Event - Town talk on history (Mexborough)

A TALK will be given on the historic landmarks in Mexborough next week.


Principal Planner for Doncaster Council, Peter Lamb, is to give an illustrated presentation on ‘Mexborough Conservation Area’ and the buildings contained within it.

It will take place at the Mexborough and District Heritage Society meeting at the George and Dragon pub, Church Street, on Tuesday, May 22, from 7.15pm.

The society’s Annual General Meeting will follow the talk.

From: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/community/town-talk-on-history-1-4548161

Book - What life was like on the home front while war raged (S.Yorks)

When Britain was plunged into World War II, lives were turned upside down in many ways.

Obviously the disappearance of Doncaster people into the Forces and transfer of residents around the country with evacuations all meant major disruption to normal life.

But what about the home front, not the major cities where bombs wreaked havoc, but the ordinary villages and towns up and down the country? Towns like Mexborough for instance.

A Town at War is a fascinating publication which portrays perfectly the comings and goings in the town during 1940 as told through the pages of the council minutes.

Lots of mundane tasks and sometimes slightly bizarre decisions, bearing in mind there was a war on, but necessary to keep the community running, and of course there was always the perceived potential threat of invasion.

Harold Brearley was chief public health inspector and officiated at the council meetings. The following is an insight into what went on during those gatherings.

Twelfth June 1940 and decisions had to be made. At this time Roman Terrace consisted of 32 acres, 616 houses and a population of 2,440. The extra responsibility meant that sewage effluent problems had to be considered now the street had been transferred from Swinton Borough Authority to Mexborough two years previously.

Announcements were made that due to the war all national holidays should be cancelled and overtime payments should be considered where necessary. Council workers were paid for carrying out war duties and the average working week for council workers was 47-48 hours.

It was decided that no further post boxes should be erected, also that bus services to Thurnscoe should depart from West Street instead of Cliff Street - this was an alteration which remained until the 1980s.

More serious problems were the plans for hospitals to deal with Blitz and bombing victims. Stirrup pumps were distributed for firefighting use. Two nights a week were set aside for gas mask training in the Market Hall while all unassembled Anderson shelters were to be collected and erected.

Private homeowners were also contacted and questioned as to how many people they could accommodate in the case of bomb victims losing their homes.

The hospital carried on and there was a reported trend of an increasing population with 46 births registered (included one illegitimate boy), 17 deaths were noted. Notifiable diseases were two diptheria and 14 measles.

Finally, in this small snapshot of everyday life in war-time Mexborough enemy aircraft were becoming more frequent in the area and a resolution was passed that one council worker be paid for two hours loss of work when he had to turn out as convoy officer following the sounding of an air raid siren during his shift at work.

Some of the above may at first seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, but were essential and meetings and decisions such as these were taken up and down the country as Britain settled down to an unsure and unpredictable future which in hindsight would last another four years.

From: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/community/nostalgia/what_life_was_like_on_the_home_front_while_war_raged_1_3998116

Book - Boxing legend book launch (Iron Hague/Mexborough)

A NEW book about the life of a former champion boxer from Mexborough will be launched in the town on Thursday, October 13.

Iron Hague was the English heavyweight champion between 1909 and 1911, though little was known about his life.

That is until now. For local historian Giles Brearly has compiled a 290 page biography on the sporting hero.

The book, titled ‘The Iron Man’, confirmes his love of fighting from an early age, his fairground boxing booth days, and follows his career up the championship ladder.

It tells of his dramatic rise up the rankings, and how he saw off some of the best fighters from the Edwardian era.

The story also follows him into the First World War and thereafter.

Author Giles will launch the book at The Old Market Hall pub in Mexborough between 7-9pm.

Visitors on the night will also get the chance to see a rare portrait of the boxer which was painted in 1911.

Giles will also be offering signed copies of his book, available with a launch discount.

From: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/community/boxing_legend_book_launch_1_3860256

Event - War heroes to be discussed at meeting (Mexborough)

MEXBOROUGH’S fallen war heroes will be remembered at the town’s next heritage meeting this month.

A talk will be given about the War Memorial in Sheffield which carries the names of former workers at Mexborough Loco Plant who lost their lives during World War I.

