Rotherham The Unofficial Website

Firbeck

A late addition as the Geographia does not cover this area. However a close con at the Ordnance Survey map reveals that Firbeck is indeed in the Borough of Rotherham. I have only been there once, to a very convivial evening at the Black Lion and my memory of the place is consequently dim.

There is a pretty brook and a couple of small ponds hence the name - the beck (brook) with fir tree, or maybe from the older 'frith' meaning a wood or a Norse goddess. The name first appears in a charter of 1171-9. One John de Frithbeck was one of the beadles in the reign of Henry III. At the time of the 1379 Poll Tax there was no resident lord of the manor. The Firbeck Poll Tax return lists a 'pistor' (baker), shoe maker and carpenter, all paying 6d whilst the other tax payers were assessed at 4d: there were 45 of them. In 1801 the first national census recorded 161 inhabitants in Firbeck. As the work available locally was mostly connected with the farming industry, the village population fluctuated according to good or bad harvests and the price of corn. By 1931 it was only 174 and 1991 the census recorded 274.

Details about Firbeck Hall onsite at Rotherham Town & Borough >> Feature Articles >> Rotherham Halls and Stately Homes >> Firbeck Hall.

Gildingwells

Another late addition for the same reason as Firbeck. It is about 12 miles from the centre of Rotherham. As a child I was fascinated by this place name, together with Wallingwells which is just over the border. Both villages together with Letwell are named after the water supply which enable these small settlements to come into and stay in existence. In Celtic times the gods of the well were worshipped and offerings were made to ensure that the water kept flowing. These are still celebrated today in some Derbyshire villages as 'Well Dressings'. Gildingwells apparently means gushing spring. Today Gildingwells consists of a few farms around a crossroads.

Letwell

"Letwell is a small village on the Yorkshire/Nottinghamshire border, surrounded by farmland, some five miles north-northeast of Worksop. The first known reference to Letwell occurred in the 12th century when the area was in the possession of the lords of Tickhill Castle. From then on Letwell, together with other neighbouring villages, was in the hands of local landowners until the estate was sold up in 1926. The village has many listed Georgian buildings dating mainly from the 18th century made up of former farm cottages, an old rectory, two farms and a village hall. Pride of place must go to the excellent and fully restored dovecote which stands proudly in a nearby field. The newer part of the village consists of some twenty houses and bungalows, mainly built during the 1960's and 70's, and extends up to the church."

The Poll Tax returns of 1379 indicate that there were 42 adult inhabitants of Letwell.

Woodsetts

A sett is where badgers live so the sett in the woods. Another version is the settlement in the woods. I have never visited the village and I know precisely nothing about it.

I've found a little. The Census of 1841 states that the population of Woodsetts was 175. The church, St George's was built in 1841 and in 1847 Woodsetts became a separate ecclesiastical parish. The village at this time was mainly agricultural but as the century progressed mining and quarrying took place in the surrounding area.