Rotherham is a considerable market and manufacturing town, is pleasantly situated on the banks of the River Rother, near its confluence with the Don, over which it has a fine stone bridge. The chapel on the bridge has been converted into a dwelling-house for poor persons. The church, a spacious and handsome Gothic edifice, was built in the reign of Edward IV. The town is far from being regular, the streets being narrow; and the houses, chiefly of stone, have a dingy appearance. Besides a considerable trade carried on in coals, here is an excellent market on Monday for corn, cattle, and butchers’ meat, and two annual fairs. Every other Monday, here is a fair for fat cattle, sheep, and pigs; and these, like the fortnight fairs at Wakefield, are well attended by graziers and butchers from different parts of the country. A meetinghouse for Dissenters was built here in 1705; and another, of far more recent date, is appropriated to the Methodists. The hamlet of Masborough is separated from Rotherham only by a bridge, and the number of inhabitants is greater than in the latter place, and many of them have been employed in Messrs. Walkers’ celebrated ironworks, where cannon of the largest calibre have been cast, and almost every article of cast-iron produced; as bar, sheet, slit, or rod iron. Tinned plates and steel of every sort have also been manufactured in great quantities. The iron bridges of Sunderland and Yarm, were cast at these foundries; and the mines on the estates of the Earls of Effingham and Fitzwilliam, supply the coal and ironstone for the blast furnaces.

The Rotherham Independent Academy was opened in the winter of 1795, under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Williams. The environs of Rotherham are pleasant and picturesque, and among the seats is Aldwark-Hall, the residence of J. S. Foljambe, Esq. Wickersley, about four miles east of Rotherham, is' a pleasant village. Here is a stone bed peculiarly adapted for making of grindstones.

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ROTHERHAM is a market and union town and a municipal borough, polling place for the Southern division of the Riding, head of a county court, and railway station, consisting of the township of Rotherham and of the hamlet and ecclesiastical district of Masbrough, in the township of Kimberworth: both are in the parish and union of Rotherham, in the south division of Strafforth and Tickhill wapentake, rural deanery of Rotherham and archdeaconry and diocese of York. The parish includes the townships of Rotherham, Orgreave, Catcliffe, Brinsworth. Tinsley, Kimberworth. Greasbrough and part of Dalton. Rotherham is at the junction of the Midland and Sheffield and Rotherham railways, and of the river Rother with the Don Navigation and Tinsley canal. The line of the south Yorkshire Railway Company from Sheffield to Doncaster (leased to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company) has a station here. Masbrough station on the Midland railway is 172 miles from London, 5 north-east from Sheffield, 13 ¼ from Barnsley, 81 ¼ from Birmingham, 32 ¾ from Belper, 42 from Bradford, 40 from Derby, 14 from Doncaster, 34 from Leeds, 61 ¼ from Skipton, 22 from Wakefield, 47 ¾ from York and 27 from Huddersfield.

Over the Don is an old bridge of five pointed arches; on the centre pier is an ancient chapel, long used as the town prison, but now occupied as a shop.Stolen from Fore bears

Rotherham (the town of the Rother) appears to have arisen in the Anglo-Saxon times, but makes out strong claims to a Roman origin; in the time of Edward the Confessor it was the property of Acun, as a manor of five carucates, and was valued at £4: of the five carucates the lord held one, eight villeins and three borderers held two carucates and a half and there was a mill yielding ten shillings a year rent; four acres of meadow and seven of pasturable wood belonged to the place, and there were a market and church. After the Norman accession Acun was displaced, and Nigel Fossard was put in possession by the Earl of Morton, the superior lord; the family of Nigel, however, sub-infeuded Rotherham; at a later period the interest in Rotherham was disputed between the family of William de Vesci and that of Tilli John de Vesci gave all that he possessed at Rotherham to the abbot and monks of Rufford, who thenceforth held the chief interest in the town and manor: in the reign of Henry III. there were a market, fair, mill, bakehouse, fisheries and local courts; the monks likewise acquired the interest of the Tillis and others; the abbot, besides the other rights, held assize of bread and beer, tumbril, pillory, standard of measure of both length and weight, infang thief and gallows; from that date Rotherham was under the jurisdiction of the abbot of the Cistercian house of Rufford, in Nottinghamshire, until the Dissolution. On the 6th of October, 1537, Rotherham, taken from the monks of Rufford, was granted by Henry VIII. to George, Earl of Shrewsbury: in the default of male issue of the house of Talbot, the lordship of Rotherham became the property of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk, and afterwards the appanage of a younger branch of that princely house; in 1837 this branch received the title of Earls of Effingham, and by them it has continued to be held.

In the year 1307, King Edward I. made a grant to the people of Rotherham of another market to be held on Friday and a fair yearly at Midsummer; the period of holding this fair was varied by subsequent charters, and it must have been of some importance as it was held for several days.

