Rawmarsh
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aussieResearcher
Where was: "Park Gate Deep Pit" near Rawmarsh (1820s to 1924); and its 'worker housing'? Traditionally coal miners lived close to their work and in tight knit communities.

There are some confusing reference as to "Deep Pit" (http://www.rotherhamunofficial.co.uk/history/tradeandindustry/coalinfo/coalinforawmarsh.html). The timeline is unclear. I think there was in fact a "New Deep" pit as well.

My 4xgreat grandfather George was a coal miner in "New Parkgate", Greasbrough, in 1841 (Census). The Children's Employment Commission, 1842 found his son George,12, working in the "Park Gate Deep Pit" 2 1/2 years. He would "help fill and hurry". They had horses and "seven or eight hurriers". Sounds like a full-on, deep mine with several shafts, including ventilation shafts / furnace; and galleries, not just open cast mining.

According to other boys interviewed, there was a church somewhere, in the locality, and a school.

A part of traditional 'Parkgate' was included in Greasbrough civil parish. Fitzwilliam's Arms just snuck into Greasbrough Parish. There are baptisms recorded for "New Parkgate", but on the Rawmarsh Parish Register; then after 1844 they stop! 'New Parkgate' locality is sometimes referred to (http://www.rotherhamunofficial.co.uk/history/tradeandindustry/coalinfo/coalinforawmarsh.html).

"Drakes Roadbook" of 1840 refers to the "New Park Gate Colliery, belonging to Earl Fitzwilliam". The old Wentworth Estate records (WWM/V/6 1754-1854), under "Miscellaneous Colliery & Railroad Vouchers", however, refer to a "Park Gate Colliery, 1835, 1839,1845,1847, 1849, 1850". As to location, I have but a theory.
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replied to:  aussieResearcher
aussieResearcher
Replied to:  Where was: "Park Gate Deep Pit" near Rawmarsh (1820s to 1924);...
Additional Comment on My Own Post
Southern corner of Occupation Rd and Westfield Rd: an old Pumping Station built in 1823 still remains; and a disused shaft, used to drain the mine. A main shaft, drawing coal, would have been just west of this location (old shafts exist), and a furnace and ventilation shaft near the Pumping Station (old shaft exists). Horse stables, blacksmiths and a horse-access shaft would have been somewhere in the mix (a second shaft west shows on 1892 map). Worker housing would not have been too far away, but I am looking for some INSIDE the Greasbrough parish boundary, which runs along the back of houses in Holm Flatt Street, west side, and then directly north.

An old tramway is located west of the Pumping Station complex. I think the tramway to the Fitzwilliam Canal must have run under the bridge west of the Greasbrough Rd / Westfield Rd intersection. There is an old forge site on Westfield Rd, near this intersection. This area was known as "Holm Flatt" (level tract of Holm trees). The waggons might have had a bit of trouble keeping up momentum across the flatter land from hereon!

The occupations (Shipwright, Steel Converter,Steel Moulder,Iron Puddler) of SOME residents of the 'New Parkgate'-of-the-Census, incl. of another son, James ("Iron Puddler"; 1851 census), make it obvious they worked at the Parkgate Steel Works, alongside the Fitzwilliam Canal, which is deeply south of Rawmarsh residential area! Three coal miners and a steel worker lived in the same house in 1851.

In the 1829 Pigot Directory for Rotherham there is an entry: "Oxley & Hodgson (steel) New Park Gate Steel Works, Newbiggin". It seems like "New Park Gate", "Newbiggin" and "Parkgate" were interchangeable for a new part of Parkgate, vis a vis the old 'Parkgate House' area (confusing?!). It makes me wonder sometimes if 'New Park Gate' suburb was just part of old Parkgate, and the 'New Park Gate' fad-name just obsolesced. But that does not seem to fit with son George working in "Park Gate Deep Pit".

How far would family members be willing to travel to get to a coal mine in one direction, and an iron works in the other?
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replied to:  aussieResearcher
aussieResearcher
Replied to:  Additional Comment on My Own Post Southern corner of Occupation Rd...
Additional Comment on My Own Post
To give you an idea of the scale of this mystery suburb, according to the 1841 Census for 'Greasbrough Township' there were 37 families living in "New Parkgate" locality, contemporaneously. The occupations of this group included:
Carpenter(involved in making moulds),Blacksmith, Coke Burner, Blacksmith, Lime Burner, Iron miner (x2), Coal miner (x6), Brick maker, Labourer, File Hardener, Shipwright (x2), Steel converter (x2), Waterman, Steel moulder (involved in making iron products; x2), Bookkeeper(iron works used clerks),Miners Labourer,Iron Puddler.

'New Parkgate' seems to have had some diversity. In the portion of Rawmarsh parish baptism register 1830-1844, an additional 13 families were reported living there. This means at least 50 families were there between 1830 and 1844. The occupations of this last group of families were: potter(x4), butcher, engineer, forgeman, miner(x3), publican, inn keeper.

The parish boundary ran just east of the Fitzwilliam Arms.

Is it possible the Census worker (1841) gave a north-south strip of land partly in old Parkgate and partly on the edge of Rawmarsh a separate name, just because it was in the Greasbrough Parish? I was happy with that concept until I remembered that the Rawmarsh Parish Registers refer to "New Parkgate", as well!
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