Wortley, South Yorkshire

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 53.4833
longitude= -1.5333
map_type= South Yorkshire
official_name= Wortley
population =
metropolitan_borough= Barnsley
region= Yorkshire and the Humber
metropolitan_county = South Yorkshire
post_town= SHEFFIELD
postcode_district = S35
postcode_area= S
dial_code= 0114
os_grid_reference=
constituency_westminster= Barnsley West and Penistone

Wortley is a village in the Metropolitan borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England.

Wortley grew up as a settlement where the Sheffield to Halifax road crossed the Cheshire to Rotherham route. In 1250, a Sunday market was briefly established, but this was quickly suppressed by the monks who owned the right to hold markets in Barnsley. In 1307, the village finally received a Royal Charter to hold a weekly Thursday market and an annual three-day fair at Whitsun. The market and fair both soon ceased, and an eighteenth-century attempt to revive the fair was unsuccessful. [David Hey, "Medieval South Yorkshire"]

The village is famous for the Wortley Top Forge, which dates back to the time of the Industrial Revolution, but is most famous for the notorious highwayman Swift Nick (John Nevison, 1639 - 1684) who was born and raised there. It was really he (and not Dick Turpin) who made the infamous ride on horseback from London to York in order to establish an alibi for a robbery. However, the family which owns Wortley and the surrounding estate, the Montagu Stuart-Wortley Mackenzies, have done nothing to commemorate him, and other places (notably Castleford) have therefore had some success in exploiting inaccurate claims concerning his birthplace. Until 1987, Wortley was home to the Earl of Wharncliffe.

References