In the fifteenth century the town obtained great advantages from one of its townsmen, Thomas, the son of Sir John Rotherham, who was born there in 1423 and became Archbishop of York; in 1483 he founded a college of ecclesiastics, consisting of a provost and two fellows, who were to perform divine service and teach a Grammar school free of cost to the learners; the course was to include Latin, poetry, rhetoric and music, singing, writing and arithmetic; it was to be both a trade school and a preparatory school for holy orders, and the class of writing and arithmetic might be attended by those who did not wish to follow the Latin classes, giving an example of a more liberal and practical institution than until lately was the characteristic of grammar schools; six poor scholars were to act as choristers of the church; five chantry priests were provided with apartments in the college; it was by this great benefactor that the church of Rotherham was, as is supposed, so magnificently rebuilt; this college was not finally suppressed until the reign of Edward VI.; the court house is partly built on the site: the destruction of this college was a great loss to Rotherham; it deprived it of a collegiate institution and of a large body of clergy deriving their substance from estates in various distant places; in 1584 the loss of the college was supplied by the foundation of the Grammar school, or, according to the opinion of some, the collegiate school had been maintained and was only then further endowed.

Mary Queen of scots, when a prisoner, rested at Rotherham one night in the first year of her captivity; and Charles I. when a prisoner in the hands of the scotch, likewise stayed a night there. During the civil wars, Rotherham took early part with the Parliament; in September, 1642, the people assembled at Rotherham Moor and proceeded to throw up works around the town: it was established as a garrison by Lord Fairfax and held for the Parliament during the winter. In 1643 the Royalist fortes, having been strengthened, advanced against Rotherham, and headed by the Earl of Newcastle, took possession of the town after a smart resistance; the schoolboys gallantly took part-in the contest in defence of liberty, and thirty of them worked a small gun against the enemy; when all the powder was spent the town surrendered on honourable terms, but the Earl of Newcastle levied great exactions on the town and inhabitants. The Royalists garrisoned the town, but after the victory of Marston Moor, it was yielded up to a detachment of the Parliamentary army.

A Charter of Incorporation was granted to Rotherham July 18th. 1871, from which day the town has been known as the borough of Rotherham, which consists of the townships of Rotherham and Kimberworth and is divided into six wards, viz. East Ward, South Ward, West Ward, North Ward, Masbrough Ward and Kimberworth Ward.

The town is well lighted with gas and supplied with water by the Local Board.

The Gas Works, which are in Frederick street, were established in 1833, by a limited liability company, with a capital of £5,000; in 1870 the Local Board acquired the undertaking by compulsory purchase, the price being at the rate of 24 years’ purchase, the share capital being £28,500: the price paid by the Board was £53,455 7s. 8d. Considerable improvements have since taken place by the addition of a new gasometer, boilers, purifiers, condensers, washers and a river wall; the total amount expended up to the present time being £90,000. Gas is supplied to private consumers of 44,500 cubic feet at 3s. per 1000 cubic feet, and below that amount at 3s. 3d. per 1000; the total number of consumers is about 4,000. There are abolit 750 public lamps lighted in the town and district. The total amount of gas made in 1880 was 1,500,000 cubic feet. The offices are in the front of the works, the upper portion being used for the Free Library.

The Water Works were first established in 1827 by a company with a capital of £2,000; the water was then obtained from bore-holes in Wellgate, and the pumping station was in Quarry hill, the water being pumped from the bore-holes in Wellgate to a small service tank in the Crofts: these works were purchased by the Local Board in 1853 for £4,000: the Local Board afterwards expended large sums in the erection of new works, with two powerful pumping engines by Messrs. Beecroft and Butler, of Kirkstall, under the supervision of Messrs. Lee and Stevenson, civil engineers, of London, and two service reservoirs were formed, one on the summit of Boston hill and the other at Kimberworth; as the Wellgate water proved inadequate for the town an Act was obtained in 1863, under which new reservoirs have been constructed, one at Ulley Brook which was completed in 1874, and covers 33 acres, and is capable of holding 150 millions of gallons; the streams of Ulley Brook and Morthen Brook, which are fed from a gathering ground of 3,200 acres, flow into this reservoir; there are also at Ulley two large filter beds; the water is conveyed from these filters through a 12-inch cast iron pipe to a circular reservoir in Whiston meadows, capable of holding 800,000 gallons; the supply from Pinch mill is delivered into this reservoir, from which the water flews through a 12-inch cast iron pipe to the pumping station in Rotherham; during 1877 three filter beds were constructed, and a stone-ware Conduit was laid to the borough boundary, and 49 ½ acres of land Were purchased ht a cost of £10,900 for the additional storage reservoir. Messrs. Lawson and Mansergh, of London, were the engineers. The total amount expended on capital account to March, 1880, was £123,225 12s. 11d. Mr. James Mansergh, of London, is consulting engineer, and Mr. Luke Berry is engineer and general manager. The average quantity yielded per day is 1,369,275 gallons from the combined sources: the length of mains in the district and borough is 40 miles.

