Wombwell

Wombwell

High Street, Wombwell
Wombwell
 Wombwell shown within South Yorkshire
Population 11,477 (2011)
OS grid referenceSE399028
Metropolitan boroughBarnsley
Metropolitan county South Yorkshire
RegionYorkshire and the Humber
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town BARNSLEY
Postcode district S73
Dialling code 01226
Police South Yorkshire
Fire South Yorkshire
Ambulance Yorkshire
EU Parliament Yorkshire and the Humber
UK ParliamentBarnsley East
List of places
UK
England
Yorkshire

Coordinates: 53°30′58″N 1°24′00″W / 53.516°N 1.400°W / 53.516; -1.400

Wombwell (pronounced locally as Wum-well) is a small town near Barnsley, located in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It has a population of 11,477.[1]

Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, its name's origin may mean "Womba's Well", or "well in a hollow".

Wombwell railway station (formerly Wombwell West) serves the Penistone and Hallam lines. Until 1959 it had another station (Wombwell Central) on the Barnsley-Doncaster line that was closed when that line lost its passenger service.

Wombwell was home to two collieries; Wombwell Main and Mitchells Main.

Wombwell is close to the large shopping and leisure facilities of Cortonwood, and also has a number of local business from cafes to travel agents and high street chains like Wilko store on High Street.

Education

Sport

The town has had a number of football teams -

Mark Jones, one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958, is buried in Wombwell Cemetery, having been born locally in 1933.[2]

Roy Kilner, Yorkshire CCC and England cricketer was born in Wombwell and is buried in Wombwell Cemetery.

Earliest recorded scrying

William Byg (alias Lech) of Wombwell is credited with the first ever recorded case of scrying in modern Europe. This confession was recorded on 22 August 1467. He was said to have earned a living by finding stolen property with the help of his crystal ball for over a period of two years, and was eventually charged with heresy. Scholars have researched and examined, until modern times, Byg's description of his own scrying. His description matches many scying examples and methods which occurred later, and his work is considered authentic by those who believe it is possible to find property by paranormal means.

Floods

Parts of Wombwell were affected by the 2007 floods in the UK. The River Dove breached its banks on Friday 15 June and then again on Monday 25 June. Many homes and businesses were flooded.

References

Other sources

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Wombwell.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, March 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.