Wath upon Dearne

Wath can be traced back to Norman times, It has an entry in the 1076 Domesday Book as Wad and Waith. It remained for some centuries a rural settlement astride the junction of the old Doncaster–Barnsley and Rotherham–Pontefract roads, the latter a branch of Ryknield Street. North of the town was the ford of the River Dearne. The origin of its name has been linked to the Latin vadum[3] and the Old Norse vath (ford or wading place).[4] The town received a Royal Charter in 1312–1313. entitling it to a weekly Tuesday market and an annual two-day fair, but these were soon discontinued. The market was revived in 1814.[5]

Until local government reorganisation in 1974, Wath was within the historic county of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Until the mid-19th century the town had a racecourse of regional importance, linked to the estate at nearby Wentworth. This fell into disuse, but traces of the track can be seen between Wath and Swinton and it is remembered in street names.[6] There was a pottery at Newhill, close to deposits of clay, but it was overshadowed by the nearby Rockingham Pottery in Swinton.[3] About the turn of the 19th century, the poet and newspaper editor James Montgomery, resident at that time, called it "the Queen of villages". This rural character changed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries, as coal mining developed.[7]

Blue Murder live at Montgomery Hall, Wath-upon-Dearne, Sunday 1 November 1987 (left to right: Heather Brady, Lal Waterson, Rachel Waterson, Norma Waterson, Martin Carthy, Mike Waterson, Dave Brady, Jim Boyes)

Wath upon Dearne is centred on Montgomery Square, which contains the town's main shops, the library and the bus station. Immediately to the west is the substantial Norman All Saints Church,[9] on a small leafy green with the Town Hall, the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the Dearne Valley College. The several pubs in the town centre include a branch of Wetherspoons and Wath Tap, Rotherham's first micro-pub specialising in locally brewed real ale.

Today Wath is still emerging from the sudden collapse of the coal industry, although jobs and some low-level affluence have returned. After a hiatus between the clearing of former colliery land and recent redevelopment, when the area felt rather rural, the construction of large distribution centres to the north of the town is restoring an industrial feel, but without the pollution issues of coal. Recently several large distribution warehouses for the clothing chain Next have opened. Much new housing is being built on the reclaimed land.

Wath Festival, held round the early May bank holiday, is a folk and acoustic music and arts festival founded by members of the Wath Morris Dancing Team in 1972. It has grown to host well-known names on the folk, acoustic and world music scene. While festival events occur across the town, most larger concerts are held at the Montgomery Hall Theatre and Community Venue. Recent appearances include Dougie MacLean, Fairport Convention, Martin Simpson, John Tams, Frances Black, John McCusker, Stacey Earle and Eddi Reader.

The festival marked its 40th anniversary in 2012. Wath won Village Festival Of The Year in the 2013 FATEA Awards.[10] The festival has been a supporter of upcoming young artists such as Lucy Ward, and Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar. It has also hosted the Wath Festival Young Performers Award, founded by the Sheffield-based musician Charlie Barker in 2011, who handed it over to a festival committee in 2014. Winners of the Young Performers Award include Luke Hirst & Sarah Smout, Sunjay, Rose Redd and Hannah Cumming.

The event includes traditional dancing by local Morris and Sword Dancing groups, street performances, workshops, children's events and a Saturday morning parade from Montgomery Hall through Montgomery Square and back to St James's Church, for a traditional throwing of bread buns from the parish church tower. Local schools, organisations and local Labour MP John Healey have been active in contributing to activities at the festival.

The RSPB's Old Moor nature reserve lies a mile to the north-west of the town.[11] It occupies a "flash", where mining-induced subsidence of land close to a river has created wetlands.

Wath Athletic F.C. served the community from the 1880s to the Second World War, playing in the Midland League and reaching the 1st Round of the FA Cup in 1926. No senior team has represented the settlement since the 1950s, and Wath remains one of the largest places in Yorkshire without one. However, it has a Rugby Union team that plays in the Yorkshire Division 2.

