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Glimpses of Cudworth Old and New
By Brian Elliott
 Cudworth on an August Bank Holiday Saturday morning. It was a warm sunny day, for a change, so perhaps even busier than usual.
By mid-morning it was nice to enjoy a coffee, sat outside Poppy’s cafe. There were plenty of shoppers and people going about their business along the main thoroughfare, Barnsley Road, and loads of traffic passing by. On the pavement individuals stopped for a chat and greetings were exchanged between pedestrians and passing motorists. There’s a good range of shops and services, even a couple of furniture stores (Roberts’) and it soon became clear that a lot of hard work has been done in recent years by community volunteers, councillors and professionals in key social and economic areas, part of the regeneration of the Borough as a whole, bringing Cudworth out of the doldrums following the 1984/85 miners’ strike.
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 I have always found Cudworth to be a friendly place. Many years ago, when I was a small boy living at nearby Carlton it was a great adventure to walk to ‘Cudorth’ with a few mates, passing through the ‘monkey tunnel’ under the railway that ran by Wharncliffe Woodmoor 4 & 5 Colliery. The great attraction was Cudworth Park and in particular the open air swimming baths. Do you remember the baths? I still shudder at the thought of the first plunge but what a treat it was to go there in the summer school holidays. Later, when I was a teenager, mI enjoyed playing tennis in the park, marathon, highly competitive games against my best friend. As an adult, living in Barnsley, I continued to visit Cudworth, taking part in Barnsley Road Runners’ summer track championships. As a distance runner, usually on the roads, running at the Dorothy Hyman Stadium made a pleasant but challenging change, the shorter events extremely hard. At the stadium I became aware of the work of dedicated local sprint coaches such as Peter Watson.
Another confession to make: my first local history books, on the ancient parish of Royston, were privately printed in Cudworth in the mid-1980s, at the Anchor Press. Many locals will remember the small Barnsley Road printer’s shop situated near the busy bend of the road, a little above the Victoria Hotel. I can’t remember the name of the somewhat eccentric lady who ran it but I’ll never forget the incredibly muddled interior. On the paper-strewn floor stood a basket of racing pigeons and two great metal printing presses. Got a shock one day when an old chap walked into the shop and had his hair cut, his discarded silver bits making an interesting contribution to the floor debris. Anyway, Anchor did a pretty good job with the two publications, each one selling out in a few months.
Although for many years part of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, Cudworth has thankfully retained a lot of it own character. Mention it as a suburb at your own risk. Local organisations such as the Cudworth Local History and Heritage Group and the Friends of Cudworth Park are maintaining its sense of identity. An excellent quarterly magazine, ‘Chewin t’Cud’, is also in great demand.
Throughout a good part of the last century, Cudworth functioned as an urban district council in its own right. Ecclesiastically, Cudworth remained part of Royston parish until the 1840s when it became part of the new parish of Monk Bretton.
 For convenience the village school in Upper Cudworth (now the Wonderland Nursery) was licensed for divine services before St John the Baptist church was built in 1892 (just after the erection of the Wesleyan chapel) when the population had expanded, somewhat slowly, to over 1,600. The greatest increase in numbers of residents took place during the first two decades of the twentieth century, when the population reached almost 7,000. Many mining and some railway families lived in what was now a large village or small urban area, even though it never had its own big modern pit. But there were large collieries within a walk, bike or bus paddy ride, at Carlton, Royston and Grimethorpe.
From the 1840s, railways played an important part in the life of Cudworth. On the Midland line the so-called ‘Barnsley’ station was rightly renamed Cudworth in 1854, though it took nearly 20 years for a ‘push-pull’ passenger service to operated from Cudworth to Barnsley, ending in the late 1950s. Cudworth Station also served as the terminus of what was to become the Hull & Barnsley Railway in 1905, transporting Barnsley area coal to the Alexandra Docks at Hull.
It closed in 1968.
 For my little tour I started from the small car park by the old school and looked across at what was once Cudworth’s theatre of dreams: the former cinema, now Ramsdens.
The upper part of the building is now used as a billboard. Outside the lower area was a small display of inflatable paddling pools. So lidos still exist in Cudworth. I guess many local people can remember doing a bit of courting inside The Rock, when it was a thriving picture house, and one that inspired the cinematic interests of a young Michael Parkinson. Nearby is an interesting old place-name: Belle Green.
A more modern one: Market Street was perhaps an optimistic Edwardian choice, as perhaps was Prospect Street. Crossing the busy road by the Wonderland Nursery, an indication of the great building work which was taking place all along Barnsley Road during the early 1900s can be seen in the Edwardian datestone of the Victoria Hotel: an imposing hostelry when it opened in 1910. Joseph Greensmith held the licence in 1936. Further down the road there are several other datestones on properties erected by private landlords, including one, dated 1885, named Gladstone Cottages, after the famous Liberal statesman William Ewart Gladstone who was Prime Minister at the time.
