| Rotherham | |
|---|---|
| Market town | |
 Coat of arms | |
  Rotherham Location withinSouth Yorkshire | |
| Population | 109,691 (2011 census) |
| OS grid reference | SK4392 |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | |
| Post town | ROTHERHAM |
| Postcode district | S60-S62, S65, S66 |
| Dialling code | 01709 (with 0114, 01226 and 01909 in parts) |
| Police | South Yorkshire |
| Fire | South Yorkshire |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/ |
| 53°25′48″N1°21′25″W / 53.430°N 1.357°W /53.430; -1.357 | |
Rotherham (/ˈrɒðərəm/ ⓘRODH-ər-əm)[1] is a market town inSouth Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of theRiver Rother, from which the town gets its name, and theRiver Don. It is the largest settlement of theMetropolitan Borough of Rotherham.
Before theIndustrial Revolution, traditional industries included farming, glass making and flour milling. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Rotherham became known for its coal mining and, later, steel industries. The town'shistoric county isYorkshire, and Rotherham was once part of theWest Riding of Yorkshire. In 1974, thisadministrative county was abolished during a reorganisation of local government.[2][better source needed] Subsequently, Rotherham became part of the county ofSouth Yorkshire, where it makes up one of four metropolitan boroughs.
Rotherham had a population of 109,691 in the2011 census. The borough had a 2024 population of 276,595, the64th most populous district in England.
Evidence ofIron Age andRoman settlements has been found in Rotherham area. This includes a small Roman fort to the south-west in the upper flood meadow of the Don atTempleborough.
Rotherham was founded in the earlyMiddle Ages. Its name is from Old Englishhām 'homestead, estate', meaning 'homestead on the Rother'. The river name is of Brittonic origin for 'main river',ro- 'over, chief' andduβr 'water'. Another river called theRother flows throughEast Sussex.[3] AnAnglo-Saxon settlement, with anecclesiastical parish, was established near the Romanford across the River Don.[4]
The 1086Domesday Book records a manor previously held bylord Hakon in 1066 tenanted byWilliam the Conqueror's half-brother,Robert de Mortain. The 1086 record shows an absentee lord who held the most inhabitedmanor,Nigel Fossard. Thetown area today includes eight outlying Domesday estates. Eight adult male householders were counted as villagers, three were smallholders and one the priest, threeploughlands were tilled by one lord's plough team and two and a half men's plough teams were active. The manor also had a church, roughly four acres of meadow and seven woodland acres. Rotherham had a mill valued at half a pound sterling.[5][6]
Fossard's successors, the De Vesci family, rarely visited the town, but maintained a Friday market and a fair. In the mid 13th century, John de Vesci and Ralph de Tili gave all their possessions in Rotherham toRufford Abbey. The monks from the abbey collectedtithes from the town and gained rights to an extra market day on Monday and to extend the annual fair from two to three days.[5]
The townsmen of Rotherham formed the "Greaves of Our Lady's Light", an organisation which worked with the town's threeguilds. It was suppressed in 1547 but revived in 1584 as thefeoffees of thecommon lands of Rotherham, and remains in existence.[5]
In the 1480s, the Rotherham-bornArchbishop of York,Thomas Rotherham, instigated the building of a College of Jesus in Rotherham to rival the colleges ofCambridge andOxford. It was the first brick building in what is now South Yorkshire and taught theology, religious chant and hymns, grammar and writing.[5]
The college and new parish ofAll Saints Church made Rotherham an enviable and modern town at the turn of the 16th century. The college was dissolved in 1547 during the reign ofEdward VI, and its assets were stripped by the crown. Very little remains of the original building in College Street. Walls of part of the College of Jesus are encased within number 23 and Nos 2, 2A, 4 (later for a timeOld College Inn, a beerhouse), 6 and 8 Effingham Street. A doorway was rescued from demolition and relocated to nearby Boston Park in 1879.[7] Sixty years after the college's dissolution Rotherham was described by a wealthy visitor as falling from a fashionable college town to a place of gambling and vice. The history of Thomas Rotherham and education in the town are remembered in the name ofThomas Rotherham College.[8]
Mary, Queen of Scots stayed in Rotherham for two nights at the end of January 1569. It has been suggested that she stayed in the College building. Two men, a Mr Lete and Mr Bayley, were paid for guarding her.[9]
The Rotherham area had been used for iron production since the Roman occupation of Britain. Toward the end of the 18th century, coal seams near the town made Rotherham an important settlement in theIndustrial Revolution. Coal was exported from the town by river, and this led to infrastructure improvements in the River Don's navigability. The River Don eventually became an artery of theSheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation system of navigable inland waterways.
