The birth of industrial Elsecar

Elsecar’s journey to becoming an international centre for ironmaking and coal mining began in the 1780s. Two huge ironworks were established, Elsecar Ironworks and Milton Ironworks, along with a rolling mill and several collieries. Good quality housing was built to attract workers, along with a church, school and allotment to support the industrial community. Workshops were set up to support the growing needs of the Fitzwilliam family’s estate and collieries. These changes gradually transformed Elsecar from a rural agricultural hamlet into a thriving industrial village. The Fitzwilliam family’s direct involvement with Elsecar reflected their ambition and capability to play a big part in the Industrial Revolution. Elsecar was used by the family as a model industrial village to impress aristocratic visitors, especially royalty.

A sepia-toned photo shows a ruined industrial site with large cylindrical structures, debris on the ground, and damaged brick buildings, evoking a sense of historical destruction. — Elsecar Ironworks, 1870 Image courtesy of Barnsley Archives and Local Studies.

Portrait of William Wentworth Fitzwilliam (1748-1833), 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam in the peerage of Great Britain, and 4th Earl Fitzwilliam in the Peerage of Ireland, 1785

Painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (1723-1792)

A classical oil portrait of a man with powdered white hair, wearing a dark coat and white cravat, set against a dark, outdoor background with trees and cloudy sky, framed in an ornate gold frame. — Portrait of William Wentworth Fitzwilliam (1748-1833). Image reproduced with permission from Philip Mould & Co. London.

The Earl was a landowner, politician, and an industrialist. After inheriting the title and estates of his uncle in 1782, the 4th Earl became one of the wealthiest people in Britain. As a compassionate landlord, he was said to have lowered rents and cancelled debts owing during difficult times. He also supplied affordable food and gave the elderly free coal and blankets. After his death, his dedicated efforts in Elsecar were continued by the 5th and 6th Earls. He is buried at St Mary the Virgin Church in Marholm in Peterborough (his birthplace). This portrait was commissioned by the Earl’s friend, Anthony Morris Storer, who paid 50 guineas for it. Both men had studied together at Eton College. Sir Joshua Reynolds, renowned for his British portraits, was a well-known and respected artist at the time he painted this work.

The Earl's Great Engine

The Newcomen Beam engine, commissioned by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, had its shaft sunk in 1794 and was finally built in 1795. It was used for pumping water out from deep underground at the Elsecar New Colliery. At first, steam was used to power the engine, making the Newcomen one of the oldest steam engines in the world still in situ on its original operating site.

By 1923, the engine had been replaced by electric pumps and was only used during emergencies until 1930 and then only for demonstrations until the early 1950s. Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council bought the engine in 1988. After much conservation and restoration work, the engine was brought back to working order in 2014 powered by hydraulics.

Black and white photo of an old industrial site with a tall chimney emitting smoke, surrounded by stone buildings and houses, on a dirt road in a rural townscape. — Newcomen from Distillery Side, tar distillery which operated between 1814 and 1818. Image courtesy of Barnsley Archives and Local Studies.

The Newcomen Beam Engine is a great example of early Industrial Revolution innovation. In April 1928, American car maker Henry Ford offered a ‘blank cheque’ to Earl Fitzwilliam to purchase the engine for his new museum in Dearborn, Michigan, but the offer was declined.

5th Earl, Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam (1786-1857)

The 5th Earl inherited Wentworth Woodhouse estate in 1833 and carried on his father’s work of transforming Elsecar. He brought in his own ideas and further developed the site

Sank Elsecar Low Colliery (Hemingfield Colliery) in the 1840s and Simon Wood Colliery (1853)

Commissioned building of the New Yard in the 1850s (also known as Elsecar Workshops and now the Elsecar Heritage Centre)

Elsecar branch was built to connect with the South Yorkshire Railway

Elsecar Gasworks was opened in 1857

Further developed housing for workers which included Distillery Row (1836), Reform Row (1837), terraces along Fitzwilliam Street and Cobcar Terrace (mid 1800s), Fitzwilliam Lodge (1853).

Built the Holy Trinity Church (1843) and National School (1852)

Market square was developed alongside with shops and pubs (mid 1800s)

Constructed a mill (1842)

England’s greatest Georgian architect – John Carr

A man with white hair in 18th-century clothing sits in a red chair, holding architectural plans on a table, with a landscape and dramatic sky in the background. — Portrait of John Carr of York (1723-1807), Studio of Sir William Beechey (1753-1839), Oil on canvas From the collection of The Trustees of the Cooper Gallery, Barnsley © Barnsley Museums

John Carr of York was one of Georgian England’s finest architects. He designed many great country houses, including Wentworth Woodhouse and Cannon Hall. He was highly sought after!

Carr designed attractive and high-quality new cottages for the 4th and 5th Earls in order to attract workers to the ironworks and collieries at Elsecar. The accommodation in the village was of a higher standard than the majority of the country’s industrial workers at this time. The rent for a cottage and garden was 2 shillings a week in 1845. Today, you can still find most of the buildings designed by John Carr in the village.

William Thomas Spencer Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 6th Earl Fitzwilliam

The 6th Earl inherited the Wentworth Woodhouse estate in 1857 and carried on the family’s interest in developing Elsecar as an industrial village. Wath Road and Fitzwilliam Street were developed in the village and a new market hall was opened in the 1870s by Princess Mary of Teck, who later became Queen Mary. This again reflected how proud the Fitzwilliam family were of Elsecar and how they used it as a showpiece.

In 1870, a private railway station in the New Yard was opened by the 6th Earl. The station was also connected to the Elsecar branch of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. The station was used by the Earl and his special guests to travel to Doncaster to attend horse races. A "Royal Standard" flag would be flown when royalty was part of the travelling party. There were also excursion trains for the villagers taking them to the seaside during the summer months before the First World War. Cleethorpes was a popular destination.