Darfield, England - Definition and Overview

Darfield is a village within the metropolitan borough of Barsnley, South Yorkshire, England. It lies about 5 miles East of the town of Barnsley.

History

Many Roman coins have been unearthed in Darfield, and there is evidence to suggest that the village contained Roman habitations in its distant history.

In Saxon, the name "Feld" describes 'a large area of pasture land' , while the term "Dere" refers to the deer which inhabited the forest. When combined, this gives the name Derefeld which later became Darfield.

There are records of an 8th century church in Darfield, but when the Domesday Book was written in 1089 there was no mention of it.

Darfield remained an insignificant agricultural village for many centuries to come, until 1862. In this year, two coalmining companies sank mine shafts in the Barnsley district to exploit the rich seam of coal running through the area. Although there were no pits in Darfield, the population of the village quickly increased and it became a labour pool for the surrounding coal mines. By 1901, over 4000 people lived there compared to just 600 inhabitants in 1851.