During the early Industrial Revolution, iron, and later steel, became the principal industries in Rotherham, surviving into the 20th century. The Walker family built an iron empire in the 18th century, their foundries producing high quality cannons, including the majority of guns for the shipHMSVictory,[10] and cast iron bridges, one of which was commissioned byThomas Paine.[11]
Rotherham's cast iron industry expanded rapidly in the early 19th century, with the Effingham Ironworks, later Yates, Haywood & Co, opening in 1820. Other majoriron founders included William Corbitt and Co; George Wright and Co of Burton Weir; Owen and Co of Wheathill Foundry; Morgan Macauley and Waide of the Baths Foundry; the Masbro' Stove Grate Co belonging to Messrs. Perrot, W. H. Micklethwait and John and Richard Corker of the Ferham Works. G & WG Gummer Ltd exported brass products across the world, supplying fittings for hotels, hospitals, Turkish baths and the RMS Mauretania. Their fittings could also be found on battleships used in the Second World War and HMSArk Royal.[12]
The Parkgate Ironworks was established in 1823 by Sanderson and Watson, and changed ownership several times. In 1854, Samuel Beal & Co produced wrought iron plates forIsambard Kingdom Brunel's famous steamship theSSGreat Eastern.[13] In 1864, the ironworks was taken over by the Parkgate Iron Co. Ltd, becoming thePark Gate Iron and Steel Company in 1888. The company was purchased by Tube Investments Ltd in 1956 and closed in 1974.Steel, Peech and Tozer's massive Templeborough steelworks (now theMagna Science Adventure Centre) was, at its peak, over a mile (1.6 km) long, employing 10,000 workers, and housing sixelectric arc furnaces producing 1.8 million tonnes of steel a year. The operation closed down in 1993.
The first railway stations,Holmes andRotherham Westgate, both on theSheffield and Rotherham Railway, opened on 31 October 1838. Holmes station was located close to the works ofIsaac Dodds and Son, pioneers in the development of railway technology. Later stations includedParkgate and Aldwarke on theManchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, which opened in July 1873;Parkgate and Rawmarsh on theNorth Midland Railway, andRotherham Masborough also on the North Midland Railway.
Rotherham Forge and Rolling Mill occupied an island in the river known as Forge Island. Its managing director was Francis Charles Moss of Wickersley, until his death in 1942. The site was later occupied by a Tesco superstore and, by 2024, was the location of a new leisure development with an eight-screen cinema, food and drink outlets, and a hotel. Completion was initially scheduled for October 2021,[14] but the project was delayed, with most facilities are opening during 2024.[15][16]
Joseph Foljambe established a factory to produce his Rotherham plough, the first commercially successful ironplough.[17]
Aglass works was set up in Rotherham in 1751 and became Beatson Clark & Co, one of the town's largest manufacturers, exporting glass medicine bottles worldwide. Beatson Clark & Co was a family business until 1961, when it became apublic company. The glass works operated on the same site, although the family connection ceased and the company is owned by Newship Ltd, a holding company linked to the industrialist John Watson Newman. It continues to the manufactureglass containers for thepharmaceutical, food and drinks industries.[18] In the 19th century, other successful industries includedpottery,brass making and the manufacture of cast iron fireplaces. Precision manufacturing companies in the town include AESSEAL, Nikken Kosakusho Europe, MTL Advanced, MGB Plastics andMacalloy. Rotherham is the location of theAdvanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), which is home to a number of world-class companies includingRolls-Royce and McLaren Automotive.
