1925: Sheffield’s most turbulent year

1925: Sheffield’s most turbulent year

Gangsters running through Little Chicago armed with cut-throat razor blades. Vicious beatings with rubber truncheons and children’s scooters. Extorting hard-working citizens for their wages. Throwing coal in chip shop fryers. Bitter turf wars over an elaborate game of heads or tails. Hiding from the hangman’s noose. It might sound like...

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Warren Vale Colliery Explosion – 150 years on

Warren Vale Colliery Explosion – 150 years on

By Joshua Daniels A dense choking fog spread over Rawmarsh in November 1874. There had been a fatal explosion at Warren Vale Colliery, the second such incident since it was sunk in 1840. It was a Friday, 20th November, and families should have been looking forward to a weekend together....

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Make a scheduled stop at South Yorkshire Transport Museum

Make a scheduled stop at South Yorkshire Transport Museum

This summer, explore our region’s transport heritage with a visit to South Yorkshire Transport Museum in Rotherham. Running since 1995, the volunteer-owned museum has amassed over 15,000 transport-related artefacts, including 50 major vehicle exhibits on display at their Aldwarke unit. While they may be known for their collection of heritage...

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The Linen of Barnsley & Rotherham

The Linen of Barnsley & Rotherham

By historian Joshua Daniels It’s well-known that the coal, iron, steel and glass industries dominated the economies of Rotherham and Barnsley. There was, however, another very prominent industry: linen. Whilst textiles are more associated with what is now West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire was also a leading contributor to the industry....

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The Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery Explosion – 140 Years Later

The Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery Explosion – 140 Years Later

By Joshua Daniels Just after midnight on 18th October 1883, Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery suffered a disaster that saw the death of 20 men and boys. Based in the Smithies area of Barnsley, close to the border between Monk Bretton and Carlton, Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery had been operating for around five...

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Totty Cup school football competition celebrates 100th anniversary

Totty Cup school football competition celebrates 100th anniversary

As the region’s oldest primary school football competition, the Totty Cup celebrates its centenary this year.   Over the last 100 years, thousands of schoolboys from across the Don and Dearne region have laced up their boost to play for the coveted schools’ trophy – or one of them, at least;...

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Home on the Grange

Home on the Grange

Thundercliffe Grange in Rotherham is privately owned by a group of residents. But it has previously been an Earl’s family seat, a private asylum for wealthy ladies, and a hospital for disabled children.

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Who were the Earls of Effingham?

Who were the Earls of Effingham?

The Earls of Effingham were a junior branch of the House of Howard whose head was the Duke of Norfolk. They were descendants of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham who was an English commander who defeated the Spanish Armada. The Effingham family seat was in Surrey, but they became...

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Saving the Mill of the Black Monks

Saving the Mill of the Black Monks

We look back at the history of one of Barnsley’s oldest in-use buildings, the Mill of the Black Monks and the future plans of its owner Malcolm Lister.

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Rolf Heymann: a lifelong battle for freedom and peace

We meet the remarkable Rolf Heymann who fled Nazi Germany aged 10 for a safe life here in Sheffield.

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