Why?

Penistone Pictorial banner

Why a website for Penistone?
Penistone Coat of ArmsWhen the internet first arrived in the 1990s, we all had Geocities pages. People displayed their interests or a hobbies and might have assumed that the world also wanted to share theirs in return. Some had pictures of cats, others their football team or their taste in music, or favourite actor/actress, etc. I did one about my interest in CB radio and TV test cards. It had a bit about Penistone with a picture of the church. Yes, it was as bad as that. In truth, people were not really very interested in cats or people like me. And as regards testcards, well, I still like them but you know... Then I had a think.

In 2000, I signed up to an ISP with 50MB of web space and wanted to use it for something. At the time, Penistone was being 'marketed' as a tourist attraction but not in a way that appeared realistic to me. We have good and bad points and some good history but the Penistone I know did not look like the promotional Penistone. And, as we were powerless to influence them, they didn't really have any right to do this.

Then a claim about Penistone being the 'Gateway to the Pennines' was the last straw. As an Irishman once said; "If I was going there, I wouldn't start from here." Who in their right mind would choose Penistone as a starting point for the Pennines? On top of that, our Lords and Masters of Barnsley started calling our district 'Pennine Barnsley' thereby denying us our own identity. Completely bonkers. An earlier banner on this website had the subtitle 'Penistone the Gateway to Barnsley.'

But another thought was forming in the back of my mind. I was born in Penistone (and still live here) and wanted the world to pay a virtual visit to our small Yorkshire town with a lot of facts and links. And to provide some nostalgia for ex-Penistonians abroad, although the changes they see might not be welcome.

I wanted the internet to be like this for me, so that I could visit anywhere in the world and see how other people live. Promotional websites never show things as they really are, 'warts an' all'. So I wanted to lazily explore the world and thought that there might be some interest the other way round.

I don't crave or encourage any personal recognition for my efforts and the primary purpose of this site is not to compete as a news outlet but I confess that I enjoy a sort of minor celebrity status in my hometown and all because of this little hobby which started in the year 2,000. It has been great that this website has opened doors and let me see inaccessible areas, like the church tower, the firemen's drill and behind the scenes in the Paramount. I might also have had a small influence on those who represent us in various ways.

'TVI' Does it Right
In 2021, I discovered a collection of Youtube videos from 'The Village Idiot' (TVI) which achieves something that its creator, Andy Smith, can be proud of and which fits with my own philosophy. He has hit the nail on the head of what I wanted: he lets us see the different places just as they are to him. Why are there not more people doing just that?

His videos show what he has discovered in the various parishes within the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham Boroughs. As the introduction says on each one, he will not have covered every aspect of each parish - but what a great idea? Local people will enjoy his tours of Cawthorne, Dunford Bridge, Langsett and Wortley. It is interesting to see familiar places through the eyes of a visitor and discover details that we might not otherwise notice.

Penistone

How does the Website fit into the Scheme of Things?
When this project started in 2000, personal websites abounded on the internet, usually showing cats or football teams, but there was very little content showing where people lived and particularly featuring Penistone. Nowadays, personal websites seem to have largely disappeared, except for a few blogs here and there as open diaries.

Since then, other local websites have sprung up to fill the holes, add more info and broadcast the local news. You can now find pleasing 360 degree views of Penistone and some very professional pictures on other local websites. There are numerous personal and business websites for Penistone these days. Nobody wants to be left out and most of us help each other with reciprocal links, which also help our status in the search engines. See the Penistone links page.

I have given you a Pictorial view and I know that some photos are poor quality but they still serve a valid purpose. In fact, they looked much better when I started, when people had much lower resolution monitors and my pictures looked much larger. I also needed an operation to improve my failing eyesight, which is now much better.

From square one, I have called this site 'A personal View' and have not misrepresented it as being in any way 'official' or 'definitive'. I leave that up to others. It is a personal website and that has given me the freedom to be a bit jokey and perhaps unprofessional, in keeping with my own character. I can show rainy days or graffiti or someone at a bus stop without worrying too much about constraints (other than decency and privacy concerns) from elsewhere, although I am careful about copyright and attribution than most.