The district abounds in mineral wealth; coal and iron ore are found in great profusion, and have been wrought from [long ago]. The town was formerly celebrated for its manufacture of edge tools; and in 1160, there were mines ofironstone, smelting-furnaces, and forges in the neighbourhood. But the most extraordinary establishments of this kind, of late years, were the iron-foundries belonging to Messrs. Walker, in which immense quantities of cannon of the largest calibre were wrought for government during the war, till the works were given up by the original proprietors, and let out to small capitalists. The spinning of flax affords employment to about 200 persons; there are manufactories for rope and for starch, a large malting establishment, two largeale andporter breweries, several oil and chemical works, and a glass-[making] house. Some other manufactories and works are noticed in the article onMasbrough. The Don, which is navigable to Sheffield, communicates with the river Aire on the north-east, with the Stainforth and Keadby canal on the east, with the Dearne and Dove canal and the Barnsley canal on the north-west, and consequently with the river Calder; by which means Rotherham enjoys [goods trade] with all the principal towns in the great manufacturing districts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. In 1836 an act was passed for making a railway to Sheffield, with a branch to the Greasbrough canal and coal-field; it was opened [in] 1838, and the distance is about six miles....The market is on Monday, for corn, cattle, and provisions: on alternate Mondays is a celebrated market for fat-cattle, sheep, and hogs, numerously attended by grazers from distant parts of the country; and fairs take place on Whit-Monday and December 1st, for cattle. Acourt leet is held annually, at which constables and other officers for the internal regulation of the town are appointed
— A Topographical Dictionary of England,Samuel Lewis, 1848.
Milling grain into flour was a traditional industry in Rotherham, formerly in theMillmoor area, henceRotherham United F.C.'s nickname "The Millers". Flour milling continued at theRank Hovis town mill site on Canklow Road[19] until September 2008.[20] The site of the mill is now a warehousing and distribution facility for local logistics company, 4S Distribution.
In 1983, Rotherham became a designatedenterprise zone with benefits and incentives given to attract new industry and development in the area. Within the first year, ten new companies were established within the zone. The former chemical works at Barbot Hall, which had been derelict, was developed into a new industrial estate and named 'Brookside', after Mangham Brook, which runs alongside it.[21]
Rotherham was affected byflooding in the summer of 2007. This caused the closure of central roads, schools and transport services; it damaged residential and commercial property, including the Parkgate Shopping complex and theMeadowhall Centre, which suffered considerable internal water damage.Ulley Reservoir became a focus of major concern when its dam showed signs of structural damage, threatening to break and release water into the suburbs ofTreeton,Brinsworth andCanklow as threatening the Junction 33 electrical sub-station. Thousands of homes were evacuated in response.[22]Rother FM evacuated its studios, passing its frequency temporarily to neighbouring stationTrax FM. A stretch of theM1 motorway was closed for three days due to the flood risk. Fire service and police officers used multiple high-powered pumps to lower the water level in the reservoir and reduce pressure on the dam wall, which was damaged but held. By summer 2008, the reservoir and surrounding country park reopened.
