Cawthorne, near Barnsley: Is the 'Yorkshire's poshest village' title justified?

At another gateway, at Church Street, there’s a manicured village green featuring a Victorian stone milepost with pyramidal top. Visitors, of which Cawthorne attracts many, are greeted by a gallery and gift shop alongside the Spencer Arms, which counts itself among South Yorkshire's best gastro pubs as well as offering community events such as live music every Friday night.

It’s served as the village pub since the early 18th century, hosting Enclosure Commissioners’ meetings, tenants to pay their annual rent, the Home Guard command post as well as a rehearsal room for the village band.

Nearby, in a converted 18th century cottage there’s Beatson House, a fine dining restaurant which features local specialty “the genuine Barnsley chop”, which it asks its diners to order a few days in advance as the cut of meat dating to Barnsley Town Hall’s opening in 1933 requires extremely slow cooking.

The historic core of the village, much of which is constructed from local sandstone, with squared rubble in thin courses and squared stone laid in deeper courses, also includes an old fashioned sweet shop, an antiques centre and cafe and a village store and tea room.

The range of places to eat is supported by two well-established clubs. The Comrades Club or Top Club, on Malt Kiln Row offers its members complementary treats such as homemade samosas and pasties, while the Tivy Dale Club or Bottom Club, is popular with groups such as the Women’s Institute and the British Legion. Other community venues include a Methodist Chapel on Darton Road which hosts regular coffee mornings and groups for children as well as concerts, such as one by Cawthorne Choral Society and The De Lacy Chamber Ensemble today.

All Saints Parish Church, on Church Lane, the oldest part of which, the Lady Chapel, dates from the late 13th century, while the tower dates from the 15th century. The church is open over the summer on Saturdays to enable people to view fine Pre-Raphaelite panels and stained glass windows.

Outside the church there’s a reconstructed 10th century Anglican cross which was discovered in the building in the 1870s as well as a concentration of listed grave stones and tombs.

The Parish Rooms, built on the south side of the church yard during the reign of Charles I, housed a grammar school for 270 years, while the village hall on Tivy Dale was home to Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope’s Girls’ School.

Other buildings which add to the village’s interest include two timber Swedish houses on Low Collier Fold, which were donated by the Canadian government after the Second World War in recognition of the village’s contribution in hosting the Canadian Light Infantry before the D Day landings.

There’s also the 15th century timber-framed Golden Cross, a former pub, farm, tea-room and bed and breakfast, on the junction of Church Street and Darton Road and the Cawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum on Maltkiln Row.

Launched in 1887 by a vicar who wanted to stimulate interest in natural history, the museum was bought by the villagers following a fundraising drive in the 1950s.

Curiosities include stuffed animals, such as a two-headed lamb and a mongoose battling a cobra, as well as a boy’s boot wrecked by a lightning strike, a 9.5lb gall stone and a figure of preacher John Wesley created from a whale's vertebra.

There’s another museum to the north-west of the village, featuring faintings, drawings, ceramics, glass, metalwork and furniture, at Canon Hall, a grade II listed registered park and garden which attracts so many visitors double yellow lines have been introduced in the surrounding lanes. As well as a garden centre, the historic seat of the Spencer-Stanhope family, the former estate includes Cannon Hall Farm, one of many agricultural enterprises in the area. The farm has been featured on agriculture-themed television series and hosts various festivals.

The family bought the estate in the 17th century and by building wealth through coal and iron mining and smelting enterprises, they transformed Cawthorne into an estate village by the Victorian era, owning about 90 per cent of its land and buildings. At the time the Spencer-Stanhopes also provided employment for the majority of Cawthorne’s residents.

Despite the industrial activity, Cawthorne has largely retained its rural feel and it’s easy to see why the area has been referred to as “the lungs of Barnsley”. There’s liittle surviving evidence of the former industries in Cawthorne village, other than a wheel mould on the pavement outside the former smithy on Tivy Dale, street names such as Malt Kiln Row and Low Collier Fold, while Tanyard Beck is linked to former leather working in the village.

However, even without the visitors to Canon Hall, Cawthorne is no sleepy backwater. Recent years have seen a campaign for a 20mph zone to be brought in outside the village primary school to ease longstanding issues with congestion and speeding on Taylor Hill. The school has stood on the site since 1872, when it opened to educate boys and 34 years later welcoming girls. In November, the school won a national award for championing an inclusive environment where girls are given the opportunity to pursue their passion for football.

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