Below are extracts of history about, or related, to Brampton Bierlow.

If you have your own facts or stories about Brampton's past, then please send them to me and I'll put them up here for everyone to see. Also, if you know any of these extracts to be incorrect, then also tell me.

NAME ORIGIN
The name Brampton apparently comes from the first Viking settlers who named the village after the bramble bushes which grew all around the area. The villages' original name was Bramble Town which eventually became Brampton. Brampton is also Old English for a steep enclosure.
Bierlow is Old Norse for township law. This was a settlement with a measure of self government or one where the law was administered.

BEFORE THE PIT...
Most villages in the Dearne Valley were small hamlets. The main occupation was agriculture.

BRAMPTON BIERLOW'S ENTRY IN THE DOOMSDAY BOOK
"7 2 In (West) Melton and Brampton (Bierlow) with 4 outliers M Avnthorr the priest had 6 [1/2] carucates and 2 bovates of land taxable. Land for 5 ploughs. Now the man has there 2 ploughs; and 3 villagers and 1 smallholder with 2 ploughs. Meadow, 6 acres; Woodland pasture, 1 1/2 leagues. The whole manor, 2 leagues long and 1 wide."

CORTONWOOD PIT (CONCRETE COTTAGES)
Sunk (opened) in 1873, the company that opened the pit also built houses, which became known as the Concrete Cottages. The 1881 Census refers to them as concrete houses, 106 dwellings. The Concrete Cottages also acquired the nicknames of "Little Palestine" and "New Jerusalem" because of it's flat roofs.
A small school was also built, near the houses, by the colliery company, and across the road, a small Methodist chapel was built, nicknamed the Tin Chapel.
The chapel and school became disused when new ones were built. The Concrete Cottages were knocked down around 1958.

CORTONWOOD COUNCIL SCHOOL
Formally opened on Saturday the 28th of January 1933 after the Colliery School closed on the 22nd of December 1932.

CLOSURE OF THE PIT
The Cortonwood Colliery pit was closed in 1985, taking away the villages primary source of income and employment, therefore causing mass unemployment, leaving workers with little or no other skills, and destroying the morale of many.

1990's - A NEW HOPE?
New industry and commerce has taken root in and around the area of Brampton Bierlow, bringing a mass of new employment and prospects to the area. Most has come about from the redevelopment of the land that the old colliery pits used to stand on, with factories, supermarkets, housing developments, and a host of other ventures taking advantage of the cheap land and increased access (thanks to new roads that have been, and will be built). These developments have, without doubt, given a new life to the area, and helped pull it out of the depression of the 1980's, when all seemed lost.