Lundwood in Barnsley

Lundwood is a busy suburb of Barnsley three miles north east of the town centre.

Before the 1920’s Lundwood was a predominantly rural locality and site of the ruins of Monk Bretton Priory.

Lundwood probably derives from a combination of the Old Norse and Icelandic words lundr meaning ‘sacred woodland grove’ or ‘thickly wooded’ and wud meaning ‘to bury’ or ‘soil’. Indeed when Cluniac monks first came to build their monastery near the north bank of the River Dearne in 1153 the whole area was probably densely forested. Lund Wood, a half mile square remnant of this primeval forest, was still standing east of the present day suburb until felled for timber during World War I.

In the 1090’s Robert de Lacy, the Norman Lord of Pontefract Castle, established a Cluniac order of monks at St John’s Priory, Pontefract. Sixty years later local landowner Adam Fitz Swaen of Cawthorne gave the land for the establishment of a sister Priory of St Mary Magdalene at Lund. The site chosen was on level land near the River Dearne. Initially timber buildings were erected, but during the late 12th and 13th centuries a substantial monastery complex was built in local sandstone. In 1249 Henry III granted a charter to the monks to hold a weekly market on Wednesdays and a four day Michaelmas Fair each September. Barnsley’s later importance as a Yorkshire market town began with this charter.

After disputes with St John’s Priory, Pontefract and the order’s mother church at La Charité sur Loire in France, Monk Bretton Priory became an independent Benedictine house in 1281.

The monks farmed their lands but they also developed the first industries in the area; sinking coal mines and constructing iron smelting works. Local names like: Grange Lane and Burton Grange recall the monastery farms, while  Smithies, further up the Dearne valley clearly relates to iron working there. The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538 and passed into the hands of a succession of private owners until taken into public ownership in the 1930’s. The priory is now owned by Barnsley MBC in conjunction with English Heritage. Admittance is free except on special event days. The extensive remains of the priory church, cloister and ranges, main gatehouse, prior’s lodge, guest house, drains and fishponds are well worth exploration.

The priory’s old water mill on Grange Lane fell into disuse during the last century and had subsided into the river silts until an award winning renovation project in 1991 restored it to full use as a pub and restaurant now called ‘The Mill Of The Black Monks’. Despite flood damage in 2007 the building is once again trading, currently as an Italian restaurant. It claims to be the oldest pub in Britain and has a reputation for being haunted by black robed monks. Staff and patrons have reported paranormal phenomena like floating shapes drifting through walls, objects moving independently and inexplicable touches when no one else is there.

The landscape around Lundwood remained largely unchanged suburb, until the Industrial Revolution when a transport infrastructure developed to service the needs of growing industries on the Yorkshire coalfield. The Barnsley Canal opened in 1799 running north from Barnsley to the River Calder along the hillside east of Monk Bretton. The Barnsley to Pontefract turnpike road opened in 1835 along the route of present day Pontefract Road and the first local railway, the North Midland between Derby and Leeds (1840), ran a mile east of Lundwood as it approached Cudworth. The Hull, Barnsley & West Riding line (1885) cut north-south directly across the land where Lundwood would subsequently develop in the early 20th century. Lundwood Isolation Hospital, half a mile down Lund Lane, was opened in 1900 to care for smallpox victims, after 1948 it became a geriatric care hospital and was demolished in 1977.

The populous suburb that we recognise today, was first proposed in the 1920’s to accommodate a growing working population. Construction began in 1923 on an ambitious council home building programme. The houses, all 2 or 3 bedroom semi-detached with gardens, were built along gently curving avenues. The building went ahead in three phases: first at Cundy Cross completed in 1924, at Lundwood (the houses west of Pontefract Road) in 1925 and at Burton Grange (east of Pontefract Road) in 1928. By 1930 over 5,500 people were living in the new suburb. Littleworth School was built between 1929-31 at an initial cost of £33,000. Lundwood was one of the first places in the country to host speedway motorcycle racing. Between 1928 and 1930 race meetings were regularly held at a 380 yard oval track in the remnants of Lund Wood.  St Mary Magdalene Church was built in 1933 at a cost of £3,000 and the Savoy Picture House opened in 1935 at double the cost of the church! By 1939 there were 33 shops and a post office serving the needs of the community.

Older Lundwood residents can probably still remember the flooding that occurred on 22nd November 1946, following a serious breach in the embankment of the Barnsley Canal at Littleworth. Around 53 million gallons of water escaped down the hill into Lundwood leaving a 43 feet wide by 11 feet deep gap. Compensation payments totalling £3,500 were made to residents, but the embankment was never repaired, leading directly to complete abandonment of the canal  by 1953.

Lundwood made headlines more recently in 2004, when a Channel 4 documentary ‘Priest Idol’ followed the experiences of American priest Father James McCaskill, as he reinvigorated St Mary Magdalene Church by more than quadrupling the congregation. Progress was dramatically interrupted in 2006 though, when work on roof repairs started a fire in the church hall, leaving £300,000 worth of damage. Father McCaskill returned to the USA in 2009. The old Hull, Barnsley & West Riding railway line hasn’t carried trains since the 1950’s but it has been upgraded and landscaped to become a link for walkers, cyclists and riders on the Trans Pennine Trail route between Barnsley and Leeds.

On Pontefract Road another recent development is the Priory Campus. Opened in 1995 at a cost of £2.8m Priory Campus was financed out of the City Challenge partnership to provide help and support to the local community. It provides a venue for clubs, dances and classes as well as charitable organisations like Barnardo’s serving the community. Rooms can be hired out for parties, functions or conferences and there is a café and outside catering service, library and medical centre.

There are a number of businesses and shops trading in Lundwood and Cundy Cross including: a supermarket, fast food outlets, DIY and pet stores but the local pubs have not fared so well recently. Both the Priory Arms at Cundy Cross and The Lundwood are currently vacant, however Lundwood Social Club is still serving.

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