There are four primary schools for ages 3–11: Our Lady and St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Wath Central Primary, Wath C of E Primary and Wath Victoria Primary. The two secondary schools are Saint Pius X Catholic High School (for ages 11–16 ) and the larger Wath Academy, which has a sixth form and provides 11–18 education. Both take students from a wider area. Wath (Park Road) Secondary Modern School closed in 1963.

A large further education college, Dearne Valley College, based in Wath, has a main campus at Manvers and a smaller one near the town centre.

Wath-upon-Dearne bus station in Montgomery Road in the town centre provides the main public-transport hub since the closure of the railway stations. It has four bus stands on an otherwise pedestrianized section of Montgomery Road, next to Montgomery Square, High Street and the Wath-upon-Dearne Community Library. The bus station's one-way system down Montgomery Road is accessed from the B6097 Biscay Way to the north and feeding bus out into Church Street to the south.

The land is owned by the local council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, not the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive. As such, it is not listed as an official SYPTE Interchange, despite its relative size, and it lacks a ticket office, waiting room and toilet facilities

Services

As of January 2021, the stand allocation is:

Stand	Route	Destination
WS1	22X	Barnsley      via Wombwell (Stagecoach)
	226	Barnsley      via Wombwell and Stairfoot (Stagecoach)
WS2	220	Cortonwood      via West Melton and Brampton Bierlow (Stagecoach)
WS3	220	Mexborough      via Manvers and Swinton (Stagecoach)
	226	Thurnscoe      via Bolton-upon-Dearne and Goldthorpe (Stagecoach)
WS4	22a, 22c	Rotherham (circular)      via Manvers, Swinton , Rawmarsh and Parkgate (First)
	22X	Rotherham      via Manvers, Rawmarsh and Parkgate (Stagecoach)
	72, 72a	Chapeltown      via Manvers, Elsecar , Hoyland, Tankersley and High Green (Stagecoach)

• Anthony Arkwright (born 1967), spree killer, was convicted in 1989 of murdering three people in 1988.[12]
• David Bret (born 1954), show-business biographer, born in Paris, was adopted into a family (Spurr) here, and attended Wath Grammar School in 1961–1966.
• Lucy Clarkson or Lara Croft (born 1982), Tomb Raider model, was born in Rotherham and educated at Wath Comprehensive School.
• Rob Dawber (1956–2001) was scriptwriter for the Ken Loach film, The Navigators.
• Simon Farnaby (born 1973), actor, plays characters in the CBBC TV show Horrible Histories.
• William Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond (born 1961), former leader of the Conservative Party and cabinet minister, was a pupil at Wath Comprehensive School.
• Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath (1931–2003), longstanding local Labour MP, was born and educated in Wath.
• Daisy Makeig-Jones (1881–1945), sculptor for Wedgwood, was born in the town.[13]
• William Keble Martin (1877–1969), botanist, botanical illustrator and Anglican Vicar of Wath, is remembered in the name Keble Martin Way.
• Ian McMillan (born 1956), poet sometimes referred to as the Bard of Barnsley, attended the town secondary school when a Grammar School.
• James Montgomery (1771–1854), Scottish-born poet and Sheffield newspaper editor, lived in Wath in the early 19th century. He is remembered in Montgomery Hall and Montgomery Square.[7]
• Sir Charles Curran (1921–1980), Director-General of the BBC, 1969–1977, was educated in Wath.
• George Robledo (Jorge, 1926–1989), Chilean national and footballer, lived in a house later taken by David Bret and his parents. He played for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Newcastle United, scoring winning goal for the last in the 1952 FA cup final against Arsenal.
• Ted Robledo (Eduardo, 1928–1970), brother of George, also played for Huddersfield, Barnsley and Newcastle United.

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• Wath-upon-Dearne