The parish church of Rotherham is named All Saints; the site has been occupied by a church from the Anglo-Saxon times, but the present building dates from the reign of Edward IV, and is a fine specimen of the Perpendicular architecture of that period: it is cruciform, with chancel, which is of three bays with aisles extending to the end of the second bay, large nave and north and south transepts: the transept is of the same height as the nave, and from the intersection a lofty and graceful spire rises, with pinnacles reaching to one-third of its height, and thence crocketed to the top; it has four pinnacles also crocketed at the base, forming a rich cluster with the pinnacles of the tower t the west front with a large window is Perpendicular and very fines the window of the south transept is stained, in memory of Mary, the wife of the late J. Waring esq. of Howarth Hall, and of Mark, Waring, knight of the order of Leopold of Belgium, his youngest son: the east window of the south transept inserted in 1867, is in memory of Miss Sarah Nightingale and her brother; the west window of the south transept, is in memory of her sister. Mrs. Elizabeth Nightingales the font, supposed to have belonged to the old church, is Anglo-Saxon.; on the south side of the communion table are three sedilia; there is a very good organ built in 1777, by the late celebrated William Snetzler, at a cost of £420, and enlarged in 1843, at a cost of about £200; in the tower is an admirable peal of ten bells, erected April 24th. 1821, at a cost of £1,241 2s. 8d. and recently recast, also a clock by W. Potts & Sons, of Leeds, having four external dials, 7 feet 4 inches, in diameter, and striking the hours and quarter hours; the cost of erection was £290: the church is heated throughout, and well lighted with gas, and has sittings for 1,500 persons, all free: some of the tombs are very old; one of these is an altar-tomb to Robert Swyft, dated 1539; Richard Howard, Earl of Effingham, is buried here: there is a marble monument in the south transept in commemoration of fifty young persons who were drowned in the river Don, at Masbrough, on the 5th of July 1841, on the occasion of a launch; the monument was raised by public subscription, as was a fund for the relief of the bereaved families: the church was thoroughly repaired in 1845 and has been frequently engraved in topographical and architectural works; the thorough restoration of the structure, externally and internally, by the removal of the galleries, and the complete re-stalling and renovating of the whole fabric, was effected in 1877, under the direction of the late Sir Gilbert Scott, at a cost of £10,000. The parish register dates from the year 1556, and is in good condition. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £300 with residence, in the gift of the Archbishop of York and held by the Rev. Benjamin Stewart Darbishire M.A. of Wadham College, Oxford; the Rev. George Ohlson M.A. master of the Grammar school, is lecturer.

St. Stephen’s ecclesiastical parish was formed in 1871. The church, situated on St. Ann’s road, was opened in 1874: it is a stone edifice in the Early English style, erected at a cost of £4,000, and has chancel, nave, aisles, vestry and Organ chamber; a tower with spire is intended to be added when suffiraient funds are forthcoming, the tower at present having been carried up high enough to form a porch: the interior has a very good effect, the walls being painted sage green, with a dado of dark red and a black plinth: the east wall of the nave and the chancel are richly diapered; in the south aisle are three stained glass windows: it is fitted with open benches and has 650 sittings, all free: the church was built from designs by Messrs. Barry, of Liverpool: Mr. E. Isle Hubbard, of Rotherham, being superintending architect. The register dates from the year 1874. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £340, in the gift of the Archbishop of York and held by the Rev. William Pilkington, of St. Bees.

The Unitarian Church of “Our-Fathar,” situated in Moorgate, is a handsome Gothic stone building, with a spire rising to the height of 150 feet, and consists of an entrance lobby with gallery above, nave and chancel with an octagonal recess for the organ to the left of the chancel; behind the communion table are some erred sedilia of pure Gothic: the pulpit is at the side: the reading desk is supported by ebonized pillars, the cusps of the head of the pulpit are picked out with gold: at the east end is a window of beautiful proportions filled with tinted glass: there is a finely carved stone font presented by Mr. Isaac Hanby of Rotherham: the chapel is lighted by two large coronæ of polished brass with 24 lights each suspended from the roof, and two standards of 12 lights each in the chancel: the church is heated throughout by hot air: the seats, which are all free, are of a bold and substantial character, the ends being richly moulded, and will seat 320 persons; the building cost £3,610, which was raised by subscription: it was opened February 18th. 1880: Messrs. Flockton & Gibbs, Sheffield, were the architects.

The Catholic chapel (St. Bede’s) is in Station road, Masbrough, and was built in 1843, at a cost of £1,400; it is in the Decorated style of the fourteenth century, and has in connection with it spacious day schools recently erected; there is also a cemetery.

