Stairfoot

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Stairfoot
Stairfoot shown within South Yorkshire
Metropolitan borough	Barnsley
Metropolitan county	South Yorkshire
Region	Yorkshire and the Humber
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BARNSLEY
Postcode district	S70
Dialling code	01226
Police	South Yorkshire
Fire	South Yorkshire
Ambulance	Yorkshire
European Parliament	Yorkshire and the Humber
UK Parliament	Barnsley East and Mexborough
List of places: UK • England • Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°32′N 1°26′W / 53.54, -1.44

Stairfoot is a village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England.

It is perhaps so named because it lies in the valley bottom between the directly opposed undulations of two small hills on the old road from Barnsley to Doncaster.

Stairfoot is now known widely throughout South Yorkshire for its roundabout. Controlled by traffic signals, it is notorious for its delays to the local traffic system.

At Lundwood, about 10 mins drive from the actual foot of the stairs (where the two small hillsides meet) lie the ruins of Monk Bretton Priory, a cluniac monastery founded in 1145. One of its still extant outbuildings lies on the left en route from Stairfoot to the Priory and is now a public house called 'The Mill of the Black Monks'. Hickleton and its ancient church lies about twelve miles from Stairfoot on the old Doncaster Road. For centuries its priest was provided by the Priory which was originally under the jurisdiction of the Abbey at Pontefract. The next village is Kendray.

The Trans Pennine Trail also passes through stairfoot using the old railway bridges, which cross the roads leading to the roundabout.

In 1867 Ben Rylands founded the Hope Glassworks at Stairfoot on what is now derelict land alongside the Aldi supermarket. During 1873 Ben Rylands was heavily involved in perfecting the manufacture process for Hiram Codd's new globe stoppered mineral water bottle. Codd rewarded him with a licence to manufacture the bottle in April 1874 and the business took off. Orders for the new bottle were so good that Rylands could not meet demand from his original works so work was commenced on a second factory on land now occupied by Beatson Clark. Hiram Codd joined Ben Rylands in partnership at Stairfoot in May 1877.

In 1881 following four years together Ben died leaving Codd to carry on the business alone. In 1882 Codd admitted Ben's son Dan Rylands as a partner at Stairfoot. Their stormy relationship lasted until 1884 when Codd sold his part of the business to Dan and left to pursue other interests. The Hope Glassworks under the stewardship of Dan Rylands was now the largest factory of its kind in the world.