A new wetland and flood storage area, Centenary Riverside park, has since been built by Rotherham Council and the Environment Agency to prevent flooding in the future. TheWildlife Trust for Sheffield and Rotherham manages the site as a local nature reserve. The site is home to the massive sculpture Steel Henge, aStonehenge replica which is in fact made from iron ingots.[23][24][25]
Following a 2012 article published inThe Times newspaper revealing the cover-up of large-scale sexual abuse of young children by gangs of people of Pakistani origin in Rotherham,[26] Rotherham Council commissioned ProfessorAlexis Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, to lead an independent inquiry about the handling of the cases and a suspected child exploitation network. She issued a report on thechild sexual exploitation scandal that extended beyond the cases investigated by the police. Her report of August 2014 revealed an unprecedented scale of reportedchild sexual abuse within an urban area of this size over a 16-year period.[27][28] Subsequently,Eric Pickles, theSecretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commissionedLouise Casey to conduct abest value investigation of Rotherham Council. She issued a report of her findings in February 2015.[29]
Both reports stated that a majority of the known perpetrators were ofPakistani heritage. Casey noted that the severity of the issue had not been addressed, and to a large extent this was the responsibility of Councillors. Casey's report concluded that at the time of her inspection the council was notfit for the purpose, and identified necessary measures for preventing further repetition.[30][31] On 4 February 2015, after receiving Casey's report, Pickles announced that commissioners would be appointed to run the council pending new elections, and the council leader and cabinet resigned en masse to allow for a 'fresh start'.[32] TheNational Crime Agency was called in to investigate whether Rotherham councillors were complicit in hiding the depth and scale of the child abuse due to a "fear of losing their jobs and pensions" following a concern that they might be considered "racist" if they spoke out. According to the new report, the councillors were driven by "political correctness".[33]
Jayne Senior, a former youth town worker,[34] was reported to have worked for more than a decade to expose rampant child sexual abuse in Rotherham, but had been met with "indifference and scorn".[35][36] Senior was awarded anMBE in the2016 Birthday Honours.[37][38][39]
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All Saints Minster, on a square of the same name, was built usingneat-cut pieces made of a unique sandstone, Rotherham Red, with a low-pitched lead roofing. It is a Grade Ilisted building.[40] A Belfry was added to the church in 1501 and today the Minster houses 13 bells. A church has stood on the site since before the Norman Conquest and the current building dates from the 15th century and includes parts from earlier Saxon and Norman structures. Clayton and Bell working toGeorge Gilbert Scott's designs constructed the east window. Stained glass makers and designers A. Gibbs, Camm Brothers, Heaton, Butler and Bayne and James Bell are known makers of the other windows. Gargoyles flank its clock on each face. It has a "recessed octagonal spire with crocketed arrises and pinnacled shafts rising from corner faces and a gilded weathervane." Architectural criticsNikolaus Pevsner andSimon Jenkins considered it "the best perpendicular [style] church in the country" and "the best work in the county", respectively.
Close to the town centre is the 15th-centuryChapel of Our Lady of Rotherham Bridge (or "Chapel on the Bridge"), besideChantry Bridge (a road bridge opened in the 1930s). It is one of four surviving bridge chapels in the country. The chapel was restored in 1923, having been used as the town jail and atobacconist's shop.
The town was once home to Jesus College, founded by Thomas Rotherham in the fifteenth century. The remains of the college's buildings are in the town centre, where some of the earliest examples of a brick-built structure remain although not accessible to the public. The gate to the College of Jesus can be found in nearby Boston Park.
Boston Castle, in the grounds of Boston Park, was built as a hunting lodge byThomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham between 1773 and 1774 to mark his opposition to British attempts to crush the Americans in theirwar for independence. It is named afterBoston, Massachusetts, the scene of theBoston Tea Party.[41]
Built in the 18th century, Clifton House housesClifton Park Museum.
On the outskirts of Rotherham, a brick-built glass making furnace, theCatcliffe Glass Cone, is the oldest surviving structure of its type inWestern Europe and one of four remaining in the United Kingdom – the others being theRed House Cone in the Wordsley centre of the Dudley Glassworks in the West Midlands,Lemington Glass Works west of Newcastle upon Tyne andAlloa in Scotland. Threatened with demolition in the 1960s, it has been preserved as aScheduled Ancient Monument and stands as a focal point in a sheltered housing complex and close to the path leading up the Rother valley.[42]
The ruins ofRoche Abbey, south ofMaltby and half-way toWorksop, have multi-storey walls, which is unusual. Most others abbey ruins of this age are no more than foundations or a single storey, following thedissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s.[43]
Rotherham has threeFurther Education institutions and colleges. These areThomas Rotherham College,Dearne Valley College and theRotherham College of Arts and Technology. The Rotherham College of Arts and Technology has a campus in the Rotherham town centre and a second site inDinnington, as well as a nearby, smaller campus for construction-based subjects, such as bricklaying.