The Congregational chapel, in College road, Masbrough, is a large and commodious building, which whs built by Mr. Joshua Walker in 1777, and since enlarged: the interior is fitted up in the most modern style, and forms a contrast with the plain appearance of the exterior; it contains many beautiful monuments, mostly of the Walker family, whose mausoleum stands in the ground: it has an organ, and a large Sunday school is attached to it. The Rotherham Congregational church, in Doncaster road, is a handsome Gothic stone building, with tower and lofty spire, erected in 1866, at a cost of £6,000 (including the adjoining Sunday schools), and will seat about 850 persons. Zion chapel, United Methodists, erected at the corner of Effingham street and Henry street, at a cost of £2,000, by subscription, was opened August 1860: it is a neat stone building, with seating accommodation for 700 persons. The Particular Baptists have a chapel in Wortley road, Masbrough. The Unitarian chapel was originally a Presbyterian chapel, built in 1706; it was partly rebuilt in 1841; the chapel is in Oilmill fold, and is now used as a Sunday school. The Wesleyans have a chapel in Talbot lane, built in 1805, and enlarged in 1832, which will seat 800 persons; and large day and Sunday school. The Baptist chapel was formerly on Masbrough common; it was rebuilt in 1836 at the bottom of Westgate in a handsome style and on an enlarged scale, at a cost of £1,100; in 1859 it was considerably improved and commodious schoolrooms were erected at a cost of £1,000: it is thoroughly heated and well lighted with gas, contains a good organ, and will seat about 470 persons. The Primitive Methodist chapel in Wellgate is a plain stone building, erected in 1851 by subscription, at a cost of £1,391; it has gallery round, and seats 500 persons. There is also a small one in Wing street, Masbrough.

The Brethren have a chapel in Moorgate road, erected in 1875, by Mr. Richard Chrimes, it is a neat substantial red brick building, with sittings for 400 persons; there are commotions schools attached.

The Rotherham Independent College was founded in 1756; the present building is a noble structure occupying a piece of ground of four acres at Moorgate; it is in the collegiate Gothic style, the materials used being the local red stone with dressings of Roche Abbey stone; the principal entrance is richly moulded and surmounted by a tower 60 feet in height from the base and 360 feet above the level of the town: the library and dining rooms are in the front of the building; the windows are enriched by tracery and mullions: the total number of rooms in the building is 140; it was opened September 20th. 1876, for 30 students, at a cost of £20,000; it is in connection with the University of London, for the education of ministers for the Congregational denomination, and the students can present themselves for examination for degrees in art at the University; the curriculum Includes a three years’ course of study in theology, biblical languages and literature, Church history, homiletics &C.; there is also a preparatory course of two years study in classics, mathematics, logic, and moral philosophy; each candidate must be a member of an independent church, and be recommended by the church of which he is a member; applications for admission are to be forwarded to the principal of the college before the 15th day of August, or the 15th day of December; the applicant is required to appear before the preliminary deamination commette; if he has taken a degree in any university, or if he satisfies the examiners with his knowledge of Latin, Greek and mathematics, or with other qualifications than these, he will then appear before the General Committee, and if the committee is satisfied with his documents, with the report of the examining committee, and with his personal communication with them, the applicant will be received on probation till the next regular meeting of the committee; the probation being ended, he will, if approved, on the report of the tutors, be admitted to a theological course to extend over three years, including the probationary term; if the candidate desires to enter upon the Preparatory Arts’ course, he will be required to submit to an examination in the English language, English history, arithmetic, Bible history and Paley’s Evidences, or Butler’s Three Sermons on Human Nature, and then to appear before the general committee; this preparatory course may be extended to three years, to enable the student to take a degree in London University, or it may be abridged if the student is able to satisfy the examiners of his fitness to enter upon the theological course; in ordinary cases, an annual payment of at least £10, payable half-yearly in advance, is required with each student during his stay in college, in addition to his personal incidental expenses; the “Ansell Scholarship” value £25, tenable for four years, is awarded by competition to fully qualified students; there are also two exhibitions of £40 each provided by Lady Hewley’s trustees; present number of students, 30. There are twelve feoffees of the common lands of Rotherham, constituted under a deed of trust of the 25th of Elizabeth. who held certain common lands and some houses; the proceeds were formerly applied for the relief of the poor people of the town, for the maintaining and repairing the bridges in and about the town, support of schools and the payment of common charges wherewith the town and its inhabitants may be charged, but the income, now nearly £1,200 a year, besides the interest on Mr, Bentley’s bequest of £3,000, is expended in distributions of coals twice a year, the maintenance of the charity school, and various charities and improvements in the town; the feoffees are likewise governors of the Grammar school and of the Feoffees’ school: the number of twelve feoffees is kept up by election in the manner specified in a trust deed executed in 1788, the lord of the manor being always one of the number.

In Boston Castle grove, Moorgate, is the Rotherham General Cemetery, under a Burial Board, with a mortuary chapel and lodges at the entrance, founded in 1842; the area is about seven acres, well planted and laid out.

The Masbro’ Cemetery, in Kimberworth read was opened in 1871, under a Burial Board formed in 1868, and comprises four acres of land with two mortuary chapels and lodge at the entrance, the total cost being about £3,000.

The school Board for the united district of the borough of Rotherham and the parish of Brinsworth was formed on the 23rd of November, 1875, and have since erected four schools, at a cast of over £15,000, including costs of sites, furnishing and caretakers’ houses, which afford room for 1,846 children, out of an original deficiency of 1,947 to be provided by the Board: the amount expended is borrowed from The Public Works Loan Commissioners, under the powers of the Education Acta of 1870 and 1873, for a term of 50 years, at 4 ¼ per cent, interest.

