Stainforth, South Yorkshire

Stainforth
Town and civil parish
Stainforth, South Yorkshire in 2003.jpg
The New Inn on the bank of the
Stainforth and Keadby Canal
Stainforth is located in South Yorkshire
Stainforth
Stainforth
Location within South Yorkshire
Area3.47 sq mi (9.0 km2)
Population6,282 (2011 census)
• Density1,810/sq mi (700/km2)
OS grid referenceSE646115
Civil parish
  • Stainforth
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townDONCASTER
Postcode districtDN7
Dialling code01302
PoliceSouth Yorkshire
FireSouth Yorkshire
AmbulanceYorkshire
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire
53°35′45″N 1°01′31″W / 53.5958°N 1.0253°W / 53.5958; -1.0253Coordinates: 53°35′45″N 1°01′31″W / 53.5958°N 1.0253°W / 53.5958; -1.0253

Stainforth (/ˈsteɪnfərθ/) is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is around 7 miles (11 km) north-east of Doncaster, close to Hatfield and Thorne. It had a population of 6,342 in the 2001 census, reducing slightly to 6,282 at the 2011 census.

Etymology

The place-name means 'stony ford' from Old English stanig 'stony' and ford 'ford'. Its name was recorded as 'Stenforde' in Domesday Book in 1086 and is later recorded as 'Staneforde' in 1428.

History

Stainforth was established in the Anglo Saxon period and is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086), as a small settlement of 7 households. In 1066 it was under Earl Harold, but after the Norman Conquest it was given by William the Conqueror to William of (de) Warenne. In 1348, Stainforth received a Royal Charter, entitling it to hold a weekly market on Fridays and an annual ten-day fair. The town briefly thrived as a commercial centre and port and attracted traders from as far afield as the Isle of Axholme, but the market soon slumped as Bawtry grew in importance. George Porter (later Lord Porter of Luddenham), the Nobel prize winning chemist, was born in the town in 1920.

Stainforth railway station opened on 7 July 1856 and closed on 1 October 1866. The town is now served by Hatfield and Stainforth railway station.

Speedway racing was staged at the greyhound stadium in the town in 1930. The original "professional" promotion failed and a few meetings organised by a riders' co-operative were staged at the venue.

Stainforth by night, from Hatfield Main. The towers of the former power station at Thorpe Marsh can be seen on the horizon

More recently, Stainforth was a mining village, with the Hatfield Main Colliery at its centre. The colliery was open for around 80 years, from when it entered full production in 1921 up to it closing in August 2001. During the 1972 national strike, a miner from Hatfield Colliery, Freddie Matthews, was killed by a lorry whilst picketing during the strike, which led to a huge crowd at his funeral.

The Colliery

The colliery began reopening in 2006 and resumed full production in January 2008. The colliery closed in June 2015 and the shafts were filled. As a result, the work that was due to begin on a new 900 MW coal-fired power station and industrial estate, Hatfield Power Park is looking unlikely. The power station would have been linked by a 40-mile (60 km) pipeline to Barmston in the East Riding of Yorkshire from where CO2 would have been released into porous layers beneath an impermeable bed of the North Sea as part of a carbon capture and storage scheme.

The colliery and the surrounding area have been used in a number of television series and films, most notably Dalziel and Pascoe and Brassed Off, and more recently Faith.

See also


This page was last updated at 2022-04-29 06:12 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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