Darfield & Great Houghton

Darfield and Great Houghton lie in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, to the north-east of Barnsley town centre. The two settlements sit close together, separated by fields and the line of the River Dearne as it runs through the valley. Both places were shaped by 19th- and 20th-century coal mining, and that history remains visible in rows of former miners’ terraces, old pit sites now grassed over and the course of disused colliery railway beds that survive as tree-lined footpaths. Street-level shops, a handful of small industrial units and recreation grounds form the local centre of daily life.

Local services include primary schools, parish churches and village halls that host community groups and occasional events. Public footpaths and cycle links connect residential streets to riverside paths and open farmland, and many residents commute to Barnsley or towns further afield for work. Housing ranges from terraced streets close to the old village cores to later council and private estates. The area’s pattern of streets and green corridors still reflects the sequence of industrial growth, decline and reuse common to former mining communities.