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Wath-upon-Dearne
the ‘Queen of villages’
By Brian Elliott
 Rain, rain go away and come again another washing day.’ I felt like repeating this old childhood ditty even though I may have misquoted. I arrived at Wath on a miserable mid-August Saturday morning, pretty typical for this wettest of summers, really more like November. Anyway this small town is one of the most historic and interesting places in the Dearne Valley and I was by no means disappointed by my visit. Talking about rhymes, Wath’s most famous son, James Montgomery (1771-1854), the Scottish poet, hymn writer and newspaper editor was so fond of the place that he referred to it as the ‘Queen of villages’. Although Montgomery’s residency was quite brief his undoubted affection for Wath has been immortalised locally in a number of ways, most notably in place-names such as Montgomery Square, Montgomery Road and Montgomery Hall. The latter, used for a variety of community and cultural events he would have been proud. Attached to the outside of the Hall is a sandstone sculpture in tribute to the poet. But the Wath of Montgomery’s time was a far different place to later periods. He lived there well before the great coal mines such as Wath Main and Manvers Main were developed but would have been well aware of change.
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 In the early 1800s Wath was a picturesque, rural village where farms, crafts and trades dominated but it was also well placed for the location of inns, shops and commercial activities. By the 1820s the population had reached over 1,000, and more than trebled by the 1881 census, many families reliant on coal and iron. The proximity of the Dearne & Dove Canal certainly helped urban development though its commercial impact waned after the First World War. A reminder of the canal is the modern place-name Biscay Way, referring to the old ‘Bay of Biscay’, a broad turning point on the old waterway’s embankment. Mining families lived in new terraced houses created by local landlords and, most notably, in the planned Winterwell estate at West Melton. When Joseph Morris compiled the West Riding edition of his ‘Little Guide’ in 1911 he referred to Wath, somewhat unfairly, as ‘a large, squalid, colliery village, in one of the worst parts of the mining district’ Wath deserves better. One of the most interesting parts of old Wath is Newhill, with its medieval grange farm and the later Newhill Hall, long associated with the Payne family, Quakers, who also operated the tannery just south of West Melton. Two other notable albeit short-lived enterprises were located here during the nineteenth century: Newhill Colliery and Joseph Twigg’s pottery.
The former great communal open fields were located to the south of the settlement, School Field, Sandygate Field and Far Field still named on early large-scale twentieth century maps. Brook Dike, Gipsy Green, Golden Smithies and Gore Hill are old place-names too; and several others north of Wath remind us of the former common land: Great Moor, Well Moor and Wet Moor. Minor field names include Braithwaite (‘broad clearing’), Middle Shutt (‘shutt’ = a division of land), Stump Cross, Walker Close and Willow Holt. Wath’s place-name suggests that it originated around a crossing or ford of the Dearne, an ancient settlement certainly present in Saxon times which became one of the most important parishes on the coal-measure sandstones. Its fine medieval church, like others in our area, is architecturally complex, developing from Norman times and probably replacing an earlier timber structure. Cyril Ibbetson’s book on the church and its parsons is still available from the library.
An excellent new booklet with superb illustrations is now available, compiled by Wath’s vicar, Rev Tim Leach.
 I approached Wath from the direction of Mexborough and stopped at the former site of the huge Manvers industrial complex, which for a century, with its pitheads, railway sidings, by-product and coke processing plants had an unmistakable presence at the eastern edge of Wath. The derelict site was transformed from the mid-1990s with the help of European Social Fund as part of a major and highly successful regeneration. Now, companies such as Ventura, TSC, Ikea and T-Mobile have call and distribution centres there. The new campus of Dearne Valley College also opened nearby in 1996. Formerly known as Rockingham College when it was based in Wath itself, DVC has become one of the most successful FE establishments in the country, and has an excellent record of teaching and learning, making a vital contribution to the local economy following the rapid run-down of the mining and steel industries.
