Roman Earthworks
There was a reputed Roman earthwork on Guilthwaite Common and in the early 19th century an earthenware jar containing 1600 small Roman coins was unearthed at Guilthwaite.
Domesday
The Domesday entry suggests a thriving village with 11 villeins, 11 smallholders and 8 freemen, giving a total population of c100. The major part of the parish had been held by the Saxon Thorketill but in 1086 was held by one Richard, under the Earl of Mortain but William de Warenne also had land in Whiston as part of his Honour of Conisbrough. There was already considerable arable land in Whiston, sufficient to occupy seven plough teams. A hoard of 43 silver coins of the 11th century was discovered on East Bawtry Road in 1939.
13th and 14th Centuries
During the Middle Ages the manor of Whiston passed through the hands of the Pagenal and Luteral families before coming to the Lovetots, who held extensive estates in Hallamshire, including the manor of Sheffield.
During the reign of King John, Maud de Lovetot married Gerard de Furnival and the Lovetot estates passed to her third son William de Furnival. On his death without heirs, the manor passed to his nephew Thomas who had inherited the bulk of the family estates.
In 1293 Thomas de Furnival claimed to have free warren [the right to keep rabbits], ingfangthief [the right to punish thieves caught with stolen goods within the manor], gallows and a free court at Whiston. In the Poll Tax return of 1379, the Whiston return is headed by Johanna, widow of Sir Thomas Furnyvall, “baronesse”. Her husband had died in 1366. Johanna was the daughter and heir of Sir Thomas de Mountenay, lord of Swinton. She had no children by Thomas de Furnival but did have a son whom she called John de Mountenay.
Whiston appears to have been a prosperous village at this period, with 128 people liable to pay the Poll Tax. The total population was just over 200. The tradesmen in the village included a chapman, a cook, two tailors, a glover, a carpenter, two smiths and a mower. Whiston descended with the main Furnival estate, passing eventually to the Earls of Shrewsbury and from them to the Dukes of Norfolk. In 1823 the then Duke of Norfolk sold Whiston to Sir George Sitwell of Renishaw.
Whiston Parish
The parish of Whiston originally extended northwards to include Canklow and Upper Moorgate and Herringthorpe. In 1879 the extension of the Rotherham Borough boundary pushed the Whiston boundary back to Oakwood and Sitwell Vale. In 1936 the Borough boundary was extended southwards once again to take in the new housing on the south side of East Bawtry Road To the south the parish includes the hamlets of Upper Whiston, Morthen and Guilthwaite.
Church
The first mention of a church at Whiston comes in 1188 when a chapel at Whiston is referred to as belonging to the church at Ecclesfield. The Lovetot family were patrons of the church at Ecclesfield and it was probably one of that family who built the chapel at Whiston.
The present church is the result of Victorian enlargement. The original medieval church, containing work from the 12th to the 15th centuries, now forms the south aisle. The present nave and chancel were added in 1882-3 on the site of the medieval north aisle. The additions were designed by John Oldrid Scott (son of Sir Gilbert Scott) and the process of restoration was put in hand by the rector, Rev. William Howard. Rev. Howard did not live to see his plans come to fruition as he died in May 1881 and was interred in a new vault on the south side of the church. Rev. Howard was the third son of the first Earl of Effingham and had been rector of Whiston for 40 years. The bulk of the cost of the church restoration was born by the late rector’s sister, Lady Charlotte Howard.
Recent alterations to the church have included the insertion of meeting rooms at the west end and the movement of the altar to a new worship area at the crossing. The Victorian Rectory, erected in 1844 by Rev Howard, is now the headquarters of Sheffield Forgemasters. The present rectory was built in 1965-6. The Parish Church Institute, at the top of School Hill, was erected in 1913. By the late 1980s maintenance of the building had become a serious drain on church funds and the Institute was sold for conversion into a single dwelling. The parish stocks, dated 1786, stand in the churchyard next to the lyche gate, which forms the parish war memorial.
Methodists
Between 1771 and 1822 the Methodists of Whiston met in Stanley Cottage on Hollowgate. A small chapel was constructed on High Street in 1822, and replaced by the present Methodist Church in 1865-6. A parish clock was placed in the chapel tower in 1874, the cost being defrayed by public subscription.
Education
The first mention of education in Whiston comes in the will of Joseph Hammond (1794) who left money for the education of children. The cottages opposite the former Parish Church Institute once housed a boarding school that attracted pupils from a wide area. The National School formerly stood off School Hill, below the churchyard. The original School was constructed in 1838 and replaced with a new building in 1874. The school closed when the new school on Saville Road opened in 1961. A second primary school was erected on Worrygoose Lane in 1968-9.
Manorial Barn
The Manorial Barn on Chaff Lane may well be the oldest agricultural building in Yorkshire. The southern five bays of this aisled barn have been dated by dendrochronology to the early 13th century, the northern three bays having been added in the 16th century. By the 1980s the barn was in poor condition and was under threat of demolition for rebuilding in Oxfordshire. The barn was purchased by the parish council in 1985 and finally restored and rethatched in 1991. It is now used for parish events. The west wing of Whiston Hall contains timbers of c1500 encased in later stonework.
Population Growth
In 1801 the population of Whiston stood at 672. The population increased steadily throughout the 19th century, reaching 1,317 in 1871 and 1,982 in 1901. By 1931 the figure had risen to 2,508 but the loss of territory to Rotherham in 1936 almost halved the population of Whiston. By 1951, with increased house building in Whiston, the population of the reduced parish had climbed to 2,780. In 1991 it had reached 4,907.
(Extracted from:- R.M.B.C, Patchwork of parishes, 1997)
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