About Us

The Community Assembly of Wath-upon-Dearne (shortened to Wath or hyphenated) is located in a town south of the River Dearne in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire in the British Isles. It lies north of Rotherham and almost midway between Barnsley and Doncaster.

Wath can be traced to Norman times and appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as Wad and Waith. It remained a rural settlement for several centuries and lay across the junction of the old Doncaster to Barnsley and Rotherham to Pontefract roads. The latter forms a branch of Ryknield Street. North of the town, there was a ford crossing the River Dearne. The name has been linked to the Latin vadum and the Old Norse vath (ford or wading place). The town received a royal charter in 1312–1313, entitling it to a weekly Tuesday market and an annual two-day fair, but these were soon discontinued. The market was revived in 1814.

The town lies over the South Yorkshire Coalfield, where high-quality bituminous coal was mined from outcrops and near-surface seams in primitive bell pits for several centuries. Several high-grade seams lie close to the surface, including the prolific Barnsley and Parkgate. The rising demand for coal rose from rapid industrialisation in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The local coal industry succumbed to a dramatic decline in the British coal-mining industry precipitated by a change in government economic policy in the early 1980s.

Today, Wath-upon-Dearne is known for its Wath Festival, held round the early May bank holiday. It's a folk and acoustic music and arts festival founded by members of the Wath Morris Dancing Team in 1972. It has grown to host known names on the folk, acoustic and world music scene. Festival events occur across the town with larger concerts held at the Montgomery Hall Theatre and Community Venue.

Founding Facilitators