There is one main tier of local government covering Rotherham, atmetropolitan borough level:Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. The borough council is also a member of theSouth Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, led by the directly electedMayor of South Yorkshire. Some outer parts of Rotherham are included incivil parishes, which form an additional tier of local government in these areas, but the central part of the built-up area is anunparished area.
Rotherham was anancient parish. The parish was divided into eighttownships:Brinsworth,Catcliffe,Dalton,Greasbrough,Kimberworth,Orgreave,Tinsley, and a Rotherham township covering the central part of the parish including the town. These townships were madecivil parishes in 1866.[44]
Until 1801, the parish was governed by itsvestry andmanorial courts, in the same way as most rural areas. More urban forms of local government began in 1801 when a body ofimprovement commissioners was established for Rotherham township, with responsibilities for paving, lighting, and repairing the streets.[45] The commissioners were superseded in 1852 by an electedlocal board, whose district covered both the Rotherham and Kimberworth townships and had more extensive responsibilities, particularly relating to water supply and sewers.[46]
The local board was replaced in 1871 when Rotherham was incorporated as amunicipal borough. In 1902 it was elevated to become acounty borough, taking over county-level functions fromWest Riding County Council.[47]
The county borough was abolished in 1974 and replaced by the largerMetropolitan Borough of Rotherham, which also took in the areas of the abolishedurban districts ofMaltby,Rawmarsh,Swinton, andWath upon Dearne, plus theKiveton Park Rural District and RotherhamRural District.[48]
The Labour Party have controlled the authority since the 1974 incorporation of the Metropolitan Borough. Following the 2016 child sexual exploitation scandal, the way in which local councillors are elected in Rotherham changed, replacing annual rolling elections, with whole council elections every four years.[49] This change coincided with notable boundary changes, which changed the political landscape of the borough. Rotherham's shadow cabinet local opposition is currently theConservative Party with 18 seats. Independents hold one seat.
In the May 2021 election,Labour retained control of the council, while theConservatives went from zero to 20 seats.[50]
In 2013, ProfessorAlexis Jay published a report about theRotherham child sexual exploitation scandal (1997–2013). Following the report's publication, the council leader, Roger Stone of theLabour Party, resigned – an act of contrition the report said should have been made years earlier[51] – saying he would take full responsibility for "the historic failings described so clearly in the report."[52][53] Labour Councillors Gwendoline Russell, Shaukat Ali and former council leader Roger Stone were suspended from the Labour Party, as was former Deputy Council Leader Jahangir Akhtar, who had lost his council seat in 2014.[54] Chief Executive, Martin Kimber, said no council officers would face disciplinary action.[53] Kimber announced on 8 September that he intended to step down in December 2014, and offered his "sincere apology to those who were let down".[55] The council's director of children's services, Joyce Thacker, also left the authority by mutual agreement.[56] Malcolm Newsam was appointed as Children's Social Care Commissioner in October 2014,[57] and subsequently Ian Thomas was appointed as interim director of children's services.[58]
Shaun Wright, thePolice and Crime Commissioner (PCC) forSouth Yorkshire from 2012, was the Labour councillor in charge of child safety at the council from 2005 to 2010.[59] He initially refused demands to resign as PCC from theHome Secretary,Theresa May,[60] as well as members of his own party and local Labour MPSarah Champion, saying: "I believe I am the most appropriate person to hold this office at this current time."[61] He resigned from the Labour Party on 27 August 2014,[62] after an ultimatum by the party to either resign or face suspension.[63] Wright stood down as PCC on 16 September, saying that the prominence given to his role distracted from "the important issue, which should be everybody's focus – the 1,400 victims outlined in the report – and in providing support to victims and bringing to justice the criminals responsible for the atrocious crimes committed against them."[64]