My politics are fairly neutral. I have no political affiliations and am very democratic in my outlook. That's why I sometimes poke fun at our lords and masters of distant Barnsley Council. I have also had some minor influence, such as asking the local council to use the Penistone coat of arms on documents, which they agreed to do. My name and sometimes the red-blue JB initials pop up in a quiet fashion here and there, on local publications, information boards, history booklets and some other websites.

I might well offer opinions that don't necessarily fit in with 'official' thinking and, you know what, I don't much care what 'they' might think of it. The internet is open to everyone and others can set up websites to do similar things, and in their own way. Why not? The more, the merrier, I say.

Website Philosophy
You might notice that I, unlike most websites, this one is scattered with links if there is something more relevant or informative to the subject at hand. The links do not remove my referring page in the process (as in the song 'Hotel California') so you won't lose your place here. The links are all targeted to open in a new browser tab, for two reasons:

  1. This website is 'frames-based' - an old-fashioned way of presenting a website but which browsers still support. Unless I target the link outside the page, it opens in the main 'frameset' complete with the Penpic navigation buttons. That obviously doesn't work.
  2. You might like to keep hold of the 'referring page' with its links, in order to follow a different link and continue your studies.

This is not a commercial website and it generates no income. In fact, it costs about £2 a month via the ISP. So it does not matter if you look at something else. If a page is interesting and informative enough, you will probably persist for a while until my verbosity tires you out.

This whole website fits within a rather meagre 100 MegaBytes and it nearly full, hence a dearth of new photos as they take up a lot more space than text. You might notice the pithy quotes at the bottom of each page, inspired by an old Daily Express book of wonders titled 'Enquire Within.'

Old Show CommitteeView from Hartcliffe Tower1983 Council
CinemaMarket DayUncle Alfred BriggsThe Fence

What's special about Penistone anyway?
In truth, not a great deal compared to some other towns and villages in the area but Penistone goes back a long way and is mentioned in the Domesday Book. There is a Saxon cross in our lovely old church which is more than a thousand years old. We also have a wonderful stone railway viaduct with twenty-eight arches but, most of all, our town has a particular character in its people.

Local government reorganisation in the 1970s put Penistone under the power of Barnsley and they relish this on every occasion. They even call us 'Pennine Barnsley'; a description that I particularly dislike. New street signs in Penistone have Barnsley insignia of a miner and glass-blower but we don't have much affinity with these industries. The Clarel coat of arms is Penistone's coat of arms.

We are in a special position. Our town is not joined on to any other and we have a special character of our own which is threatened by constant expansion from profit-driven developers. Penistone is largely a 'dormitory town' for out-of-town employment and many 'comers-in' do not take any interest in their adopted town. Apart from Friday nights, when young 'uns go all-out to get drunk, you will mostly find local people chatting away in the local pubs. Penistone's essential character is still intact. People around here are often quirky and there are some real characters about. I hope to be remembered as one or the other.

1947 snow2003 Destruction of Livestock MarketBus sgelter Tesco Protest sign - not clickable Firemen

The Author
I have impeccable credentials as a true Penistonian. I was born and educated here and have lived nearly all of my life in Penistone, which makes me fairly well-known. After working in Barnsley for a while, I went on to do a City & Guilds in Manchester, living in the darkest dumps of Moss Side and Whalley Range, travelling by train each weekend via the Woodhead Tunnel to catch up with family and friends, and have my washing done. After Manchester, I continued to live here in Penistone ever since. My father and grandfather's families were from Thurlstone. I hear you thinking "Now there's a man without ambition". You may well be right.

Supporters and Visitors
All who I have asked to help have been very supportive of this website and I think that they go along with its purposes. Most of all if nobody took an interest, there would be no point in this website so it is you who makes it worthwhile. I do have a lot of hits from people all around the world. My Thanks go to local people, ex-pats and website visitors who have been very helpful and supportive of this project. Now go and do something useful.


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