Watering Holes
From early times the English inn has provided refreshment and accommodation for
travellers along the tortuous roads of the countryside, especially when journeys
were slow and transport was primitive. It could take days to travel what takes an hour now, especially if it was raining or foggy. The law might have changed in recent years but inns had a legal duty to provide food, drink and accommodation to weary travellers.
Several local public houses have been and gone over the years but Penistone still has some very old ones. The oldest inn in Penistone is the White Hart (now renamed the White Heart), which dates back to 1377. Complete with a ghost. Its sign being the badge of King Richard II. It had a connection with the grammar school, as a 1604 charity commission enquiry records that the croft of John Leadbeater of the White Hart paid 3d per annum to the schoolmaster.
The Old Crown, Rose & Crown and Spread Eagle are all listed in the West Riding Directory of 1837. The Rose & Crown used to be a coaching inn, a stopping-off place for the weekly Halifax to London coach. The present Rose & Crown was built in 1869 on a slightly different site to the original one which completely blocked the junction of Market Street and Shrewsbury Road and had a yard with stables. On Sheephouse hill, there was an even older Rose and Crown which serviced the needs of the Penistone to Hope coach (via Hollins Lane). Please see the public houses page in the tour section for recent views.
The painted advertisement above, for Bentley's Beers, is on the wall of Penistone Balti House next to the Old Crown. I can see 'Ales', 'Beers' and 'Rotherham' in the sign but another word is not legible.
Cattle Market
The above picture (of the old school) was taken around 1890 and shows cattle being paraded in the street outside the church wall. Also above is a close-up from the same picture. Penistone's livestock market was important in the area for possibly as long as six centuries. It was granted a royal charter in 1699 and had to move from Tuesday to Thursday after complaints from other markets. It was held openly in Market Street, outside the church and near the Spread Eagle on Market Street, even after proper stalls were built.
Proper stalls for livestock were built in a new market place just off Market Street in 1910 and were improved upon much later (below). The picture also shows the rear of houses in Park Avenue. The market was closed for most of 2001 as a precaution against the spread of the foot and mouth disease and there were fears that it would take a long time to recover. There was no need to bother about that after Barnsley Council forced its closure (in a secret meeting) to make way for a proposed supermarket. Big bucks always win in the end. There are still auctions, etc. for the farmers, but no cattle or sheep any more.
Retail Market
The
old retail market was two long rows of stalls on rough ground behind a stone wall, on Market Street where the 'Spar' supermarket
currently stands - roughly opposite the optician's. It moved to its current
site near the livestock market in the nineteen-sixties. A recent improvement to the market was the provision of toilets for market
traders.
Penistone is always very lively on Market days (Thursdays) with a bust retail market and the sale of produce in the Community Centre, such as the W.I. produce. Farmers' Markets started in 2003, every second Saturday of the month, and these are also popular but not quite as busy as Thursdays.
