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Barnsley
Barnsley is situated in South Yorkshire very close to Sheffield, and is situated on the River Dearne. Doncaster and Leeds are also within striking distance of Barnsley making it an excellent home for many who commute into the cities to work. Barnsley is both a town and a metropolitan borough, the latter of which is made up of a number of smaller towns that are slowly encroaching on one another due to the effects of urban sprawl. Technically Barnsley is a relatively recent addition to South Yorkshire, since its inception it was always a part of West Riding of Yorkshire and this has only changed relatively recently. The industrial heritage of the town is greatly celebrated, Barnsley itself first entered into the national consciousness as a centre for excellence in glass-making along with being a major coal mining settlement. Despite this modern industrial history Barnsley has a long past that dates back to 1086 when it was first mentioned in the Domesday Book.
It was previously known as "Berneslai" and was home to some 200 souls making it a relatively significant settlement for the period. It remained a small settlement until sometime in the middle of the 12th century when it was gifted to monks from the St John monastery in Pontefract. The monks set about constructing a town at the meeting place of three major roads; Sheffield to Wakefield, Rotherham to Huddersfield and Cheshire to Doncaster. This down was then known as Barnsley with the previous settlement being referred to as "Old Barnsley". As with many towns in the area Barnsley was host to a famous market on Wednesdays as declared by Royal Charter in 1249. The town continued to be relatively small until the 17th century when it began to serve as an important resting place for travellers between Leeds, Wakefield and Sheffield heading to London.
The hotel and hostel trade in Barnsley began to boom and as a result many industries then grew up in the village to take advantage of the influx of people passing through. Gradually Barnsley evolved into a key manufacturing town in the industrial revolution, specialising in glass mining and coal mining. In recent years Barnsley has undergone something of a facelift in order to entice more commercial trade to the area and this has been a major success, Barnsley town centre is now a thriving hub of commerce and the borough itself is going from strength to strength. A new shopping centre is set to capitalise on this success in 2010 and many more stores have recently opened or expanded their existing premises and Barnsley has made a number of contributions to the culture and arts due to its proximity to Sheffield and Manchester. The metal band Saxon hail from Barnsley, as do a number of members of the Arctic Monkeys. There are a variety of cinemas and a number of museums that people can explore to learn more about the history and culture of Barnsley.
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