Catcliffe
Described in the late 1800's as a small village and township 2 miles S of Rotherham on the banks of the Rother. It has 273 inhabitants belonging to various owners but Earl Fitzwilliam is lord of the manor. The Glass Works here were established by Mr. J. May. Read detailed information on Treeton Web
St. Faiths is an iron church erected in 1895, the Rev Francis G. Mitchell was rector from 1899. The Wesleyan chapel was built in 1859 at a cot of £450.
A School board was formed by George Morgan in 1875 and the school built in 1876 at a cost of £2500 had 180 children.
The following is an extract from The Guardian Newspaper , describing Catcliffe Flash:
Seven swans-a-swimming. It must be near Christmas. Sadly, no turtle doves (they are summer visitors), no geese laying (it is out of season) and neither partridge nor pear tree in sight. Mum and dad plus five adolescents raised this year, were on Catcliffe Flash, yet another wetland wildlife oasis brought about by mining subsidence. Some locals rail against the word "flash", a Lancashire word, not to be tolerated this side of the Pennines. It should be "Catcliffe Ings", they say.
The swans don't care. Every year they breed here, lead their hatchlings over the flood bank on to the River Rother, then work their way downstream to the Don. Although it is a cracking site all year round, winter is the season for huge waterfowl numbers. Wigeon, tufted duck, shoveler, the odd goosander and a few gadwall, are already there. At the back of the lagoon, three grey heron sat hunched forward, peering into the water.
In one of those moments when life itself seems uplifted, the late afternoon gloom was broken by a burst of sunlight, forcing its way through the clouds. Suddenly, the stands of reedmace were suffused with a red glow, as the light intensified the colours of the leaf spears. The mixture of deep brown seed heads and red leaf spikes giving way to pale green brought the whole landscape to life.
On the Rother the picture was less inspiring. An invasion by American mink in the summer of 2003 devastated the indigenous wildlife. An angler told us he had seen a female mink with eight pups at that spot the previous year. With so many mouths to feed, she would have hunted everything within 500 metres of her breeding den. Down by the water's edge, fox tracks recorded where the current resident predator had been on the prowl. From almost beneath our feet, the ultramarine blue flash of a kingfisher rocketed away, veering off downstream. There must be some fish left, however small.
Source:Country diary, South Yorkshire,Pete Bowler, November 20, 2004. The Guardian
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