The meeting will be held at the George and Dragon pub on Tuesday, October 25, from 7.15pm

From: http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/doncaster-news/war_heroes_to_be_discussed_at_meeting_1_3857609

Event - Heritage meeting (Mexborough)

MEXBOROUGH and District Heritage Society will be showing a film at their first meeting of the new season.

Memories of Sprotborough Hall will be shown at the Miners Arms in Mexborough on Tuesday, September 27, from 7.15pm.

The fascinating film includes an interview with 102-year-old Sabina Stirland, who was a housemaid there during the 1920s.

Local historian Giles Brearley will host the evening.

From: http://www.thornegazette.co.uk/community/heritage_meeting_1_3791678

News - Glass find opens a window on the past (Mexborough)

Archaeologists have been exploring Mexborough’s industrial past before it disappears beneath a new Lidl store in the town’s Cliff Street.

And they’ve uncovered evidence of a ground-breaking glass-making factory which churned out pop bottles in their tens of thousands.

A team from the Sheffield office of Wessex Archaeology have spent four weeks digging on the site, and have come up with just two complete pop bottles, but hundreds of the glass marbles that were trapped in bottle necks – Victorian technology to maintain the ‘fizz’.

The dig has been at the site of the former New Don Glassworks, one of the first in Yorkshire to recycle heat and gases created in the process.

That wasn’t done to be environmentally friendly, but to save money on fuel, and allow production to keep going at maximum capacity.

The gases were used to heat large tanks, two of which were found inside a brick-built Siemens-Martin, technology the glassmakers had ‘borrowed’ from the steel industry.

Wessex Archaeology’s Andrew Norton said: “In 1891 the land was bought for £4,000 by Peter Waddington, who was the owner of the Mexborough Phoenix Glasshouse.

“He built the New Don Glassworks. Much of the works was demolished in the 1950s, and part of the site was destroyed in the 1980s when the South Yorkshire Navigation Canal was widened.”

Mr Norton said he wasn’t surprised to have found only two of the distinctive bottles, since rejects would have been recycled or broken by children keen to get the marbles to play games.

The finds will now be offered to the local museum service, which might display them or store them for future research.

“We are working with Lidl on production of a plaque to display in the shop to record how the site was used in the past, but that’s at a very early stage at the moment,” he added.

Wessex Archaeology is one of the largest heritage practices in the UK. Established almost 30 years ago, it is a registered charity, with offices in Sheffield, Edinburgh, Rochester and Salisbury.

It has won three British Archaeological Awards, and on its staff is Phil Harding, a regular of Channel 4’s Time Team programme.

From: http://www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/news/local/dearne-area/glass_find_opens_a_window_on_the_past_1_3653003

News - Excavation at Mexborough Glass Works

A team from Wessex Archaeology’s Sheffield Office has just finished excavating at the site of a late 19th century New Don glass bottle works in Mexborough, an important site in South Yorkshire’s glass making past.

This excavation has been undertaken by our clients Lidl, who will shortly commence development of a new community food store on the site.

One of the most interesting finds unearthed during the excavation was part of a Siemens-Martin tank furnace which would have been one of the earliest regenerative furnaces in Yorkshire. The waste heat and gases were reused to heat the tanks, allowing for continuous glass production and the use of less fuel.

Other finds included hundreds of marbles that were used to ‘stop’ early carbonated drinks bottles, called Codd bottles after their inventor Hiram Codd. The bottles themselves are very rare as many were recycled or smashed by children to retrieve the marbles!

From: http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/blogs/news

News - VC recognised 90 years later (Mexborough/Sheffield)

The name of a Swinton rail worker who was awarded the Victoria Cross after he died in action in the Great War will finally be recognised alongside his fallen comrades on a railway war memorial.

Lance Corporal Thomas Jackson was posthumously awarded the VC for Conspicuous Bravery after he was killed during an attack across the Canal du Nord near Graincourt, France in 1918.

His name is proudly mentioned on the plaque at Mexborough Railway Station, where he worked cleaning locomotives during peacetime.

But Cpl Jackson’s name was not added to the Great Central Railway War Memorial alongside thousands of fallen railway workers , when it was built in Sheffield in 1922.

