Barnsley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barnsley is a large town in South Yorkshire, England, lying on the River Dearne, approximately twenty kilometres north of Sheffield. It is between junctions 36 and 37 of the M1 motorway and has a railway station served by the Hallam and Penistone Lines. It is the main town in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley. It has three MPs: Eric Illsley for Barnsley Central, Michael Clapham for Barnsley West and Penistone and Jeff Ennis for Barnsley East and Mexborough. They are all members of the Labour Party. The town itself has a population of just over 72,000 and the borough of around 223,500.
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[edit] History
The first historical reference to occurs in 1086 in the Domesday Book, in which it is called 'Berneslai' with a total population of around 200. The exact origins of the name Barnsley is still subject to debate, but Barnsley Council claims that its origins lie in the Saxon word Berne, for barn or storehouse, and Lay, for field. Also there is rumour about the founder's being of Danish-Viking origin, and that the founders bloodline is now in Canada with the last name Barnes. In 1249, a Royal Charter was granted to Barnsley permitting it to hold a weekly market and annual fair. Left undisturbed since the 17th century, Barnsley developed into a stop-off point on the route between Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield and London. The traffic generated as a result of this location fuelled trade with hostelries and related services also prospering. A principal centre for linen weaving during the 18th and 19th century, Barnsley grew into an important manufacturing town. Barnsley also has a long tradition of glass-making, but is most famous for its coalfields. George Orwell briefly mentions the town in The Road to Wigan Pier. Orwell spent a number of days in the town living in the houses of the working-class miners while researching for the book. He wrote very critically of the council's expenditure on the construction of Barnsley Town Hall and claimed that the money should have been spent on improving the housing and living conditions of the local miners.
[edit] Industry
The town is famous for coal mining, although most of the pits were actually in the surrounding villages, rather than in the town itself. The proportion employed in mining varied hugely, even before recent times[1]. The "Barnsley Main" colliery was in the town, but was fairly small; it closed in 1991. All of the mines in the borough are now closed; Goldthorpe was the last to close in 1994. Wire-, linen- and glass-making were also major industries, but only glass-making remains, with two large companies still operating. The coat of arms for the town includes a coal miner and a glass-blower. It is now moving towards a service economy.
The Western half of the Borough stretches from the M1 to the edge of the Peak District and is essentially rural in character. This Western part includes the Market Town of Penistone and some notable and remarkable places of interest, these include: Wentworth Castle and Gardens (Grade 1 listed gardens), Cannon Hall Park and Museum, Cawthorne Jubilee Museum, Wortley Hall and Gardens, Wortley Top Forge (16th century Forge).
In 2002, Barnsley Council and partners launched a major consultation exercise called "Rethinking Barnsley". This led to a regeneration programme centred on Barnsley Town Centre called "Remaking Barnsley" [2]. Developments include a new transport interchange, a new cultural centre in the old Civic Hall, a Digital Media Centre, and new offices and apartments throughout the Town Centre. At the same time, housebuilding has taken off and major new housing areas have been developed. Business Parks on the M1 at Junctions 37 and 36, and in the Dearne Valley, have also expanded the job opportunities locally. Unemployment is now below the national average but a large number of local people are on incapacity benefit. The economic development of Barnsley is led by the Barnsley Development Agency [3].
[edit] Town Centre
The main part of Barnsley town centre was constructed during the 1960s and like other town centres now looks dated. The area around Cheapside and May Day Green, known as the metropolitan centre which is home to the markets as well as many high street retailers such as WH Smith, HMV, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, Boots, and The Body Shop, is due to be demolished in early 2008 to make way for a new retail and leisure development. The Alhambra centre, which was opened in 1991 houses retailers such as Next, Woolworths, Primark and TK Maxx. Other prominent areas are Queen Street where Marks and Spencer and stores such as Topshop, Topman. Wallis and Dorothy Perkins are located, Market Street, Eldon Street and The Arcade, which houses most of the independent and designer retailers in Barnsley. Barnsley also has a large concentration of pubs and bars in the town centre.
