Orgreave

Domesday

Orgreave is listed in Domesday as a soke of the manor of Tinsley that was held by Roger de Busli. There was sufficient arable land at Orgreave for two plough teams.

13th and 14th Centuries

A Robert de Orgrave appears as a witness to an undated 13^th century charter of Gervase de Bernack. At some time before the reign of Edward III, Orgreave became part of the estates of the Furnivals, lords of Sheffield and Hallamshire. From the Furnivals, it descended to the Dukes of Norfolk. There is no assessment for Orgreave in the 1379 Poll Tax returns but Robert de Orgrave, smith, and his wife appear in the return for Tinsley.

Orgreave Hall and the Harrison Family

In the 18^th century, the Harrison family became established at Orgreave Hall. In 1725 William Harrison of Orgreave, gent., had a 21 year lease of the tithes of corn, grain and hay at Orgreave from Frederick Henry Howard, son of Henry, Duke of Norfolk, at a rent of £14 10s pa. In 1808 the Harrisons and the other landowners within the township came to a private agreement to enclose the remaining commons and waste, thus saving themselves the cost of obtaining an inclosure act.

Coal Mining

Coal mining at Orgreave began in the 18^th century, Dore House Colliery being sunk in 1795. This pit was later reopened by Richard Sorby of Rotherwood Hall, who sank the Orgreave Colliery in 1851. The pit was purchased by the Fence Colliery Co. in 1870 and production was halted in 1871-2 to allow major redevelopment.

The colliery company was reformed as Rothervale Collieries Ltd in 1874. A new shaft was sunk to the Silkstone Seam in 1889-90. There was an underground connection with Treeton Colliery and there were railway connections with the Great Central and Midland railways.

In 1918 Rothervale Collieries constructed a coking plant at Orgreave in an effort to secure the market for their coal. In the same year, Rothervale Collieries became part of United Steel Companies. The coke from the Orgreave plant was supplied to the blast furnaces at Scunthorpe while the gas produced during the coking was piped to the Steel, Peech and Tozer steelworks at Templeborough. When the coal mines were nationalised in 1947, the coking plant passed into the ownership of the United Coke and Chemical Co. Ltd. and eventually became part of British Steel.

Orgreave Colliery closed in 1981. The NCB announced plans to open a new drift face at Orgreave in 1982 but the new development never took place. The coke and chemical plant continued, using coal from Treeton Colliery which was transported through a tunnel under Treeton village to a coal preparation plant next to the coking plant. The coking plant gained national prominence during the Miners’ Strike of 1984 when mass picketing by the NUM, in an attempt to block the transport of coke to Scunthorpe, led to numerous clashes between the pickets and police. Both Treeton Colliery and the coke and chemical plant closed in 1990.

The closure of the coke and chemical plant and the need to clear the site which contains considerable quantities of toxic waste has posed problems for the parish. British Coal’s proposal to opencast the site and entomb the toxic waste in a clay seal did not meet with universal approval. Apart from the fears about the toxic waste, the scheme meant the demolition of Orgreave Hall. The 17th century Hall, a Grade 2 listed building, had been occupied by the Rotherwood Social and Athletic Club. It had been empty for several years and was in poor repair. Attempts to save the Hall in situ or by rebuilding it on another site failed and the house was demolished during 1995.

Development and Growth

Although the colliery and chemical works came to dominate the parish, Orgreave never developed into a typical colliery village as no colliery housing was built in the parish. Orgreave was a township within the parish of Rotherham and never had its own church. The township became part of the newly-created Brinsworth parish in 1903.

Population

In 1801 the population of the township was only 45. The decade after the sinking of the colliery saw a slight rise from 57 in 1851 to 72 in 1861. The population then rose slowly, reaching 102 in 1931. The greatest rise came c1950 with the building of new houses in the Coalbrook Road area at the extreme south of the parish. As a result the 1951 population was 457. The population reached a peak of 968 in 1971, and then began to fall again. In 1991 it was 872.

(Extracted from:- R.M.B.C, Patchwork of parishes, 1997)

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