Local Parishes
Orgreave
Orgreave is situated close to junction 33 of the M1 motorway, 4 miles south of Rotherham and 8 miles from Sheffield.
In the Domesday Book Orgreave was Nortgrave, then in a Deed of 1260 it is Orgrave which is said to mean 'pit from which ore is dug'
In 1801 the population was 45
in 1811 it was 42
in 1822 it was 47
In 1831 it was only 35.
Orgreave was in the parish of Rotherham, upper-division of Strafforth and Tickhill.
Orgreave Hall
Before Orgreave Colliery was opened, the grounds of Orgreave Hall spread eastwards to the banks of the River Rother.
- The Hall was the home of the Harrison's
- In 1663 Elizabeth Harrision married George Lord of Brampton
- Over the main entrance to the hall a stone was an inscription 'WHA 1684', the initials of William, Elizabeth's brother, and his wife Ann.
- In 1686 George Harrison and his wife Judith (nee Stacey of Ballifield Hall), came to live at the hall. Judith died in June 1688 and was buried in the Quaker Cemetery on the Handsworth Grange Estate of the Stacey's. George died later , in December of the same year.
- The Sorby family, formerly from Rotherwood Hall, lived here in the early 19th century.
William Harrison the elder of Orgreave, and his wife Elizabeth, had a son William Harrison the younger, clerk. Elizabeth, deceased by 1791, was the daughter of Sarah Dickson and grandaughter and heir at Law of Edmund Swift of Darnall, Sheffield.
Pedigree of Harrison of Orgreave
NB There are some references to Ballifield Hall on the Genealogy pages
Directory & Topography of Sheffield, 1862
Orgreave is a scattered township on the banks of the River Rother . It contains 510 acres of land and in 1801 had 14 houses and 72 inhabitants of whom 39 were male and 33 female. In the township is Rotherwood , the abode of Cedric the Saxon nobleman, in some of the scenes in Sir Walter Scotts Ivanhoe.
Thomas Cadman, farmer, Colebrook Lodge
Hannah Oxley, farmer
R. Sorby, Esq., Coal Owner, Rotherwood
John Ward, farmer, Orgreave Hall
Mining
When the Dore House Colliery, owned by the Sorby's, was opened in 1820 it was the beginning of a 170 year history of coal based industries in the area.
This shaft and several others which were subsequently sunk were acquired by the Fence Colliery Company, later to become the Rothervale Colliery Company.
Refer to Prosecution of Orgreave Colliery Manager, May 1870
In 1896 Orgreave Colliery then owned by the Rothervale Coal Company of Treeton; the manager was a J. Dutson and the Under-Manager W. Bumpstead. There were 930 Underground workers employed and 428 Surface workers.
In 1919 the sites of Orgreave and Treeton were under the ownership of United Steel Companies who used the coal obtained to supply their new Orgreave Coking and By Products plant.
By 1947 when the coal industry was nationalised collieries at Orgreave and Treeton were linked and together used coal washing facilities at Orgreave Coal Preparation Plant.
1990 saw the closure of the Orgreave Coking Plant.
Restoration of the area was necessary - the spoil heap created by years of mining activity totalled more than 12 million cubic metres of material.
British Coal Opencast, in 1995 sought planning permission for restoration. A 1km stretch of the River Rother was re-routed and a significant area was planted with trees. The newly formed stretch of river includes a rock chute, the first of its kind in the country. As well as creating a resting area for the Rother's assorted fish as they migrate upstream, the area is rich in wildlife.
On 30th November 2005, coalmining at Orgreave came to an end.
Ref to George Winfield William Johnson and a mining accident
Taken from the railway bridge at the end of Washfield Lane in Treeton.
Community
Schools
Aston Fence J & I
Head Teacher Mr D. Clegg - Sheffield Road, Woodhouse Mill, Sheffield, S13 9ZD
Meetings are held on the 3rd Thur of every month (except Aug) in Aston Fence Junior and Infant School.
Contact Miss Yvette Senior, Woodhouse Mill , Sheffield
Councillors for Aston Orgreave & Ulley
Jane Austen -(Labour)
Hilda L. Jack - (Labour)
Gerald Smith - (Labour)