Rossington

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Rossington
Coordinates: 53.47594° N 1.0613° W Rossington shown within South Yorkshire
OS grid reference	SK624981
Metropolitan borough	Doncaster
Metropolitan county	South Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DONCASTER
Postcode district	DN11
Dial code	01302
Police	South Yorkshire
Fire	South Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
UK Parliament	Don Valley
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Rossington is a mining village South-East of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. There are remains of both a Roman fort and Roman pottery kilns in the area. The name Rossington translates from the old Anglo-Saxon name of 'Farm on the Moor'. In later times, Rossington housed a small village and both Rossington Hall and Shooters Hill Hall. However it was the mid-twentieth century that saw the largest expansion of the area. The need for workers in and around the Rossington Main Colliery led to the building of large numbers of housing near to the pit in what was called New Rossington. After the end of British Coal in the early 1990s, the mine was able to keep operating and became one of the last in the area to keep producing coal albeit at a greatly reduced scale. However, with the decline of the mine, the village suffered high levels of unemployment and poverty throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In more recent years, Old Rossington has seen the building of large levels of new, private housing raising the village's affluence. It is claimed that Rossington is the largest village in Britain with a population of 13,248 (9,089 New Rossington, 4,159 Old Rossington) over four times larger than the near by town of Bawtry (3,198) and making up 4.6% of the total population of the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough (data source, www.doncasterhealth.co.uk/Phiu/communities [1])

[edit] The Railway through Rossington

The 'Old Village' and 'New Village' are separated by the East Coast Mainline; there are only two crossing points over the railway between the old and new villages. These are the road bridge on Stripe Road and the level crossing at the point where West End Lane becomes Station road. As the road name suggests Rossington once had its own station, however, this was closed during the Beaching cuts of the 50's and 60's (exact date not known). The station buildings and platforms remained in place until the early 1980's, when the platforms, which were to the south of the level crossing were dug up and the old signal box that stood on the north east side of the crossing was demolished. The signaling having been automated and control of the crossing moved to Doncaster PSB a few years before. When the old signal box was in opperation the crossing was controled by a large set of wooden gates, which were opperated by the signalman who had to leave the signal box and open and close the gates by hand. These gates were replaced by automated barriers controlled from Doncaster PSB at the same time as the signal box was closed; however, some older residents of Rossington still refer to the crossing gates. The only surviving station building is the old Station Masters house, which stands on the north west side of the crossing and is now a private dwelling.