York Review: 47 – Rotherham

This is it, the second-to-last town on my original list. The final time I’ll visit South Yorkshire on this show. What a truly momentous occasion. Come on Rotherham, let’s go!

I’m cycling to every large place near me in order of ascending distance, and rating them – with the end goal of reaching Flamborough. This is York Review!

rotherham It is a hugely significant town for this show as it’s the second to last place on my York Review list Today is the last time we’re heading down to industrial South Yorkshire for a town lurking near Doncaster and Barnsley I know this won’t be an easy journey Google Maps loads a different route each time I look up directions It’s like the town just won’t sit still If there’s this much indecision in the optimal route I can only imagine the chaos that today’s cycle has in store for me Hi I’m Stuart Morris I’m cycling to every large town near me in order of ascending distance and raiding them with the end goal of reaching Flamborough This is York Review [Music] We start the cycle heading southwards taking advantage of an old railway line converted to the York Planet Trail We’ve seen this many times on the show before but never with the quality of a GoPro time lapse This spits us out just on the outskirts of Selby where we pass the usual bridge and confirm that Selby Abby is still there We avoid busy Selby roads by escaping along the canals In this shot you can see me cycling with a camera protruding from my helmet And like a majestic cycling unicorn I continued heading southwards I passed the Chapel Hadley Sea Power Plant and went on some questionable trails to keep off the main roads I’ve always had problems cycling towards Doncaster as this isn’t really an area made for bikes Was I just here This feels familiar [Applause] That was terrifying You know some things never change Google Maps just tried to send me on the A1 motorway And before you start going on me about using Google Maps again I was actually talking to a group of cyclists that are also confused at the entrance to the A1 And they said Straa told them to go onto the A1 dual carriageway So it’s not just Google Maps All cycling apps are uh out to get us by that white sign over there That’s where Google Maps just tried to send me Why is it with Doncaster and cyclists being sent on to roads which are too busy It’s not much better here Things were starting to look up as I passed Hoot and Pagnell on my way out of the Doncaster area I was less than 10 mi away from Rotherham but then I hit another snag The cycle infrastructure around here is just non-existent It’s like you’re either on a motorway or Google Map has tried to send me down this little path here behind that rock It’s basically a swamp behind there It is unpassable I’ve had to turn back and now there’s no route that I have in mind I just have to sort of wing it to get there It is Doncaster all over again It is Oh it’s a nightmare After venting more than a diesel van in a clean air zone I’d calmed down enough to ek out the rest of my journey towards the outskirts of Rotherham But I hadn’t even reached the center before I was approached by a local character So I’m pretty close to Rotherham now So I try to turn on a time lapse Just as I switched it on I get approached by a man takes an interest in my bike start saying “Oh look at all the components of the bike.” Apparently he was a silver medal winner of some race thing in the local area So former elite cyclist Talking to this man gave me something to think about as I made my final approach to Rotherham For all the difficulties I had on this journey here was a man who had achieved great local cycling feats in an age with no dedicated cycle paths no Google maps and poor quality bikes It’s easy to complain about a lack of cycle infrastructure today but that discussion only makes sense because there are places that do it so well When you look at the bigger picture it does seem like cycling is improving in the UK So I have hopes that things may get better for South Yorkshire in the future Oh look We’re here Rotherham is an industrial market town which is often overshadowed by its neighboring city Sheffield But since Sheffield is further from York than Flamborough it may as well not exist And Rotherham can have my full attention This is welld deserved as Rotherham is actually home to some of the greatest things ever made by the UK The first Iron Plow Rother and Red Sandstone the Chuckle Brothers
To me and again to me you [Music] so according to this plaque behind me Rotherham won town center of the year in 2015 It’s pretty impressive [Music] First impressions walking around Brother it’s all right It’s a big market town Lots of indoor markets lots of outdoor markets A lot of empty market stores as well Makes you think that this is one of those places with the high streets and a bit of trouble That’s why I’ve not been the fastest to get these episodes out And some of my old clips have aged poorly I feel they need to give that context for my next attraction [Music] [Applause] [Music] Now this is good This is the first time in a long time actually that I’ve been to a place that has an open church See what it’s like inside [Music] So this is a John Snettzler organ I mean that is That’s the only fact that I found about this place on a Wikipedia [Music] Lucky for me there’s a lot more information on these boards The present church here was finished in the 16th century but there have been churches on this site ever since the year 937 Over a thousand years of churches here I left Rotherham minster on the hunt for lunch but there was a slight problem I’m actually having a hard time finding somewhere to eat in Rotherham I mean there are plenty of shops and takeaways around but they’re not really geared towards tourists It’s kind of things that you’d only really want if you were living here There’s not a a wide selection of places to eat and the places that there are are bit Rammed