The former Chief Constable,Meredydd Hughes, who served from 2004 to 2011 and who had unsuccessfully stood for the Labour Party nomination in the Police Crime Commissioner elections, was told by Labour MPKeith Vaz that he had 'failed' abuse victims.[65]
The inspector, Louise Casey, aided by seven assistant inspectors produced the Inspection Report on 4 February 2015.[31] Following its conclusion that the council was not fit for purpose the minister directed that the powers of the council (RMBC) be transferred to his department and the cabinet would need to resign unless RMBC made sufficient representations within 14 days to contradict the report. The Secretary of State empowered a team of five Commissioners to replace councillors before a full election in 2016, declaring that the authority was not currently fit for purpose, and its powers would not revert until the dis-empowered councillors could prove their fitness to carry out all of the council's duties without intervention. One of the commissioners was appointed to specialise in child protection.[66]
The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham covers the constituencies ofRotherham (UK Parliament constituency) which has been held by the Labour Party since 1933;Wentworth and Dearne (UK Parliament constituency), held by Labour since the creation of the seat in 1983; andRother Valley (UK Parliament constituency). When Rother Valley was won by the Conservatives in the 2019 General Election, this marked the first time the borough of Rotherham had returned anyone other than Labour MPs to Parliament since 1931.
Like most of South Yorkshire, the Rotherham constituencies are considered to be 'safe', having enjoyed 'substantial' majorities over a 'long' period of time; a typecast which heightens theincumbency factor present infirst past the post elections. The constituency of Rotherham has been held by Labour MPs since a by-election in 1933. After the resignation and subsequent jailing ofDenis MacShane in November 2012 due to expenses abuse, theby-election in 2012 sawSarah Champion elected.[67]
Much of the town occupies the slopes of two hills. To the west is the start of a 3 miles (4.8 km) north-west crest topped byKeppel's Column, afolly; to the east is a narrower crest alongside the Rother known as Canklow Hill, topped by a public area, Boston Park. The Rother here is between 32 and 34 metres above sea level.[68] The south scarp is slightly higher with the Canklow Hill Earthworks, aScheduled Ancient Monument.
Rotherham's commercial town centre occupies the valley between these hills on the navigable part of theRiver Don. The town centre is less than 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of the confluence with theRother flowing from the south. The Mid Don Valley continues adjoining towns in the north of the Metropolitan Borough.
Beyond the town centre and away from the Don Valley, the Rotherham district is largely rural, containing a mixture of retired people, larger properties, some farming and tourism and the landscapedWentworth Woodhouse estate, where the last survivingkiln of theRockingham Pottery can be seen.
Rotherham is within agreen belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties. It is in place to reduceurban sprawl, prevent the towns in theSheffield conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encouragebrownfield reuse and preserve nearby countryside.[69][70]
The green belt was adopted in 1979,[70] and the size in the borough in 2017 amounted to some 20,450 hectares (204.5 km2; 79.0 sq mi),[71] covering 72% of the overall borough.[69] The green belt surrounds the Rotherham urban area, with larger outlying towns and villages within the borough such as Treeton,Swallownest andThurcroft exempted. Smaller villages, hamlets and rural areas such asMorthen,Ulley, Guilthwaite,Hooton Roberts andOld Ravenfield are within the green belt, minimising unsuitable development in these areas.
A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure,[69] with rural landscape features, greenfield areas and facilities including the Wentworth Woodhouse estate and temple, River Rother, northern portions of the River Don and Hooton Brook, Pinch Mill Brook, golf courses, Ulley reservoir, Herringthorpe allotments, Rotherham Roundwalk and Sheffield Country Walk/Trans-Pennine trails, Thurcroft Hall, and Valley Park.
