Silkstone Village

SIKLSTONE VILLAGE

SILKSTONE

The origin of the village of Silkstone is lost in the mists of antiquity. The 1086 Domesday Survey contains the entry: 'To the same Manor belong Silchestone. The church of All Saints and St James the Great, in Silkstone, dates from the 15th century, and there has been a church on the site since about 1150 AD. Throughout the ages the land has been worked, charcoal was produced and used in iron smelting. In the 17th Century glassware was made, later replaced by a pottery, on the Pot House Hamlet site. From early times a network of footpaths and tracks would have served the area. Cross Pennine packhorse routes provided long distance communication.
Coal
Coal has been mined in the Silkstone area for hundreds of years from outcrops around the villages. This allowed inhabitants to dig small pits in the commons and the hillsides, where the coal was close to the surface. An example is the bell pits in Silkstone Fall Wood. In the beginning much would have gone for local use. Acts of Parliament in 1793 and 1809 permitted the building of a horsedrawn waggonway, which eventually extended from Silkstone Common to the canal basin at Cawthorne. This was the means of transporting coal until 1848 when a railway line came to Silkstone Common. The use of the waggonway then declined due to this competition.
The Huskar Pit Disaster
Perhaps the most terrible event to befall the Parish was the Huskar Pit Disaster on July 4th 1838. This was the drowning by a flash flood in a summer storm. 26 young boys and girls who lost their lives when water from an overflowing stream, ran down a drift into the workings of the Huskar Pit. Of the forty who went out by the dayhole exit, twenty-six were washed by the floodwater against doors, which were closed by the force of the water, and they were drowned. Only fourteen of the older children managed to survive.
Musical Tradition
Silkstone has always had a musical tradition. Coniah Stringer, who was at the time, Choirmaster at the Parish Church and who became the band's first Conductor, founded the Old Silkstone Prize Band in 1861. When a pipe organ was acquired for the church, which dispensed with the services of the instrumentalists, Coniah Stringer bought a cornet and, by soliciting subscriptions, acquired further instruments and so had the beginnings of a band. He was succeeded by Dennis Bailey ('Wag' was his nickname) who was Bandmaster for twenty-four years.
Parish Pubs
In Silkstone there are two establishments. The Red Lion was built in 1733 as a coaching inn. The inquest into the Huskar Pit Disaster was held here in 1838. The Ring o Bells was built in the mid 1800s and was originally called the Six Ringers. The first Miners' Union meeting was held there. The pub stands next to the stocks, which date from 1405.

Taken from Silkstone Parish Design Statement and material supplied by Jim Richie, Roggins Society.