Sheffield railway historian Ken Grainger, who has researched and documented every name on the Sheffield memorial, is campaigning to remedy the omission.

Ken told the Times: “ When I visited Mexborough Railway Station I had a look at the war memorial plaque and to my surprise I found the name of Thomas Jackson VC. His name is not on the memorial at Sheffield , it is as if he never existed. I thought , of all the people to forget, they left off a VC!”

Ken is the area representative of the Great Central Railway Society and secretary of the War Memorial Committee. The Great Central Railway war memorial was built in 1922 in memory of the 1,304 employees of the Great Central Railway Company who lost their lives in the Great War 1914-1918. The memorial was restored by The Great central Railway Society and unveiled on its former site on the forecourt of the Royal Victoria Holiday Inn, formerly the Sheffield Victoria Station Hotel. The historian has compiled a hardback book with the details of every name on the memorial culled from years of researching libraries and newspapers.

When he discovered Cpl Jackson on the Mexborough memorial he decided to investigate further and add him to the volume.

He said: “Cpl Jackson’s war grave is at Sanders Keep Military Cemetery at Graincourt-les-Havrincourt, France, it was quite easy to trace. Then I searched past issues of the South Yorkshire Times to piece together the details of his life.

“Thomas was the eldest son of Mr and Mrs Edwin Jackson of Market Street, Swinton and joined up in September 1916. He was aged 21 when he was killed.

“He joined the first Battalion of the Coldstream Guards and was a big strapping lad and very athletic.

“He died on September 27, 1918. The Guards Division were storming the Canal Du Nord which was part of the Hindenburg Line, a vast system of German defences in north eastern France during World War I. They were being held up by machine gun fire. The company commander Captain Frisby asked for volunteers to take the machine gun nest that was holding them up. Jackson was first to volunteer. He, captain Frisbee and two othes captured two machine guns and took 12 prisoners.

They were able to carry on and Thomas Jackson’s section was attacking a German trench and he shouted: “Come on boys!”

“He jumped into the trench and killed the first two soldiers he met. Then he was shot in the head. Captain Frisby recommended him for the VC.

“If I had not spotted his name on the memorial at Mexborough, I would never have known anything about his bravery. The Sheffield memorial was unveiled on August 9 , 1922 and the Great Central Railway ceased to exist in December of that year - without his name on it. Perhaps they intended for him to have a special memorial, but that is just supposition. If they missed off a VC, who is to say they have not missed others?

“The Imperial War Museum has a copy and the National Railway Museum. The book has taken four years to compile. If a man was killed in action you can find what happened that day, but if a man died of his wounds you don’t know how or when they were inflicted. The last person on the memorial died in 1920”.

Mr Grainger is hoping to have the name added in time for Armistice Day this November.

From: http://www.southyorkshiretimes.co.uk/vc_recognised_90_years_later_1_3568181

White Rose Tourism awards - South Yorkshire leads way for tourism awards

Eleven South Yorkshire attractions have been nominated for the county’s 2011 White Rose Tourism Awards.

The award ceremony, organised by Welcome to Yorkshire, takes place at Doncaster Racecourse on Monday, October 10.

The finalists are made up of 94 of Yorkshire’s best attractions, hotels and venues and split into 16 different categories.

The only three winners to make it into the finals again this year are Silversmiths Restaurant, the Leopold Hotel and The Milestone Pub - all in Sheffield.

Independent Chair of Judges Barbara Woroncow said: “The judges always struggle to choose who should go through to the awards.

“Yorkshire has such an abundance of tourism gems, those who made the finalist list should be incredibly proud of themselves.”

Judges this year include Peter Charlton, former editor of The Star, who now edits the Yorkshire Post, food and travel writer Elaine Lemm and former High Sheriff of West Yorkshire Roger Bowers.

Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity said: “Yorkshire’s Tourism economy is booming and the finalist list for the White Rose Awards indicates why.

“The level of high quality entries was outstanding and a firm indication that our tourism industry knows the importance of offering our visitors that extra special experience.”

The Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, is in the running for the large visitor attraction award and other finalists include Barnsley Civic Enterprise, Rotherham’s Magna Science Adventure Centre, Heritage Inspired in Mexborough and Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley.