The Grammar school is under the government of the town feoffees; in 1484 a small grant of £10 15s. 4d. was recovered by the then schoolmaster, Thomas Snell, temp. Queen Elizabeth. for the education of eight boys in Latin and Greek, and there are other small endowments: the school with house for the master (the Rev. George Ohlson M.A.) is an elegant building with large playground at Moorgate, erected in 1857, costing about £1,300; there are about 60 boys.

“The Feoffees’ Charity school, in the Crofts, is under the same government, built in 1776, and enlarged in 1870 at a cost of £400, and having an endowment of £100 a year; there are 40 boys and 30 girls on the foundation, who are-educated and clothed and put apprentices and out to service at art annual cost of about £284 by the feoffees.

The National school holds 275 boys and about 220 girls. Church Infant school about 180. The Wesleyan Day school (1859) is large and commodious, with master’s residence attached, and has 272 boys and girls and 142 infants. The British and Foreign school was built in 1833; it is for 200 boys and 200 girls. St. Stephen’s National school, Frederick street, has accommodation for 250 children, and was erected in 1870. The Parkgate school is on the Lancastrian system and Was built by Earl Fitzwilliam in 1843; it in for 150 children. Hollis’ (or the Unitarian) school was founded by Thomas Hollis, sen. of London, in 1702, and enlarged in 1789, and turret added and further enlarged in 1862, for the education of twelve poor boys and twelve poor girls; it is endowed with £20 a year; it educates 90 boys, 80 girls and 40 infants; Ebenezer Elliott was educated here, a bust of him by George Jessop, is in the school.

The Mechanics' Institute, situate at the corner of Howard street and Effingham street, is a stone building, erected in 1853, and has a library of about 3,000 volumes; news room, which is well supplied with the leading London and provincial papers, periodicals and magazines; also class rooms and two commodious lecture rooms, which are also let for public entertainments: there are about 170 members, who pay a yearly subscription ranging from 10s. 6d. for artisans and mechanics to £2 2s. for honorary members; interesting lectures are given, and evening classes held during the winter months. Earl Fitzwilliam and the Earl of Effingham are presidents; it is intended shortly to add further rooms.

The Public subscription Library was established in 1775; it has a collection of 4,000 volumes, and is held in the public building, formerly the old Dispensary, erected in 1829; the members subscribe one guinea yearly, in addition to one guinea entrance fee.

The Free Library was opened on the 6th October, 1880, and occupies the upper rooms of the Gas Office in Bridgegate, it has a good reading room, which is well supplied with magazines and periodicals, and a circulating library of about 2,200 volumes, provided at a cost of £300, including 600 volumes left by the late Dr. Shearman, of Rotherham.

During the past few years, considerable improvements have been made in the town, a new bridge built over the Don, and a new street formed from High street to the Crofts, several good buildings and shops have been erected, and others are in progress.

Near Ickles Hall is Templebrough, the site of the Roman camp and station called Ad Fines; near this is Burgh Green. The Homan Ridge passes about 1 ¼ miles west of Rotherham.

The Court House is a handsome building, erected in 1826 at a coat of upwards of £5,000; in it are held the petty sessions, the county court and land tax commission. The borough magistrates meet in petty sessions at the Court House every Thursday and the county every Monday at eleven o’clock; adjoining is a commodious house for the superintendent, and cells to accommodate 50 prisoners. The Board of Guardians meet at the Union House every Monday. The Feoffees’ meetings are also held at the Court House. The police force is under the direction of the Chief Constable of the West Riding, and consists of a superintendent, 2 inspectors, 8 sergeants and 51 constables.

A Hospital has been erected on the Doncaster road, of which the first stone was laid by the Earl De Grey and Ripon (now Marquis of Ripon) in February, 1870; it is built of light Thrybergh stone, with high roofs and dormer windows, in the Tudor style, and stands in extensive grounds: it is on the most approved sanitary principles, and cost about £10,000, including the expense of furnishing and laying out the grounds; the whole has been raised by voluntary subscription, towards which the late Mias Nightingale gave £1,000; the Right Honourable Earl Fitzwilliam £500; J. N. Mappin esq. £500; most of the manufacturers of the town and neighbourhood also contributed very liberally: the principal block facing the road, contains the dispensary and house for surgeon, with entrance in centre: the old Dispensary (established 1806) is merged in the new building, where there is provision for 30 beds, which could be increased to 80 if necessary: it was opened November, 1871, and has an average annual income of £1,410.

The Almshouses were founded in 1780 by Mary Bellamy, for four poor women, and were endowed with about £70 a year, now considerably increased, the inmates each receive £20 yearly, and two loads of coal, and £10 is also yearly distributed to the poor of the town.

There are large works for iron and steel, railway carriages, railway wheel works and general forgings; glass works, stone china, earthenware, pottery, pot mould and pipe-clay works, breweries, saw mills, works for pyroligneous acid and British gum; rope yards likewise give extensive employment. There are wharves on the river and warehouses at the railway stations.

Plans for anew Market Hall at a cost, including purchase of property for site, of £17,000 to £18,000, have been decided on and are now in process of being carried out.