 Opposite the old school, what also caught my eye was the Honest Interiors/Fireplace shop which had models of an English bulldog and pig chained outside. Further on, I passed the Victoria Garage and Fulton (Frozen, ‘Famous for Value’) Foods’ store, housed in the former Cudworth (and West Riding?) library. I walked by the large brick Methodist church which has its own charity shop. The Sunday School has a 1913 datestone. Rev Andy Chislett-McDonald is, according to the notice board, minister. Contrasting modern and older buildings were evident across the road, at the busy Snydale junction. One property which appears to predate Victorian Cudworth on upper Barnsley Road is Poplar House, with its classical portico and handsome facade where John Gooddy, farmer, lived in the 1930s.
Diverting from the main road, I entered the Park via Carlton Street and noticed a large construction project by Morgan Ashurst well underway. Due for opening next year, this will be a new Health & Social Care Centre, what looks like to be an attractive building serving local communities. It is just what the area has needed. Another jewel in the crown is the Cudworth Centre of Excellence, a well designed library and community centre off Roberts Street, opened by local Councillor Joe Hayward in 2005. There’s disabled access and good parking close by. I also liked the location, with a backdrop of well-kept allotments. Apart from the usual library facilities and computer/internet access, the Centre is also used as a meeting place for local groups. The Local History and Heritage and the Visual Arts group meet here on a regular basis as does the Friends of Cudworth Park. For children under five, there’s a Friday afternoon story, song and rhyme session and after-school Study Support is available for 8-16 year olds on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday. It’s worth keeping your eye on notices and information at the library for a variety of other events. The Centre is a great asset for people of all ages in Cudworth and district.
 Walking along Snydale Road, I called at the Dorothy Hyman Sports Centre, named after one of the great sporting heroes of Cudworth. Born in 1941, Dorothy Hyman’s athletic potential probably emerged when she attended Cudworth Secondary Modern, encouraged by her father, Albert who coached her in Carlton Fields, near the park. A glittering national and international athletic career followed, culminating in a silver medal in the 1960 Rome Olympic 100 metres, just behind the American Wilma Rudolf. She also got a bronze in the 200 metres. Her amazing home reception will still be remembered by many people. Now the ‘Golden Girl’ of British women’s athletics, she captained the British women’s team and was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1963. Dorothy’s athletic career took place at a time when athletics was very much an amateur sport, fitting in training and competition around her work for the National Coal Board. She laid the foundation stone of the Dorothy Hyman Stadium on 10 September 1972 and it was officially opened - by Michael Parkinson - on 28 April 1973. Dorothy Hyman equalled or broke 19 UK women’s sprint records, 5 European records and was a member of two World Record relay teams.
At the Sports Centre I was met by Operations Manager Simon Potter who was kind enough to show me around some of the excellent facilities. Operated by Barnsley Premier Leisure, the Centre is used by a large number of individuals and clubs as well as for high quality Athletic training and competition, one of the best tracks in the region. DHSC is also home to Barnsley Ladies FC, Barnsley Boys FC, Barnsley AC and several amateur football teams from boys and girls to ‘fossils’ and local league teams.
 The badminton and squash courts, as well as fitness and health facilities - with instructors - are of a high standard and remarkably economical compared with private gyms. Another dimension appreciated by local people is the use of the restaurant and function areas for a range of bookable events. Two wedding receptions were due to take place not long after my visit and I would think the Sprinters’ Bar and Sunday lunches are also popular. It’s a friendly spot and a great facility for Cudworth and the east Barnsley area.
Leaving the Dorothy Hyman Sports Centre, I walked along Darfield Road towards Cudworth Common, passing the site of the old pinfold, Crown estate, community centre and Working Men’s Club. Further on, Storrs Mill is a very interesting old site, near the Dearne, the ancient boundary separating Royston and Darfield parishes.
Later on, I called at another old part of Cudworth, to look at the Manor Farm area, now converted into dwellings. Just below was Lower Cudworth, hardly recognisable these days, where The Green, White Cross Road and Lunn Road/Carrs Lane once formed a distinctive communal area, perhaps the principal site of the original Saxon settlement.
Before leaving, I visited St John the Baptist’s church. It’s a small, well-sited and attractive building but what caught my attention when entering the churchyard was the war memorial, recently restored by the Cudworth Local History and Heritage Group. It contains many family names from the two great conflicts of the twentieth century, especially the First World War when so many miners and their pals joined the army and navy but never came home. Cudworth will always remember them.
Published Autumn 2007. All information correct at time of prin
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