Ardsley, West Riding

Description
Ardsley, a township, a village, and a parish in the W. R. Yorkshire. The township lies on the Barnsley branch railway, and on the Deame and Dove Canal, 2 1/2 miles ESE of Barnsley. It has a station (Stairfoot) on the M.S. & L.E., and a post and money order office; telegraph office, Stairfoot. The parish includes the hamlets of Stairfoot and Hoyle Mill. Acreage, 1259 ; population, 4494. A cemetery of 4 acres, with two mortuary chapels, was opened in 1885. the Oaks Collieries, where a terrible explosion occurred in Dec. 1866, by which 361 persons lost their lives, are situated in this township. There are also extensive glass bottle works. Ardsley House is the seat of the Micklethwait family, who are lords of the manor and chief landowners. The fanatical and ill-used Quaker, James Nayler, who died in 1660, was a native. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of York; net value, £170 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of York, pro hoc vice. The church is in the Norman style, and was built in 1841. There is a dissenting chapel at Ardsley and two at Stairfoot.