Cawthorne
OS Grid reference-SE 284 079
The pretty South Yorkshire village of Cawthorne is popular with walkers as many excellent routes start from the village. Cawthorne is situated around 4 miles to the north west of Barnsley.
The village was known in Anglo-Saxon times as Caldern. Cawthorne is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, were it is referred to as ‘Caltorne’ prior to acquiring its present spelling in Medieval times.
Cawthorne, which is considered to be one of the most picturesque villages in South Yorkshire, has a store, two fantastic antique shops, and a village Post Office / Newsagent which occupies the same building it has done for the past hundred years.
There are also two former schools. The former Grammar School (dating from 1639) is now All Saints' Parish Room, while Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope's Girls' School is the Village Hall. The village pub is the Spencer Arms, there is also restaurant, Beatson House. The local cricket club has one of the most idyllic grounds in the area.
The interesting The Victoria Jubilee Museum contains a boot worn by a man struck by lightning, Native American smoking devices and a twin headed cow. The building is crammed with Victorian memorabilia, original collections of butterflies & moths, birds & eggs, fossils, stuffed animals, domestic bygones, war time relics and old school books. It was built to commemorate a visit by Queen Victoria.
The village pub, the Spencer Arms (left) serves excellent food, it is named from the village's association with the Spencer-Stanhope family who once owned large swathes of the local area. Their family home was Cannon Hall, the park of which borders the village. Cannon Hall is now a museum run by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.
Nearby visitor attractions include Cannon Hall Farm. Two earlier residences in Cawthorne were Barnby Hall, home of the Barnby family, and Banks Hall, the seat of the Misses Spencer-Stanhope and of a branch of the Greene family.
All Saints Church (pictured above right) overlooks the village, and there is also a Methodist church on Darton Road. All Saints, which is mentioned in the Domesday Survey, contains memorials to the Barnby and Spencer families, among others. The present building developed from the eleventh Century onwards, acquiring its tower in around 1457.
Much of the present interior dates from a refurbishment financed by Walter Spencer-Stanhope and his younger brother, Roddam, a the Pre-Raphaelite artist . Their architect was G F Bodley. Outside the building stands a reconstructed Anglican cross dating to the tenth Century. This was unearthed in pieces in the building during the Victorian refurbishment.