Cattle Market, The Crofts

Plan of Rotherham Cattle Market

This plan is from the archive collection of the Earl of Effingham, which is part of the Parker Rhodes, Solicitors Collection (ref no. 63-B).

Right up to 1925, cattle and sheep were herded down Moorgate to pens in The Crofts where they were auctioned to the highest bidder. But in 1831 there was a big row brewing about who owned the pens in the market, and whether anyone was allowed to put up a building among the pens.

The Steward of the Manor or Rotherham had to ask a lawyer in London what to do about the problem and he drew a little plan of The Crofts to show what it looked like at the time. The plan shows all the pens with the names of the owners. Some of the buildings in the plan surrounding the cattle market are still standing today.

 Images, Transcript and History of the Cattle Market (595 Kb)