Place:Dinnington, Yorkshire, England

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source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Dinnington is a town in rural South Yorkshire, England, and part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham. It is roughly equidistant from Sheffield and Rotherham, and roughly five miles away from Worksop.

It is located at an elevation of about 100 metres above sea level.

Dinnington is the principal settlement in the civil parish of Dinnington St John's, which also includes the small satellite hamlets of Throapham and St John's. The Dinnington St John's parish is the most populous constituent of the St John's ward, which also includes the parishes of Laughton-en-le-Morthen, Firbeck, Letwell and Gildingwells. In 2001, this ward had a population of 11,476, with Dinnington St John's itself making up 9,161 of that figure.

Excavations show Dinnington to have been inhabited since at least Neolithic times, and it has been suggested that the settlement takes its name from a local barrow, though a more traditional interpretation of "Dinnington" would be "Dunn's Farmstead", or "Town of Dunns People".

Dinnington was originally a small, isolated farming community, based around the New Road area of the town. Quarrying in the area helped expand the population, but it was the sinking of the Dinnington Main Colliery in 1905 that led to the real growth of the settlement. The census of 1911 shows a twenty-fold increase in population since 1901, from 250 to 5000.

The coal miners initially lived in a prefabricated shanty town in Laughton Common, colloquially known as tin town but later moved into Colliery-built terrace houses around the central shopping area of Laughton Road.

Dinnington continued to expand throughout the 20th century, largely through the growth of commuter living that followed the Second World War. As the housing estates spread, Dinnington began to merge seamlessly into the neighbouring settlements of Throapham and North Anston. The result is a 3.5 km strip of urban development that mainly acts as a commuter base for Sheffield, Rotherham and Worksop, although with closure of coal and then stell industries, the area has saw a rapid decline in the late 1980's and early 1990's and despite steady growth, still boasted the highest level of unemployment in the UK in 2001.

Dinnington Colliery was closed in 1992, this damaged the local community, and had a large negative impact on the local economy with initial job losses and knock on effect closures to local business.

In 2003, Dinnington was declared town as part of an attempt to attract more investment and improve the local economy.

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