In 2011, the urban population of Rotherham was 109,691. In 2014, it was about 110,550.[72]
| Rotherham compared 2011 | Rotherham USD | Rotherham (Borough) |
|---|---|---|
| White British | 85.6% | 91.9% |
| Asian | 8.3% | 4.1% |
| Black | 1.3% | 0.8% |
In 2011, 14.4% of Rotherham's population were non-white compared with 8.1% for the surrounding borough. Rotherham town has over double the percentage ofAsian people compared with theMetropolitan Borough of Rotherham and a slightly larger percentage of black people. Rotherham has a largePakistani population.
As of 2021, the town of Rotherham's population was 129,897, and its ethnic makeup was 86.1%White, 9%Asian, 1.7%Mixed, 1.5%Black, 1.2% Other and 0.5%Arab.[74] The town's religious makeup was 49.2%Christian, 40.1% No Religion, 9.6%Muslim, and has smallHindu andSikh communities.[74]
Rotherham Central station has a regular rail service operated by twotrain operating companies:
There are generally threeSouth Yorkshire Supertram services per hour from Rotherham Central in each direction betweenParkgate andSheffield Cathedral.[77]
TheMagna Science Adventure Centre is an interactive science and adventure centre built in a former steel works in Templeborough. It has become one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region.[78]
Clifton Park Museum is a medium-sized museum in Clifton Park.
TheCivic Theatre and an Arts Centre is in the town centre.
The Westgate district of the town centre is the focal point of Rotherham's nightlife.
In 2015, the historic Three Crane Inn reopened on High Street in the town centre as an antiques shop. It closed in 2019, but reopened that year as a micropub.[79] The Three Cranes Inn is Rotherham's oldest secular building and dates back to 1470.[80]
In 2019, work began on the formerTesco site onForge island to build a multiplex cinema, 4 restaurants, new urban public space and a hotel. The project, first mooted in the early 2000s experienced many delays and finally opened in 2024, more than 20 years after the scheme was proposed.[81]
Rotherham holds several public events through the year:
In 2016, Rotherham's first carnival took place; thePeople's Parade included over 400 people with costumes from Rampage, Luton – Batala a 50 piece Brazilian samba band and hundreds of local people, schools and community groups. The parade lead to a festival in the park with flags, decorEh Up Rotherham sign, rides, stalls, DJ, bands, workshops and activities.
In 2022, Rotherham hosted theUEFA Women's Championship, at the New York Stadium.
As of 2025, Rotherham is the world's firstChildren's Capital of Culture.
Clifton Park, in the town centre, is a large park with sport facilities including an outdoor paddling pool, a small fairground and an adventure park. The park holds several events annually, including the great Rotherham show and annual fireworks display which both attract thousands of people each year.
Minster Gardens is an urban park in the heart of the town centre, next toRotherham Minster and All Saints Square. It has anamphitheatre and space for open-air events, with stepped seating, lawns, grass terracing and a meadow area.
Rotherham has severalBrass band clubs. It has also produced many classic and progressive rock bands, supported by theClassic Rock Society, such asJive Bunny,Bring Me the Horizon,The Reytons andMorris Minor and the Majors.
Rotherham town centre has various chain stores. Following the availability of "Vitality Grants" from 2009 onwards, a number of new independent businesses opened in the town centre such as Yella Brick Road.[82] In 2015, Rotherham won the Great British High Street award for its independent town centre shopping. Judges praised the transformation of key properties and the restoration of its "historic core".[83] A plaque commemorating the award was unveiled by Secretary of State for Local Government & CommitteesSajid Javid MP in September 2016.[84] As of 2021, the retail sector in Rotherham has a thriving independent scene with a number of new start up businesses opening in the town centre. Due to the close proximity of Sheffield city centre, Meadowhall shopping centre and the Parkgate Retail Park, Rotherham has struggled to attract major brands.
Rotherham has three community based local radio stations:Rotherham Radio,Rother Radio andRedroad FM.
