Stairfoot
Coordinates: 53°32′N 1°26′W / 53.54°N 1.44°W
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 known widely throughout South Yorkshire for its roundabout. Controlled by traffic signals, it is notorious for its delays to the local traffic system.
Stairfoot currently has lots of retail outlets including a McDonald's, B&Q, Tesco and various food outlets and convenience stores.
Stairfoot is surrounded by the villages of Kendray and Ardsley.
The Trans Pennine Trail also passes through Stairfoot using the old railway bridges, which cross the roads leading to the roundabout, and the old railway bedding, which has been mainly tarmacked, and is suitable for cyclists, pushchairs and wheelchair users. Some parts are also open to horse riding.
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 that was 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. Dan Rylands took over the partnership after his father's death but this new alliance was doomed to failure, even though in 1882 they patented 'the crystal' (valve codd). On October 6th 1884, probably resenting the young Rylands inventive intrusion, Hiram Codd allowed his partner to buy him out of the business 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.
External links
Media related to Stairfoot at Wikimedia Commons