The Markets for corn and cattle formerly brought much trade to the town. The weekly market is held on Monday, and every second Monday there is a larger market or fair. The butter and poultry market is held weekly on Friday. There are fairs yearly on Whit Monday and December 1st and a statute fair for hiring servants on the first Monday in November. The shambles are in the Market place and Church street, and the cattle market, which is held in the Crofts every Monday, is well supplied with fat stock of every kind.

The Act of 1863 enabled the Local Board to purchase the existing fairs and markets, and to establish new fairs and markets within the district, and to purchase and extinguish dues and duties paid and collected within the town of Rotherham.

There are three Banks and a savings Bank.

The Branch Bank of the Sheffield Union Banking Company in College street, erected in 1878, is a handsome building, it is of stone in the Queen Anne style, from the designs of Messrs. Hadfield and sonsy of Sheffield: the internal arrangements are such as to afford the greatest convenience for business purposes: the strong-rooms, safes and the elaborate fittings throughout being of the most modern construction: the manager’s residence is in the upper part of the building.

The”Rotherham and Masbrough Advertiser,” established in 1858 and enlarged in 1876 to 56 columns, is published weekly and has a very extensive circulation in the towns and surrounding villages.

The Sheffield and Rotherham Bank in High street, was established in 1796 by Messrs. Walker and Stanley, who converged it into a joint stock company in 1836.

The Rotherham savings Bank was established in Wellgate in 1846, and removed in 1851 to Howard street; it is a stone building, erected at a cost of about; £700; the Earl of Effingham and Earl Fitzwilliam are presidents; the Hon, and Rev. William, Howard J.P. vice-president; Mr, John Gibbs, treasurer; and Mr. John Barras, actuary: the Bank is open from 2 to 3 o’clock on Mondays, and on Saturday evening from 7 to 8.

The Council Hall, in Howard street, is a small but well furnished room; in the same building are the town clerk’s and collectors’ offices, The other Corporation offices are in Frederick street, recently erected for the borough surveyor, accountant and sanitary inspector.

The Rotherham Club, in High street, formerly a private house, was opened February 6th. 1878, and contains billiard, coffee, reading and smoking rooms, which are well fitted up; the subscription is five guineas yearly, with an entrance fee of five guineas.

The Rotherham Chess Club, established 1869, meet at Kenyon’s dining rooms, College street, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

A Drill Hall for the Volunteers has been erected in Wharncliffe street at a cost of £2,500; it is a handsome red brick building with stone facing, containing a large drill hall 99 feet by 60 feet, surrounded by a light but elegant gallery, and two retiring rooms at the further end of the hall, also a residence for the sergeant-instructor, with suitable accommodation for stores, offices and orderly rooms, and will seat about 2,000 persons: it is occupied by three companies (B, E & I) of the 8th West Yorks Rifle Volunteers, whose headquarters are at Doncaster, under the command of Major Robinson.

The Post Office was built by the Midland Railway Company in Westgate, nearly opposite their station, at a cost of £4,000, and opened October 24th. 1877; it is a substantial stone building, two stories high in front and three at back, with a frontage to the street of 25 feet. Upon the ground floor there are the public office for stamps, money orders &c. with entrance from the street, and a clerks’ or letter-sorting room; each of the rooms is well lighted, the former by eight and the latter by four windows. The floor above contains the postmaster’s room and the telegraph instrument room, together with the messengers’ room. On the basement floor are the clerks’ and letter carriers’ retiring rooms, lavatory &c. Mr. James Williams, of Her Majesty’s Board of Works, was the architect. The whole of the building is thoroughly ventilated by Boyles' patent.

The Temperance Hall, which is in Howard street, was formerly a chapel and afterwards a music hall and theatre; it is a plain stone building with gallery at one end and has sittings for 550 persons: on the walls are hung nine beautiful oil paintings and one engraving, presented by Mrs. Guest in memory of her late husband, Ald. Guest F.S.A, who was for many years president of the Temperance society.

St. George’s Hall, Effingham street, is a handsome block of buildings in the Elizabethan style, of red pressed bricks, with stone facings and intermixed with red terra cotta: the building is four stories in height and contains on the ground, floor, handsome bars, coffee and dining rooms: on the upper stories are a number of rooms for the use of clubs and parochial meetings, also a large lecture hall capable of seating 400 persons, with a separate entrance from the street: there is a large recreation room, for billiards, bagatelle and other games. The total cost of the building was £6,000, defrayed by the late vicar, the Rev. William Newton M.A. but is about to be conveyed to trustees who will carry on the work so generously begun by him. Messrs. Tacon and Rawson were the architects.

The Literary and scientific society was established in 1862, having for its object “the advancement of literature and science,” and occupies a room at the Mechanics’ Institute, in Howard street, which is well supplied with the leading daily and weekly papers and reviews; lectures and papers on popular and scientific subjects are given during the winter months: it has an interesting museum, chiefly composed of articles found during the recent explorations of Templeborough. There are about 80 members, who pay a yearly subscription of one guinea.

The Rotherham Naturalists’ society was established in 1880, and has about 70 members, who hold their meetings at the St. George’s Hall, Effingham street, every week.