From: http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/business/south_yorkshire_leads_way_for_tourism_awards_1_3552576

Book - Life and death choices in the Great Flood (Sheffield Flood)

FOR Joseph Dawson, the Bradfield village tailor, the choice was stark but simple.

As flood waters tore around him he tried carrying both his ill wife and their two-day-old baby to safety.

Battered by the rising current, he had not the strength to keep hold of both.

“I was obliged,” he later recounted, “to leave the child to its fate, or I could not have saved my wife.”

Thus, the still-unnamed baby – whose body was found days later in a coal cellar – became the first of some 240 Sheffielders killed in the city’s largest Victorian tragedy: the Great Flood of March 11, 1864.

The statistics from that stormy Friday night are still astounding.

An estimated 650 million gallons of water – travelling at 18 mph and in some places more than 24 foot high – destroyed or damaged 800 homes, 100 factories and 15 bridges.

It surged down the valley from the newly-built Dale Dyke Reservoir, where a collapsed dam released the torrent, through Hillsborough, into the city centre and on to Attercliffe. One body was found as far away as Mexborough. A witness, Samuel Harrison, declared “a bombardment with the newest and most powerful artillery could hardly have proved so destructive”.

It is against this catastrophic backdrop that a new novel by city writers Maggie Lett and Geoff Rowe is set.

Flood Waters, published by ACM Retro, is a multi-layered love story which tells the tale of a community torn apart by the devastation.

It is a work of fiction but many real people appear, including John Gunson, the reservoir’s engineer who many blamed for the disaster.

“When I first arrived in the city in the 1970s, I stumbled on some plates commemorating the flood in Weston Park Museum, and I’ve been fascinated ever since,” says higher education tutor Maggie, of London Road.

“This was such a huge disaster yet the more I spoke to people about it, the more I realised very few people had any idea about it. There isn’t even a monument.

“I researched it for years – vaguely thinking I might publish a leaflet – but when I found myself unemployed in 2005 I sat down with Geoff and we thought a novel was the best way of telling the story.”

Certainly, there was no lack of harrowing drama during the incident.

Among the victims, entire families were wiped out, including the Armitages, a family of 11 who ran the Stag pub in Malin Bridge, and the Tricketts, a farming family of 10 from Loxley.

Dozens of children were drowned in their beds, including the two sons of the paymaster sergeant at Sheffield Barracks, and 17-year-old Jonathan Turner, in Nursery Lane, city centre, who awoke to find himself trapped in his ground floor bedroom as water poured in through the window.

And yet, if the victims were many and tragic, there were also great tales of heroism and bravery from the flood.

At Damflask, a woman known only as Mrs Kirk refused to leave her home until she found her cat and dog, eventually carrying both pets to safety only seconds before the water washed her house away.

William Watson, meanwhile, had been washed from his bed at Malin Bridge and said later he feared certain death only to be literally plucked from the torrent by a stranger hanging from a first floor window.

"The records of the flood are so complete and so vivid, it made describing the scenes difficult because they are so harrowing,” says one-time Sheffield Telegraph reporter Maggie.

“But I do think this is something to be commemorated more in Sheffield.

“Of course I hope our book is popular but I also hope it can help the city sit up and take notice of its past.”

From http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/the-diary/life_and_death_choices_in_the_great_flood_1_3522729

Roche Abbey/Mexborough/Next meeting/Spam

This weeks BBC History magazine e-mail contains a link for Roche Abbey: http://www.bbchistorymagazine.com/visit/roche-abbey-yorkshire?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=History%2012%2F11%2F10  The way it describes the monks eviction seems quite polite!

Mexborough's now decommissioned fire station got a mention in yesterdays Yorkshire Post.  The story recounts how the stations plaque has been saved for posterity and donated to the Fire and Police Museum in Sheffield  http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/localnews/Slice-of-fire-service-history.6622896.jp

Don't forget next weeks meeting is on Monday at 19.30 and recounts the story of one of Sheffield's greatest tragedies when the Dale Dyke dam burst flooding thousands of acres of land and drowning many people and livestock 

Lastly, apologies for anyone who's received a spam e-mail from my personal e-mail address, seems some dodgy people have hacked my account! I've reported it so hopefully you won't receive any more.