TheRotherham Advertiser is the town's local newspaper.[85]
| Film name | Scenes portrayed | Locations used | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Girl with the Pistol (1968)[86] | Assunta meets John at the Bus Station | Frederick Street Bus Station, Rotherham (buildings redeveloped since) | Comedy |
| King Ralph (1991)[87][88] | Miranda's mum's house in England. Allotments. | Dalton (scene buildings redeveloped since) | Comedy |
| I.D. (1995)[89] | Centenary Market & Millmoor, Rotherham | As in reality | Police drama |
| When Saturday Comes (1996)[90] | Outdoor scenes in 'Sheffield' | Outdoor scenes in Rotherham | Football and underdog drama |
| Brassed Off (1996)[91] | Close-to-home concerts and parades for musicians | Rotherham town centre and district | Music-themed tragedy |
| Five Pillars (2013)[92] | Opening credits sequence, school fight scene | Rotherham Bus Station, Eastwood, Wickersley | Social realist drama |
Chef-writerJamie Oliver's television seriesJamie's Ministry of Food (2008) was based in Rotherham. He aimed to make Rotherham "the culinary capital of the United Kingdom" by his 'Pass it on' scheme, teaching groups some of which went on to work in restaurants.[93] The project closed in 2017.
TheArctic Monkeys' song "Fake Tales of San Francisco" has a tribute line: "Yeah I'd love to tell you all my problem. You're not from New York City, you're from Rotherham."
The 2013 filmFive Pillars was largely set and filmed in the town.
In 2022–23 season, the town'sassociation football team,Rotherham United, played in theEFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The team currently plays at theNew York Stadium. Historically the town was represented byRotherham Town andRotherham County, which both played in theFootball League.
Rotherham Titansrugby union team reached theGuinness Premiership in 1999 and 2003 before being relegated. The club plays at theClifton Lane Sports Ground. The town is also represented inrugby league by theRotherham Giants of theRugby League Conference.
Rotherham Town Cricket Club is an English amateurcricket club with a history dating back to 1846.[94] The club ground is based on Clifton Lane.[95] The club have 2 Saturday senior XI teams that compete in theYorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League,[96] and a junior training section that play competitive cricket in the Sheffield and District Junior League.[97]
FormerFormula One teamVirgin Racing were based inDinnington in the borough.IndyCar and formerChampCar and Formula One driverJustin Wilson was from Woodall, which is in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham.[98] Motorcycle speedway racing was staged in the town in around 1930.
Threegreyhound racing tracks existed in or around the town. They wereRotherham Greyhound Stadium (1933-1974); aroundMillmoor (1930-1933) and inHellaby. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body theNational Greyhound Racing Club) and all three tracks were known as flapping tracks, which was the nickname given to independent tracks.[99][100]
HurdlerChris Rawlinson, Olympic gold medallist sailorPaul Goodison, Olympic silver medallistPeter Elliott, former England goalkeeperDavid Seaman, golferDanny Willett[101] and2010 FIFA World Cup Final refereeHoward Webb are all from Rotherham.
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Rotherham is the home town of theChuckle Brothers,Manchester City andEngland forwardJess Park,Huddersfield Town andArsenal manager,Herbert Chapman (born in Kiveton Park, which was amalgamated into Rotherham in 1974),Arsenal andEngland goalkeeperDavid Seaman, along with World Cup and English Premier League refereeHoward Webb and gymnastElla-Mae Rayner.Sean Bean began his acting career in Rotherham while actorsLiz White,Ryan Sampson,Dean Andrews andDarrell D'Silva also hail from Rotherham, as does former leader of theConservative Party,William Hague, and SirDonald Coleman Bailey. PresenterJames May grew up in Rotherham; his co-presenter on Top GearJeremy Clarkson trained to be a journalist at theRotherham Advertiser.
ComediansSandy Powell andDuggie Brown were born in Rotherham, as was actressLynne Perrie.Chris Wolstenholme ofMuse, DJ Kritikal Mass,Dean Andrews ofLife on Mars, artistMargaret Clarkson, bandJive Bunny & The Mastermixers, musicianRebecca Taylor and singer-actor Rob McVeigh were all born or mostly raised in Rotherham.[106]
Rotherham's officialtwin town is:
It also has three partner towns:[108]
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