Kiveton Park

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kiveton Park
Statistics
Population:
Ordnance Survey
OS grid reference: SK4983
Administration
Parish: Wales
Metropolitan borough: Rotherham
Region: Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country: England
Sovereign state: United Kingdom
Other
Ceremonial county: South Yorkshire
Historic county: Yorkshire (West Riding)
Services
Police force: South Yorkshire Police
Fire and rescue: {{{Fire}}}
Ambulance: Yorkshire
Post office and telephone
Post town: Sheffield
Postal district: S26
Dialling code: 01909
Politics
UK Parliament: Rother Valley
European Parliament: Yorkshire and the Humber

Kiveton Park, informally Kiveton (in either case, Kiveton is pronounced with three syllables, i.e. /ˈkɪ-və-ˌtən/), is a village in the metropolitan borough of Rotherham (part of the metropolitan county of South Yorkshire but in the historic West Riding of Yorkshire). From the Norman conquest to 1868, Kiveton was a hamlet of the parish of Harthill-with-Woodall. It subsequently transferred to the civil parish of Wales which takes its name from the neighbouring village.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Kiveton Park is located at approximately 53°20′30″N, 1°15′30″W, at an elevation of around 100 metres above sea level. It lies on the B6059 road, and is served by two railway stations: Kiveton Bridge and Kiveton Park. The Chesterfield Canal lies to the south, while the villages of Todwick and South Anston are to the north and east. Kiveton Park lays claim to being in Rotherham Borough Council, has a Sheffield postcode, a Worksop telephone code, and has the Chesterfield Canal running through it!

[edit] History

Kiveton gets its name from the Anglo-Saxon for the settlement in the hollow. In the Domesday Book it is written Cieutone, and was under the ownership of William de Warenne. It subsequently transferred to the de Keuton family, who sold the estate on to former Lord Mayor of London Sir William Hewet in 1580. One of his descendants was Thomas Osborne who became the first Duke of Leeds. He arranged the building of a stately home in the village, Keeton Hall, in 1698. The building was demolished by George William Frederick Osborne, 6th Duke of Leeds in 1812, with local legend stating that the demolition was the result of a bet with the then Prince of Wales (subsequently George IV of the United Kingdom).

[edit] Industry

The old colliery offices, Kiveton
Enlarge
The old colliery offices, Kiveton

Coal mining has traditionally been the principal industry of Kiveton, and dates back to the Middle Ages. Much of the coal is near to the surface, and as early as 1598, the area was extracting 2,000 tons a year. By the middle of the 19th century, the coal-fields were being served both by canal and by rail, and in 1866, the Kiveton Park Colliery was sunk, making it one of the earliest deep mines in the world. As a result of the new colliery, the population of Kiveton leapt from 300 to 1,400 over a period of just ten years.

The pit closed in 1994, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs. As a consequence, Kiveton is now essentially a commuter base for Sheffield.

Kiveton is also home to large steelworks at the bottom of Redhill.

Most of the colliery buildings have since been demolished, but the protected pit-head baths (built in 1938), and the 1870s office building with its gothic clock tower, remain.

[edit] Sport

Kiveton has had a long sporting heritage stretching back to 1879 , when Kiveton Park Colliery Cricket Club was formed. The club plays in the Bassetlaw and District Cricket League and has done since its inception in 1904, and are the only club to hold the distinction of playing in the league every single year the league has functioned.

In 1892, Kiveton Park Football Club was formed. The club was one of the founding members of the Yorkshire League, and now plays in the Central Midlands League, at the 12th level of the English Football Pyramid. The club has recently won back-to-back Sheffield & Hallamshire FA Association Cups. The club played in the FA Cup for four consecutive years from 1946 as 'Kiveton Park Colliery', and in 1969 as 'Kiveton Park United'. The club also played in the FA Vase from 1976 to 1989. [1]

[edit] Famous Inhabitants

James Toseland, 2004 World Superbike Champion, hails from Kiveton Park, as did Herbert Chapman, legendary Arsenal football manager, and his brother Harry Chapman, legendary Sheffield Wednesday football player, both prominent in the early 20th century.