[edit] Transport
Barnsley Interchange is currently being rebuilt and is due for completion in the Spring of 2007. Barnsley has frequent bus links to nearby towns and cities run by Stagecoach Yorkshire and a number of small independent bus companies. The nearest airport is Robin Hood Airport just outside Doncaster, some 15 miles, which can easily be reached from Barnsley by the X19 service. The town also has a number of coach links to London and other major cities run by National Express. Barnsley railway station has two platforms and serves trains run by Northern Rail to Sheffield (2 Slow & 1 Fast Per Hour), Leeds(1 Slow and 1 Fast per hour) which includes Wakefield and Huddersfield (1 Slow per hour). There is also 1 service per day to London operated by Midland Mainline. One service each hour to Sheffield and Leeds is classified as a Fast service. This means it does not stop in outlying stations, it stops only at the larger stations on route. Northern has recently made investment in the service and has introduced newer Class 158 trains which offer passengers better comfort for the journey.
Stagecoach Yorkshire recently purchased the company Yorkshire Traction. Since the purchased the bus company in the town has been in the press in the town recently. It cancelled a number of vital services around the town and surrounding towns, and has left people stranded on a number of occasions. Although it now promises to make investments in new buses, it has not said whether it will re-introduce any of the routes.
[edit] Education
Barnsley has long suffered from less than average educational standards when compared with the rest of the United Kingdom, but recent improvements in examination results have brought levels in line with the national average. Barnsley College is one the largest further and higher education establishments in Europe and is situated on a number of sites throughout the town centre, chiefly Old Mill Lane Site, Eastgate House, The Sci Tech Centre, Honeywell Site and the Construction centre. The University of Huddersfield has recently opened a campus in the town on Church Street besides Barnsley Town Hall. This is known as the University Centre Barnsley.
[edit] Buildings, Landmarks and Institutions
- Alhambra Centre
- Barnsley College
- Barnsley Town Hall and Experience Barnsley
- Cannon Hall Museum, Park & Gardens
- Cooper Gallery
- Locke Park
- Oakwell Stadium football ground, home of Barnsley Football Club
- Wentworth Castle & Gardens
[edit] Famous people from Barnsley
Famous people from Barnsley include:
- Obadiah Walker (1616–1699) Academic and Master of University College, Oxford from 1676 to 1688
- Joseph Locke (1805–1860) Notable civil engineer
- Wilf Copping (1909-1980) Footballer - played for England 20 times.
- Joanne Harris (1964–present) Author of chocolat
- Joseph Bramah (1748–1814) Inventor of, amongst other things, the flushing water closet, Bramah lock and the beer pump
- Michael Parkinson (1935–present) British talk show host, journalist and television presenter, most famous as presenter of Parkinson
- Brian Glover (1934–1997) Actor
- Harold "Dickie" Bird (1933–present) Retired international cricket umpire
- Mick McCarthy Ex-professional footballer and manager of the football club Wolves. Former manager of Republic of Ireland national team
- Arthur Scargill (1938–present) Leader of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) 1981 to 2000, current leader of the Socialist Labour Party
- Kate Rusby (1973–present) Folk singer
- Jenni Murray OBE (1950–present) Journalist and broadcaster, current presenter of 'Woman's Hour' on BBC Radio 4
- Charlie Williams (1928–2006) Ex-professional footballer and stand-up comedian
- Stan Richards (1930–2005) Actor, arguably most famous for playing Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale
- John Mayock (1970–present) 1500m runner and member of Team GB
- Tommy Taylor (1932–1958) Professional footballer, one of the 'Busby Babes' (or Manchester United under the management of Sir Matt Busby) who was killed in the Munich air disaster
- Simon Hirst (1976–present) Radio presenter, former host of hit40uk on commercial radio throughout the UK
- Chris Morgan (1977–present) Professional footballer, playing for Sheffield United in the FA Premier League.
- Jon Parkin (1981–present) Professional footballer, playing for Hull City in the Championship and nicknamed 'The Beast'
- Sam Nixon (1986–present) Came 3rd on Pop Idol 2003. Former Catering student and ex-Holgate School pupil. Had a UK No. 1 hit with Mark Rhodes and their cover of With a Little Help from My Friends, originally performed by The Beatles. He is currently co-hosting Saturday morning BBC2 programme TMi with Mark Rhodes and Caroline Flack.
