This is the seventh book in the 'Aspects of Barnsley' series. Once again, the contributors have written and compiled an interesting and varied collection of articles, produced at a time when a great deal of 'rethinking' is taking place about the future of this historic town.
It open with a most appropriate and fascinating subject, exploring the ancient place-names of Barnsley's Metropolitan borough. This is followed by Roy Portman describing his working life at one of Barnsley's former engineering works, Needhams, once world-famous for making colliery pulley-wheels.
Margaret Mann provides us with interesting descriptions of Canon Sorby and several characters and personalities of old Darfield whilst Barry Jackson's exploration of pre-1960s Monk Bretton is based on a recorded interview with one of its most colourful village characters. Chapter seven is written by a a local historian. His essay on the Edmunds and Swaithe Mail collieries, based on an even more detailed research paper, provides new material concerning that busy industrial area to the south of the town.
Other topics are covered by various authorities in their field. This is a wonderful book for anyone with an interest in Barnsley itself, or even and interest in the history of English towns in general.
Contents:
Introduction
1. What's in a Name? The Ancient Place-Name of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough (Melvyn Jones)
2. Glimpses of Medieval Barnsley (Brian Elliott)
3. Memories of My Working Life at Needham and Brown's of Barnsley (Roy Portman)
4. Stringer's Taxis: A Small Family Business During the 1950s and Early 1960s (Mike Stringer)
5. Born in Barnsley, Raised in Smithies (Colin Taylor)
6. Postcards from Barnsley (Norman Ellis)
7. Edmunds and Swaithe Main Collieries (John Goodchild)
8. A Short Life and a Long Death: The Dearne District Light Railways (Richard Buckley)
9. Extracts from Royston Secondary School Log Books, 1934-1945 (John Broom)
10. Johnny Weston's Monk Bretton: A Social Chronicle of a Village in the First Half of the Twentieth Century (Barry Jackson)
11. Canon Sorby and Some Characters of Old Darfield (Margaret Mann)
12. Charles Ward, Master at Darton's Victorian Grammar School (John Goodchild)
Contributors
Index
