Thorpe Hesley is a village in the

Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its main settlement of Rotherham. The wider borough spans a larger area and covers the outlying towns of Maltby, Swinton, Wath-upo ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England, lying east of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) motorway, A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the count ...

at junction 35. The village has been included within the boundaries of

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

town since 1894, having previously been divided between the townships of Kimberworth and Wentworth. Historically the village was known for coal mining and nail making. It has an

Anglican church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, Holy Trinity, built in 1839 chiefly at the cost of Earl Fitzwilliam and the Earl of Effingham. There is one post office, which is located within a convenience store, one petrol station and four public houses. At the 2021 Census, it had a population of 4,150. Horse and Tiger Thorpe Hesley

In popular culture

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

spent some time in the village where he preached. He lodged at Barley Hall (now demolished). In 1975, there was filming in the village for the Walt Disney film '' Escape from the Dark''. The film was re-titled ''The Littlest Horse Thieves'' for its release in the United States. The BBC TV Series ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

'' had a two part story titled '' The Price of Coal'' filmed at the colliery on Wentworth Road; this mine has now been closed and the colliery demolished.

Coal mines

Coal has been mined in and around the area of Thorpe Hesley for at least 800 years. Monks from the Cistercian Abbey of Kirkstead, in Lincolnshire, had forges and other property in this part of the country and mined coal and ironstone locally. Thorpe Hesley had the distinction of having three modern-day coal mines. Which were closed in the 1970s and 1980s and have been completely demolished. The land surrounding the area of the Barley Hall site has been landscaped and is now a small nature reserve. In January 2013 permission was given for the Hesley Wood colliery spoil heap to be processed to recover fuel, and to restore woodland on the site.

References

External links

Thorpe Hesley Village website
* Geography of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham Villages in South Yorkshire {{SouthYorkshire-geo-stub

In popular culture

Coal mines

See also

References

External links