- Ashley Jackson Artist
- Darren Gough (1970–present) Cricketer
- Rita Britton Fashion Designer/Retailer
- Arctic Monkeys Band - Two members attended Barnsley College
- David Bradley (also known as Dai Bradley) Actor who played Billy Casper in Ken Loach's film Kes
- Shaun Dooley Actor
- Kenny Doughty Actor
- David Hirst Former England international footballer who famously played for Sheffield Wednesday
- Bring Me the Horizon Part of the band come from this town.
- Ian McMillan (1956-present) The Bard of Barnsley
- Davey Lawrence (1985-present) Ice Hockey Netminder playing for the Sheffield Steelers
- Graham Ibbeson Sculptor, artist, responsile for statue outside NUM head office, Barnsley and Eric Morecambe statue, Morecambe
- Saxon Famous Heavy metal band which formed in, and has members from Barnsley. Hits include '747 (strangers in the night' and 'Wheels of steel')
- Death Poet Most unqiue rapper to come out of the UK and first Barnsley rapper has been hitting streets locally for a while and is due to have a music video in barnsley the first to happen.
[edit] Culture
Barnsley is home to a proud tradition of brass bands, originally created as social clubs for the mining communities. Grimethorpe Colliery Band, located in a village 5 miles to the east of Barnsley, is perhaps the best brass band in Britain. It rose to fame in the film Brassed Off and is now the 'artist in residence' at the Royal College of Music, London. The band has performed in Hyde Park during the Last Night of the Proms.
The 'Bard of Barnsley' Ian McMillan writes in local dialect, was recently nominated for a chair of poetry at Oxford University, and often appears on Radio 4.
Ken Loach's film Kes was set and filmed in Barnsley, using local actors such as Freddie Fletcher.
There is a live rock music scene, which reached its height in the Britpop years, around 1997, due to its proximity to Sheffield and Manchester. Barnsley rock band Saxon were famous in the 1980s. Two of the Arctic Monkeys studied music at Barnsley College, The Barnsley Rapper DEATH POET is noteable the first Rapper from Barnsley who gives out cds for free all over the country.
Barnsley Council operates three museums, Cannon Hall, the Cooper Gallery and Worsbrough Mill. There are plans for a fourth museum located within the town hall. The project to create this is known as Experience Barnsley. Other museums in Barnsley include the volunteer-run Darfield Museum and the Cawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum. Other heritage sites include Wortley Top Forge, Wortley Hall, Wentworth Castle and Monk Bretton Priory.
The Lamproom Theatre has three theatrical companies, and gives performances ranging from West End musicals to Shakespeare. Its Youth Company presents up to three productions a year and recently performed a critically acclaimed production of 'Les Miserables: School Edition' in November 2005 which was greeted by standing ovations on each performance. The once celebrated Victorian theatre the 'Civic' has lapsed from its previous role as the cultural centre of the town and is now being developed into gallery space.
Barnsley has two twin towns:
[edit] Sport
Barnsley's resident football team, Barnsley F.C. play in the Championship of the English league. Their home ground is known as the Oakwell Stadium, which is situated in Oakwell, Barnsley just outside of the town centre. The club has had a mixed recent history. In the late 1990s they had a brief spell in the Premier League, but were relegated after just one season. Subsequent seasons saw them relegated to the third tier of English football. After 4 seasons, Barnsley finally regained their place in the Championship after beating Swansea City 4-3 on penalties in the play off final in Cardiff. [4]
[edit] Politics
The municipal council elect the mayor every year. In the day of the election, a parade takes place in front of the Town Hall. The parade is in honour of the new mayor.
[edit] Trivia
The city also has an appearance in the sketch WORKING CLASS PLAYWRIGHT by Monty Python, where it says '... you had to go poncing off to Barnsley...'
[edit] External links
- [ www.myspace.com/yeshua02 - Barnsley Rapper Death Poet
- Barnsley Links - Portal to over 1100 Barnsley-related websites
- Barnsley Soundbites - Barnsley's alternative music scene
- Barnsley Life - An informative & humorous overview of life in Barnsley
- Barnsley Bubble - local town guide
- Experience Barnsley
- Barnsley Photos - link to Barnsley Photographic website
- Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
- Barnsley Chronicle
- Barnsley Metrodome
- Barnsley Lamproom theatre
- Radio Barnsley
- Barnsley Community Radio
- Barnsley Hospital Broadcasting
- Barnsley Development Agency
- Vital Barnsley Site
