Forge Island Map
The Earl of Effingham's Map of Forge Island
(Document of the Month, May 2007)
Ref No: 260-Z
Date: 1753
This document is from the archive collection of the Earl of Effingham (ref no. 260-Z). Forge Island is not a true island but a piece of land on the Masbrough side of the River Don which found itself almost completely surrounded by water when the River Dun Navigation Company extended their works to Rotherham in the mid-eighteenth century.
The plan shows the top end of "The Cutt" where it enters the River Don at the flood-gates. It was drawn because some land belonging to the Lord of the Manor (The Earl of Effingham) could not now be reached. The map was intended to clarify access to The Earl of Effingham's Close which was just over half an acre in size and included a small garden.