to his wife Judith, daughter of John Fullerton. From Judith the estate came into the hands of the Fullerton family who felled the timber in Thrybergh Park and used the considerable profits to build a new residence. In 1820 Col. John Fullerton employed John Webb to build a new house in Tudor revival style with Gothic details in the park at a respectable distance from the village. Thrybergh Manor House was actually built about the same time as the Dower House for Thrybergh Hall, possibly on older foundations.
The Fullerton family ceased to live at Thrybergh at the beginning of the 20th Century but owned the estate until the 1920s. In 1903 the Rotherham Golf Club leased the park as a golf course and Thrybergh Hall became the clubhouse. The original nine hole course was extended to 18 holes. In 1929 JSH Fullerton sold the Hall and park to Herbert Hey of Harrogate from whom the club were able to purchase the freehold for £9,000.
Agriculture in Thrybergh
The parish was mostly agricultural and from the size of the Old Rectory, the rector must have enjoyed a very considerable income in tithes. A mill certainly existed here from Elizabethan times but had probably exited long before. In 1797 an Act of Enclosure was passed for Dalton and Thrybergh and this must have hit the poor labourers very hard. Enclosures meant that previously common land was fenced so that ordinary folk could not use it to graze their animals. Also the strip fields used since time immemorial disappeared behind fences so the farm labourers could not grow their own crops to feed their families.
Industry in Thrybergh
From the 16th Century the waters of the River Don were used to power a waterwheel controlling the hammers of a forge. In the 1660s this forge was operated by Charles Tooker who made steel there. It was later taken over and developed by the Walker Brothers. In 1900 the first shafts of Dalton Main Colliery (later called Silverwood) were sunk. The colliery came into production in 1905 and houses for the miners were built in the Whinney Hill area. The pit closed in 1992.
Population
The first census of 1801 indicated that the population of Thrybergh stood at 247. Through the 19th Century the population of Thrybergh fluctuated according to the availability of work of work in the neighbourhood and was 489 in 1901. Early in the 20th Century the village expanded from its original roots to occupy increasing large areas southwards. Homes built for the miners and workmen in associated industries and St Peter's Church on Whinney Hill was built to serve the growing population. The population swiftly rose to 2,656 in 1911. At its peak in 1971 the village contained 5,213 people but this had dwindled to 4,299 by 1991. Silverwood Colliery closed in 1992 and with much of the population out of work many of the shops closed too.