The Conservative Club, in Wellgate, comprises refreshment, reading, smoking, billiard, and card and games rooms, lavatories and steward’s residence; it was opened by the Earl of Wharncliffe on October 29th. 1878, and has upwards of 200 members, who pay a yearly subscription of half a guiuea. There is also a Conservative Association, formed in 1869, which, for political purposes, is incorporated with the club.

The Rotherham Liberal Association, formed in 1875, has a suite of rooms at the corner of Howard street and Effingham street, which comprises a large reading room, smoking and games rooms. There are about 250 members, whose subscription varies.

Rotherham Park, situated in Boston Castle grove, Moorgate, was opened July 4th. 1876, and consists of about 25 acres of land, a great part of which is very tastefully laid out and planted, and has extensive walks, together with cricket, football, croquet and bowling grounds; the situation is picturesque and attractive; it is held on lease by the Corporation from the Earl of Effingham, for 42 years, at an annual rental of £40; there are four galas held during the year to defray expenses. A rustic house has been built on the grounds for the bowls, croquet mallets &c. In the rock face near this is the interesting relic of the old college, discovered some years ago in the course of excavation for new shops; it is supposed to have been the doorway to the college gardens: the amount expended by the Corporation in laying out the grounds &c. was £3,775. The old tower is used as a keeper’s residence.

The Great Dole produces £180 yearly. The Bentley Charity yields interest on three sums respectively, that on £3,000 far annual gifts of about £11 each to six poor men and four poor women, and on sums of £400 for the Dispensary and £100 for the Wesleyan Benefit society; there are various other small charities.

The Earl of Effingham, one of the Howard family, is hereditary lord of the manor of Rotherham and of the manor of Kimberworth and impropriator of its great tithes, a feoffee of the town of Rotherham and governor of the Grammar school.

The population of the township in 1861 was 8,390, and in 1871, 11,248; the area is 1,271 acres; gross estimated rental, Rotherham £59,243; Kimberworth £65,568; Borough £124,811. Rateable value, Rotherham £55,231; Kimberworth £56,870; Borough £121,040. The entire area of the parish is 13,585 acres; the population in 1871 was 31,080; of the municipal borough 25,087. In 1880, Rotherham township 16,304; Kimberworth township 16,097; Brinsworth township 1,080; Greasbro’ township 967; Whiston township 306; Borough 34,754.

The church of St. John the Evangelist, situated near the railway station, was erected in 1864, at a cost of about £4,000, and is a stone edifice with about 600 sittings, all free; it is in the Decorated style, and comprises a chancel, lofty nave with aisles and clerestory, transept and a small belfry at the west end. The register dates from the year 1864. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £200, in the gift of the Archbishop of York and held by the Rev. Frederick William Pudsey M.A. of St. Alban Hall, Oxford.

The area is 433 acres; the population in 1871 was 8,091.

Moorgate Road, 1 mile south-east, is pleasantly situated on an eminence; here are very handsome seats and villa residences, principally occupied by the gentry, merchants and manufacturer; of Rotherham and vicinity.

Clubs

Rotherham Club, 22 High street, Frederick Rogers, sec.; Charles Joseph Dalton, steward.

Rotherham Chess Club, Kenyon’s dining rooms, 4 College street, Ald. E. Kelsey, president; J. R. Shepherd, lion. Sec. Victoria street, Masbro’.

Rotherham Conservative Club, Wellgate. George W. Chambers esq. J.P. president; H. C. Tayler & W. H. Sheldon, hon secs.; George Ashley, steward Rotherham & District Liberal Association Rooms, Howard street, F. J. S. Foljambe esq. M.P. president, George Whitehead & George Gummer, hon secs.

Public Libraries

Free Library, Bridgegate, John Mason, chairman; Win. Hall, librarian.

Mechanics’ Institute & Library, Howard street & Effingham street, George Eskholme, president; Charles II. Moss, hon. Sec.; John Thompson, curator subscription Library, College street, Humphrey Davy, treasurer; Miss Eliza Raybould, librarian.

Literary, Philosophical & Adult Educational Institutions.

Mechanics’ Institute, corner of Howard St. & Effingham St. George Eskholme, president; John Howitt, treasurer; Charles H. Moss, hon. Sec.; John Thompson, curator Rotherham Literary scientific society, Mechanics’ Institute, Howard street, Rev. B. S. Darbyshire M.A. president; Rev. P. C. Barker M.A., LL.B. & Rev. George Ohlson M.A. hon. Secs Rotherham Naturalists’ society, St. George’s hall, Effingham St. F. W. Dickinson, sec.; sam. H. Bennett, curator Rotherham school of science & Art, Mechanics’ Institute, Howard street, G. B. Willis, hon. Sec.; George A. Illston, master.

Religious & Charitable Institutions. British Foreign Bible society, Depot, 1 Highst. Wilson Waterfall esq. hon. Sec.; J. H. Boulton, manager society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 11 Church street, Rev. F. W. Pudsey M.A. hon. Sec All saints’ Church Mutual Improvement society, St. George’s hall, Rev. B. S. Darbyshire M.A. president; Henry Pape & Samuel Ward, hon. Secs St. Stephen’s Young Men’s Mutual Improvement society, National schools, Frederick street, Rev. W. Pilkington, president; William Perkins, hon. Sec Talbot Lane Young Mens Christian Association & Improvement society, Rev. George T. Taylor, president; George H. Woollen & F. Whittington, hon. secs.

