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Swinton

SWINTON, a chapelry, in the parish of Wath-upon-Dearne, union of Rotherham, N. division of the wapentake of Strafforth and Tickhill, W. riding of York, 5 miles (N. N. E.) from Rotherham; containing 1660 inhabitants. It comprises 1603a. 1r. 10p., of which 930 acres are arable, 521 meadow and pasture, 74 woodland, 64 in homesteads and orchards, and 11 canal. The manufacture of china and earthenware is carried on at the Don Pottery, which employs about 250 hands. A manufactory belonging to Earl Fitzwilliam, now closed, produced some years since a splendid dessert service for the royal table, and many articles of great taste and elegance for the nobility; the Rockingham porcelain, which obtained deserved celebrity, was manufactured here. Earthenware is also made at Kilnhurst, a small hamlet in the township, about a mile distant from the village, and where iron-works are likewise carried on. The river Don, and the Dearne and Dove navigation, form a junction at Swinton; by the latter, coal is brought from the mines of Earl Fitzwilliam and others, in and near the celebrated Worsbro' Dale. The Midland railway, also, passes for a mile and a half through the chapelry, and has a station here, from which passengers for Doncaster and other places are conveyed by coach or passage-boats. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £160; patron, Earl Fitzwilliam. The chapel, dedicated to St. Margaret, was rebuilt in 1817, at a cost of £6300, of which £4500 were given, with the site, by Earl Fitzwilliam; it is in the later English style, has a square tower, with pinnacles, and contains 500 sittings. Two beautiful Norman arches were taken from the old building, one of which forms the entrance from the churchyard to the parsonage-house. The Wesleyans and Independents have each a place of worship. A national school, also used for divine service on alternate Sundays, was opened at Kilnhurst in January 1836. Charles Green, who accompanied Captain Cook as astronomer, was a native of Swinton.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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