 I arrived in the town centre just after the shops had opened, and walked in the direction of Montgomery Square, from High Street. There were a few people out and about, shopping and chatting in the street. The most striking shop frontage, opposite the old Red Lion was the This ‘N’ That shop, a colourful array of goods displayed outside its small frontage. I called in the two-storey library and community centre, opened in 1970 where there was a good section on local books. The most handsome early nineteenth century building facing the Square is Church House, now a Wetherspoons ‘Free House’ pub but formerly the home of William Carr who built it as his residence when it was called Cross House, after the medieval market cross which once stood nearby. It became a ‘church house’ in 1912 when sold by William Camden. A number of interesting old properties can be seen when walking along the lower part of Sandygate. A new building, Yorkfield House (which includes the new Fahrenheit Bistro) had been built in a sympathetic style. The old blacksmith’s forge caught my eye. A pair of metal rings still in situ on the ground outside the front of the smithy serve as reminders of the versatile work of the blacksmith, when, with his assistant, he placed heated metal rims on the wooden wheels of carts and wagons. James Trickett worked there in the 1930s. Other interesting buildings include an attractive eighteenth century structure called Sandygate/The Mill.
 Close to the parish church and occupying the medieval site of the manor house of the Fleming family is the Georgian Town Hall, occupied by several local worthies as their private residence (and then as a boarding school) before being purchased for council usage in 1891. Also near the church, and currently for sale, is the old village lock-up or gaol where misdemeanors were once impounded by the resident Constable. Another reminder of the old rural community is the circular site of the village pinfold, where stray farm animals were impounded by the pinder, an officer originally appointed by Wath’s manor court. The animals were released to their owners on payment of a small fee.
I enjoyed looking inside All Saints’ where John Oxer was ‘church sitting’. He proved to be a most courteous and knowledgeable guide. John’s father, Joseph Howard Oxer, was vicar here from 1957 to 1972. All Saints’ has a lovely interior, quite light thanks to the clerestory windows, full of interesting architectural features and clearly well kept by the present congregation. The church was being prepared for a wedding and a forthcoming heritage event was also advertised.
 Just about within living memory Wath was an almost self-sufficient community with a good range of services and shops. A directory for 1936 lists 8 public houses: The White Bear (William Bradley, publican), Crown Inn (Francis Cameron), Cross Keys (William Daniel), Red Lion Hotel (Basil Jarman), Lord Nelson (Allen Kelly), Star Inn (Alice Lord), Saracen’s Head (Harry Midwood) and George & Dragon (Mark Nokes); and there was of course the Wath Brewery. There were also 9 butchers, 8 boot and shoe repairers (including clog maker, Ronald Shaw), 4 chemists and 8 fish shops - does anyone remember, for example, buying fish and chips from Solomon Crooks, Eli Elliott or Arthur Lockwood? There were also 2 pawnbokers: the Ford Brothers and David Haigh; and, a reminder of Wath’s former importance as a railway centre, 2 station masters: Joseph Winterbottom (LNER) and H. Cox (LMSR). Mrs Martin managed the Majestic ‘Cinema Theatre’ and the Grand Picture House (Mexborough Theatres Ltd) was located on Norton Road. Farmers listed included Arthur and Norman Downing (West Street/Sandygate) and Annie and Leslie Roberts (Church Street). Does anyone remember Albert Thompson’s wireless shop on Church Street or perhaps recalls purchasing a cycle from Henry Stokes’ Barnsley Road shop?
Towards the end of my little urban tour I found myself walking along the busy Barnsley Road between the steep banking of the parish churchyard, Town Hall and Brook House. The latter is a handsome building, the showpiece of a former farm complex which included a dovecote now converted to residential use. A little further on much traffic diverted in the direction of the relatively new ‘24-hour’ Tesco store. By now, late morning, the large car park was virtually full.
Part of the Rotherham metropolitan area, but lying approximately midway between Barnsley and Doncaster, Wath has always been located on an important routeway; but it has its own character and a sense of place found in many local organisations and in events such as the Wath Festival. For visitors, Montgomery’s ‘village’ is well worth discovering in its own right.
Published Autumn 2007. All information correct at time of print.
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