Firbeck
Firbeck is a late addition to Villages as the Geographia does not cover this area. However a close con at the Ordnance Survey map reveals that the village 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, Firbeck Dike 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. 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), a shoe maker and a carpenter, all paying 6d whilst the other tax payers were assessed at 4d: there were 45 of them. And this is irresistible: the Poll Tax records for the year 1364, there is a lady by the name of Randywife, more I will leave to your imagination.
In the 16th Century the manor of Firbeck was purchased by William West. West was a prosperous Rotherham lawyer who had been steward to the Earls of Shrewsbury from 1580 to 1594. Firbeck Hall was built towards the end of the century. West died about 1598 and the estate stayed in the hands of the West family until 1659. The estae and the hall then passed to Sir Francis Fane and was sold in 1676 to Jonathan Staniforth. It passed through the hands of the Gally (later Gally Knight) family through the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who sold it in 1853 to Mrs Miles of Bristol. She left it to the Jebb family - see page about Firbeck Hall.
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.
There is little known of the history of the church in Firbeck which is now dedicated to St Martin but was previously called St Peter's. The chapel was reported as being in good repair in 1786 and the church was served by a curate who received £12 14s 6d a year. The old church was demolished and rebuilt for Henry Gally Knight in 1820. A north aisle was added in 1844 and further extension took place in 1887 when Rev. Jebb, of Firbeck Hall, rebuilt the chancel opened out the north aisle and re-roofed the nave. A new tower was added by Mrs Jebb in 1900.
Firbeck village school was founded by Selina Gally Knight in the early 19th Century. There were 30 children described as scholars in the Census of 1851. As was usual in agricultural communities, attendance was poor as the children were often required to help their parents on the farm. The school closed in 1934 and the building became a social club for the staff from Firbeck Hall. It was given to the village in 1938 and renamed Park Hall Social Club. The population of the village has always been small.
Photographs of Firbeck
