The county is largely urban, with an area of 1,552 km2 (599 sq mi) and a population of 1,430,623 in 2024. Sheffield is located in the south, withRotherham immediately to the north-east. The city ofDoncaster lies in the east, andBarnsley in the north. The far east and the west of the county are predominantly rural. For local government purposes the county comprises fourmetropolitan boroughs:Barnsley,Doncaster,Rotherham, andSheffield. They collaborate through theSouth Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
The west of South Yorkshire contains part of thePeak District, an upland area andnational park that is part of thePennines. The hills are the source of theRiver Don, which flows east through Sheffield, Rotherham, and Doncaster. TheSouth Yorkshire coalfield underlies Barnsley, Doncaster, and part of Sheffield, and its exploitation contributed to the development of their industry. The area between Rotherham and Doncaster is rolling arable farmland underlain by limestone, and beyond in the east of the county are the flatHumberhead Levels.
While the county of South Yorkshire was created in 1974, the history of its constituent settlements and parts goes back centuries.Prehistoric remains include aMesolithic "house" (a circle of stones in the shape of a hut-base) dating to around 8000 BC, found atDeepcar, in the northern part of Sheffield.[3] Evidence of even earlier inhabitation in the wider region exists about 3 miles (5 km) over the county boundary atCreswell Crags inDerbyshire, where artefacts and rock art found in caves have been dated by archaeologists to the lateUpper Palaeolithic period, at least 12,800 years ago.[4] The region was on the frontier of the Roman Empire during the Roman period.[5]
The main settlements of South Yorkshire grew up around the industries ofmining andsteel manufacturing. The main mining industry was coal which was concentrated to the north and east of the county. There were also iron deposits which were mined in the area. The rivers running off thePennines to the west of the county supported the steel industry that is concentrated in Sheffield, Stocksbridge and Rotherham. The proximity of the iron and coal also made this an ideal place for steel manufacture.
Although Christiannonconformism was never as strong in South Yorkshire as in themill towns of West Yorkshire, there are still manyMethodist andBaptist churches in the area. Also, South Yorkshire has a relatively high number of followers ofspiritualism. It is the only county that counts as a full region in theSpiritualists' National Union.[6]
TheLocal Government Commission for England presented draft recommendations, in December 1965, proposing a new county—York and North Midlands—roughly centred on the southern part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and northern parts of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The review was abolished in favour of theRoyal Commission on Local Government before it was able to issue a final report.
The Royal Commission's 1969 report, known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report, proposed the removal of much of the then existing system of local government. The commission described the system of administeringurban andrural districts separately as outdated, noting that urban areas provided employment and services for rural dwellers, and open countryside was used by town dwellers for recreation.[7]
Redcliffe-Maud's recommendations were accepted by the Labour government in February 1970.[8] Although the Redcliffe-Maud Report was rejected by the Conservative government after the1970 general election, there was a commitment to local government reform, and the idea of a metropolitan county of South Yorkshire.
South Yorkshire initially had a two tier structure of local government with a strategic-level county council and four districts providing most services.[12]
In 1974, as part of theSouth Yorkshire Structure Plan of the environment, conservation and land use, South Yorkshire County Council commissioned a public attitudes survey covering job opportunities, educational facilities, leisure opportunities, health and medical services, shopping centres and transport in the county.[13]
South Yorkshire lies within theSheffield City Region with Barnsley also being within theLeeds City Region, reflecting its geographical position midway between Yorkshire's two largest cities.
The metropolitan county bordersDerbyshire,West Yorkshire,North Yorkshire, theEast Riding of Yorkshire,Lincolnshire andNottinghamshire. The terrain of the county is mostly distinguished by the Pennines and its foothills which rise in the west of the county and gradually descend into theHumberhead Levels in the east of the county. Geologically, the county lies largely on the carboniferous rocks of theYorkshire coalfield in the outer Pennine fringes, producing a rolling landscape with hills, escarpments and broad valleys. In this landscape, there is widespread evidence of both current and former industrial activity. There are numerous mine buildings, former spoil heaps and iron and steel plants. The scenery is a mixture of built up areas, industrial land with some dereliction, and farmed open country. Ribbon developments along transport routes including canal, road and rail are prominent features of the area although some remnants of the pre industrial landscape and semi-natural vegetation still survive.[16]
The Pennines in the west of the county are mostly inside thePeak District National Park and also contain carboniferous rocks, with the underlying geology primarily being millstone grit sandstones of theDark Peak rising from the Yorkshire coalfield and the terrain is mostly moorland plateaus and gritstone edges.[17] The inner Pennine fringes between the Dark Peak and Yorkshire coalfield are distinguished by many steep valleys, and a transition from uplands and rural landscape to lowlands and urban landscape towards the east of the county.[18] Major rivers which cross the area are theDearne,Rother andDon. To the east, in the Doncaster area the landscape becomes flatter as the eastward dipping carboniferous rocks of the coalfield are overlain by the lacustrine deposits of the Humberhead Levels.[19]
South Yorkshire containsgreen belt throughout the county, surrounding its four districts to large extents. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. The western edge of the Sheffield and Barnsley districts directly form with the boundary of the Peak District National Park.
Of these settlements above, South Yorkshire has three main urban areas: theDearne Valley which covers Barnsley and surrounding area; theSheffield urban area which covers Sheffield, Rotherham and surrounding area; and the Doncaster urban area which covers Doncaster and surrounding area.
In 1986, throughout England the metropolitan county councils were abolished. Theceremonial county with aLord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire and aHigh Sheriff was retained. The county remains defined asmetropolitan, functions of the county council devolved to the boroughs with many functions administered by joint authorities (such apassenger transport executive) containing representatives of the four councils.
As one of the least prosperous areas in Western Europe, South Yorkshire has been targeted for funding from theEuropean Regional Development Fund. This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of South Yorkshire at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.[28]
^Pike, Alistair W. G.; Gilmour, Mabs; Pettitt, Paul; Jacobid, Roger; Ripoll, Sergio; Bahn, Paul; Muñoz, Francisco (2005). "Verification of the age of the Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags, UK".Journal of Archaeological Science.32 (11):1649–1655.Bibcode:2005JArSc..32.1649P.doi:10.1016/j.jas.2005.05.002.
^"Regional Gross Value Added"(PDF). Office for National Statistics. 21 December 2005. pp. 240–253.Archived(PDF) from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved6 October 2008.
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