at the moment So press on Ah that explains it It’s a football game on in the end I went for takeaway chicken and then I continued my content crawl through the town You know this is one of those bridges that’s so old it even has its own chapel It’s like the one in Wakefield There are many of these types of chapels still standing according to this blue plaque here but supposedly they were more common in the olden days I mean this one here dates back to the 1400s It’s ancient [Music] So I have to be honest I’m not too impressed by Rotherham Town Center I mean there are some nice bits dotted about but I don’t think the locals would disagree with me if I said that Rotherham feels more like a a night out town than a place to go for a day trip For example there’s plenty of takeaways but there aren’t many coffee shops Also not a lot of green space in the middle but I’m hoping we can fix that with a quick trip to Clifton Park Clifton Park is Rotherham’s largest park and houses quite a few attractions [Music] Clifton Park is really nice and it’s just what I needed to see today as well It’s a decent sized park but there’s also like a mini golf course a tiny little amusement fair in it as well It’s pretty cool You don’t see that in every town This park started its life in the 1780s as the private garden of industrialist Joshua Walker This painting of a man appeared on Google images when I looked up the name So let’s pretend this is him
Tonight you Rotherham Corporation bought the gardens in 1891 and it’s been a public park ever since So Rotherham is a lot like the other towns in this area It became big because of the uh mining industry They had iron they had coal So they became a steel manufacturing plant as well and that got the town a lot of money and it got quite big out of it Except that this growth came at a cost Well from my perspective at least As you’d have seen when we were coming in that there was quite a bit of an urban sprawl to get into the center of Rotherham The councils are aware of this and they’ve actually gone through quite some efforts to to renovate the areas around the outside of Monro turn it into something more pleasant to look at And I’m actually going to go to one of these redeveloped places right now And so we embarked in our journey out of the town center along some pretty nice cycle paths And we very quickly found ourselves approaching Rotherham’s industrial area It actually wasn’t long before I came across a spot which illustrated the point I was trying to make As you can see the outskirts of Rotherham are in dire need of a facelift That’s exactly what they’re trying to do with the Centenner Nature Reserve Park which we’re going to now This is right in the middle of the industrial area of Rotherham and it’s going to be a welcome relief when I finally get to it But before I got to Centenner Park I had to pass through Rotherham’s football stadium on a game day I couldn’t believe how many people were there I don’t think I can find the words to describe what kind of a spectacle it all was But I think I know someone who can [Music] The great Rotherham migration Every few weeks the people of Rotherham move on mass to this special site Many wear bright colors not to attract a mate but to declare allegiance It is perhaps one of the most stunning displays of the natural world This place wasn’t the easiest to find but I still think it was worth it Welcome to the Riverside Centenary Park Uh the river that we’re actually on here is the river dawn which meets up with the river Rother just over there which is where the name Rotherham comes from And while the site looks pretty today it used to be a big steel factory called the Seven Towers which was demolished as the steel industry started to collapse around it in recent years However there are still quite a few relics of the steel age still scattered around here And one of these relics is actually really cool I can actually hear the distant roar of a football crowd that’s in the stadium just over there And if I do a complete 180 you will see Steelhenge [Music] This is prime York Review right here It’s a fantastic monument I mean it’s not as big as the real Stonehenge but it’s a brilliant homage to the stone structure A few fun facts about this place The central spire here used to be twice as big but it was snapped in half during the construction And also this isn’t actually steel It’s uh these are Iron ingots You can tell that they’re rusting over a bit but Steelhenge does sound a lot better than Ironhen So Rather definitely has some nice parts to it You have the park which is gorgeous and you have this very interesting spot here as well But there’s no hiding from the fact that Rotherham is definitely an industrial town And with that I’m not quite sure I should be recommending it as a dayout destination because I think you might struggle for activities if you came here But Rotherham is by no means a bad place And for that reason I’m going to give it a Ys out of Yorkshire [Music] Right Then where’s this journal Now would be a really good time to appear [Music] Look this area is massive I don’t even know where to begin looking for this thing [Music] Where are you Appear What if he can’t appear What if this is like holy ground or something Probably say it was Yorkshire’s doing [Music] Well I’m not letting this go to waste [Music] Okay that was new All right Lancasher Blood don’t fail me now Heat up here the tree This is it Now uh where is this again Ah I think this is it Ew Gross Wait Is that it Yes This is it A survey of Yorkshire and the surrounding areas by Eugene Henata Think I’d go by the Yorkman too It’s a little worn but this is it All right York let’s finish this It’s time Time is my enemy When that course finishes in a few months time I have to leave I have to go down to uh the south At the current rate that I’m doing these episodes there is no way I’d finish this series There are just too many places left to visit [Music]