Places of Recreation & Amusement.

Clarence Music Hall, 56 & 58 Effingham street, Aaron Mellor, proprietor Co-operative society’s Assembly Rooms, off station road, Masbro’, T. J. Baylis, secretary Drill Hall, Wharncliffe St. Wm. Tresham, sergt. in charge Effingham Music Hall, 39 Effingham St. Allred Taylor, proprietor.

Grafton Music Hall, Effingham St. Geo. Towers, proprietor Mechanics' Institute, Effingham St. John Thompson, man Rotherham Park, Boston Castle gro. Hy. Albiston, park kpr St. George’s Hall Effingham street, Amos Acaster, man Temperance Hall, Howard street, Peter Clark & Chris Benson, hon. Secs Theatre Royal, Effingham street, manager vacant.

Musical & Choral societies &c.

Rotherham Choral society, College St. Hy. Ewing, sec Rotherham Glee society, 31 High street, Ald. R. Marsh, president; John H. Dunford, hon. Sec Rother Minstrels, College yard, Alfred Holdsworth. sec Rotherham Ivanhoe Hand-Bell Ringers, 129 Eastwood lane, Henry N. Flintham, secretary Royal Excelsior Hand-Bell Ringers, 46 Carlisle street, Thomas Cundey, secretary.

Rotherham Union

Office, Howard street.

Rotherham Union is arranged in five sub-districts—1, Beighton parish & township of Aston, with Aughton, Orgreave, Catcliffe, Treeton, Ulley & Brampton-en-le-Morthen; 2, Wickersley & Whiston parishes & the townships of Brinsworth. Tinsley, Rotherham & Dalton; 3, Rawmarsh parish & the townships of Kimberworth & Greasbrough; 4, the townships of Wentworth. Brampton Bierlow, Wath-upon-Dearne & Swinton; the parishes of Hooton Roberts, Thrybergh, Ravenfield, Laughton-en-le-Morthen & Maltby, with the township of Bramley.

Population in 1871, 57,463; rateable value in 1876, £325,287; area, 52,901 acres. The Union, Workhouse, a stone building, pleasantly situated in Alma road, was built in 1839 at a cost of £5,000, & will hold about 300 persona; attached is an infectious hospital; five acres of ground are attached to it.

Board day, Monday, weekly.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of service.

BOARD SCHOOLS

Blackburn, Miss Howarth. mistress.

Kimberworth. E. Smith. master; Miss Bradford, infants' mistress.

Thornhill, James street, Masbro’, Julian Baylis, master; Miss Mary E. Glover, mistress.

Wellgate, Aldred street, Joseph Woollman, master; Miss Catherine Chisholm, mistress; Miss Annie E. Broad, infants’ mistress.

SCHOOLS

Independent College, Moorgate, Rev. Frederick J. Faiding D.D. principal; Rev. Cornelius C. Tyte, professor of biblical exegesis; Rev. P, C, Barker M.A., LL.B. professor of classics & mathematics; James Yates esq. J.P., D.L. treasurer; John E. Askham esq. vice-treasurer; John Wm. Pye-Smith esq. Sec.; Rev. T. Warren, finance sec.

Art & science, Mechanics’ Institute, Howard street, Geo. A. Illston, master.

Grammar, Moorgate, Rev. George Ohlson M.A. headmaster; Rev. Arthur T, Hanson B.A. Second master.

Feoffees’ Endowed Grammar, Crofts, Henry Braithwaite, master; Frederick Hepworth. assistant master; Mrs. Jane Beanthwaite, sewing mistress.

Hollis’s Endowed (or Unitarian), Oil Mill fold, George Henry Hague, master; Miss Elizaheth Kensett, mistress; Miss Elizabeth Butler, assistant mistress.

Aldwarke National, Fitzwilliam road, Miss Annie Elizabeth Giles, mistress.

Kimberworth National, Kimberworth road, Masbro’, George Hemingway, master; Miss Annie Maria Keeble, infants’ mistress.

Rotherham National (boys), Nottingham street, James Gray, master; Samuel Harrison & George Parker, assistant masters; (girls), College lane, Miss Susannah Allott, mistress; Miss Matilda D. Fish, assistant mistress; (infants), Howard street. Miss Louisa Lawton, mistress.

St. Bede’s Catholic, St. Bede’s road, Masbro', Miss Catherine McLaughlin & Miss Marianne Mann, mistresses.

St. John’s National, College road, Masbro’, J. W. Currie, master; Miss Harriet A. Hand, girls’ mistress; Miss Caroline Arnold, infants’ mistress.

St. Stephens National, Frederick street, Samuel Marshall, master; Miss Alice Hennel & Miss Charlotte Hume, assistant mistresses Wesleyan, Talbot lane, Joseph Cox, master; Miss Jane Easton, mistress.