ROTHERHAM a market-town and municipal borough in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is situated at the junction of the Rother with the Don navigation, on several railway lines, 5 miles north-east of SheflBeld. The parish church of All Saints, occupying the site of a building dating from Anglo-Saxon times, was erected in the reign of Edward IV., and is a good specimen of Perpendicular. Among the other principal public buildings are the new market-hall, the post office, the court-house, the temper ance hall, St George’s Hall, the council hall, and the corporation offices. There are a large number of educational and literary institutions, including the grammar school founded in 1483, the people’s charity school, the Independent college, the mechanics’ institute, the free library, and the literary and scientific society. There is a large hospital, besides almshouses and various other charities. The town possesses extensive iron, steel, and brass works, potteries, glass works, breweries, saw mills, and rope yards. The population of the municipal borough (area 5995 acres) in 1881 was 34,782....
The town is of Roman origin, and was of some importance in Anglo-Saxon times. In the time of Edward the Confessor it possessed a market and a church. Maiy queen of Scots stayed a night at Rotherham while a prisoner, as did also Charles I. when in the hands of the Scots. During the Civil War it sided with the Parliament. It w τ as taken possession of by the Royalists in 1643, but after the victory of Marston Moor was yielded up to a detachment of the Parliamentary forces. The townships of Rotherham and Kimberworth were incorporated as a municipal borough in August 1871, the adjacent suburbs being included in 1879. The corporation act as the sanitary authority, and own the waterworks, gasworks, and markets. They have introduced a system of main drainage, and have also provided a public park and a free library.
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