Darfield

Roman coins have been unearthed in Darfield, and there is evidence to suggest that the village contained Roman habitation during its history. In Saxon, the name "Feld" describes 'a large area of pasture land' , while the term "Dere" refers to the deer which inhabited the forest. When combined, this gives the name Derefeld which later became Darfield. There are records of an 8th-century church in Darfield, but when the Domesday Book was written in 1086 there was no mention of it. Darfield remained an insignificant agricultural village for many centuries to come, until 1862. In that year, two mining companies sank shafts in the Barnsley district to exploit the rich seam of coal running…