Maltby, South Yorkshire
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- This article is about the town of Maltby, South Yorkshire. For other uses, see Maltby.
  Map sources for Maltby at grid reference SK5292
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Maltby, South Yorkshire, UK, is a town of about 23,000 inhabitants in a rural area about 7 miles east of Rotherham.
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[edit] History
Maltby has its historical roots in Roman times, and there are several local examples of Roman roads running through the town. Maltby is mentioned in the Domesday Book as "by-malt", and was for centuries a very small village with the benefits of a fairly large stream nearby and very rich land for farming available. Since the discovery of coal in the area in the late 19th Century, however, the population of Maltby has risen from around 500 at the turn of the 19th century to about 17,000 by the 2001 census.
Maltby Colliery was the site of mass protests during the UK miners' strike (1984-1985), and remains today one of only three collieries still open in the area. Additionally, during the Second World War, a munitions factory was relocated to the outskirts of Maltby, close to the colliery, though this has long since been closed. Maltby also had a very successful factory, Byfords, which produced knitwear for such companies as Pringle - this has long since closed and the new police station was built on the site.
A railway station on the South Yorkshire Joint Railway served the town from 1910 until 1929.
There is an historic feature just outside of Maltby called Roche Abbey, which was ruined during the reign of Henry VIII of England.
[edit] Community and culture
The town is served by a variety of shops and businesses including "LBM", a local DIY shop, and "RJ Timber Supplies", a traditional family-run timber merchant. There are also several businesses in the service industry such as hairdressers and beauticians; the most popular of which is "The Cutting Edge" on Rotherham Road.
There are several pubs in the town, the oldest of which is the White Swan (16th century). The Queens Hotel was once frequented by the Maltby Mortis, an outlaw biker motorcycle club.
Maltby Comprehensive School has famous alumni including cricketer Fred Trueman and the Dancing England Rapper Tournament 2005 winners. There is a Roman Catholic primary school in Maltby - St Mary's.
Maltby has a large Roman Catholic congregation, predominantly first or second generation Irish immigrants, many of whom were navvies and "sunk" Maltby Colliery in the late 19th century. The Maltfriscans are a lay community, predominantly Roman Catholic, that began with a group of punk rockers and other young people in Maltby. The name comes from Maltby franciscans, as they take St Francis of Assisi as one of their inspirations. There are very few remaining now in Maltby.
The ancient game of "beck ball" was revived in the mid 1980s to some success; this is a sort of rugby game, where opposing teams generally fight a turf war in the local stream.
[edit] Hard Times
Maltby was once, in modern terms, a small village of only several thousand inhabitants, but since the war and particularly the 1950s, it has seen a massive increase in its population. Many "new" housing estates were built in the 1970s and 1980s for private ownership. Maltby's main council housing stock went into serious disrepair during the 1980s with areas like "White city" becoming near-slum dwellings. These hard done-by areas were rejuvenated in the 1990s and Maltby has benefited from local government funding since 1997.
During the miners' strike, there was a degree of poverty among the large local mining population and some children went without adequate food and clothing due to government denial of social security benefits to the strikers. A riot occurred when thousands of miners picketed the colliery as agency workers were bused into the mine (see BBC News item). The rioting and violence was not at the same level of the Battle of Orgreave, but left a bitter division between the police, the strikers and the miners who returned to work ("scabs"). The scars of the strike have not healed in many people's minds and some still hold on to their resentment towards the families of strike-breakers, more than twenty years after the end of the strike.
The Miners' Welfare Institute (locally known as the "stute"), a working mens club for miners, is still going strong.
[edit] Trivia
The town once had the tallest twins in Britain, John and Mark Carratt, who earned a mention in the 1980 Guinness Book of Records. Both brothers still live in Maltby today, though are no longer classed as Britain's tallest twins. At the time - they appeared on the local 'Calendar' news program, and as local footbal referees were filmed kicking a football on the local Manor field.
[edit] External Links
| Ceremonial county of South Yorkshire | ||
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| Metropolitan districts: | City of Sheffield • Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham • Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster • Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley | |
| Cities/Towns: | Adwick le Street • Anston • Armthorpe • Askern • Aughton • Barnsley • Bawtry • Birdwell • Beighton • Bentley • Chapeltown • Conisbrough • Cudworth • Darfield • Darton • Dinnington • Dodworth • Doncaster • Finningley • Great Houghton • Grimethorpe • Harthill • Hatfield • Highlane • Hoyland Nether • Kirk Sandall • Maltby • Mexborough • Moorends • Mosborough • Norton • Oughtibridge • Rawmarsh • Rossington • Rotherham • Royston • Scholes • Sheffield City Centre • Stainforth • Stocksbridge • Swinton • Thorne • Thorpe Hesley • Thurcroft • Thurnscoe • Tickhill • Todwick • Treeton • Wales • Wath upon Dearne • Wharncliffe Side • Wombwell • Woodsetts • Worsbrough See also: List of civil parishes in South Yorkshire |
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