Editing Grimethorpe (section)

==History==
The name Grimethorpe originates from "Grim's Torp", a mixture of [[Old English language|Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Viking]] names, meaning a [[Thorp|torp]] or [[Hamlet (place)|hamlet]] owned by a [[Viking]] named Grimey. Grimethorpe is at the foot of the hill upon which is the village of [[Brierley]]. In fact, Grimethorpe was named such as a Norse farm built close to Brierley village. Following the [[Norman Conquest]], the Brierley-Grimethorpe area came under the rule of the [[De Lacy|De Laceys]] of Pontefract. In 1066, the village's owner was Ernui who was said to have six [[carucate|carucates]] of land at Brerelia and Hindelia, valued at forty shillings. (A carucate was as much land as could be ploughed in one year by one plough and eight oxen. An acre was as much land as could be ploughed in one day by one plough and a pair of oxen.)<ref name="WatHar4">Brereley – A History of Brierley, by M. R. Watson & M. Harrison, First Edition 1975, Reprinted 1976, Anchor Press, Barnsley Road, Cudworth [http://bfhsociety.tripod.com/hi00004.htm]</ref>
[[File:Grimethorpe, St Luke's Church - geograph.org.uk - 234765.jpg|thumb|left|St Luke's Church, the village's local church.]]

This land was given after the Norman conquest to Airic who was given the whole of [[Staincross (wapentake)|Staincross wapentake]] by Ilbert de Lacey, the Norman of Pontefract. All of Yorkshire was divided into wapentakes, Staincross being the one for the Barnsley area. It was about ten miles from north to south and about twenty miles from east to west, its boundaries being in the northeast the high ridge on which Brierley stands and in the south-west, the watershed of the [[Pennines]]. A stone cross called Ladycross was erected near Grimethorpe by the monks of Monk Bretton Priory as a place of sanctuary, there being an old law protecting people on Church lands. The Ladycross figures on many deeds relating to the priory. The Lady referred to in the place names of Ladycross, Ladywell and Ladywood is probably Mary Magdalene to whom Monk Bretton Priory was dedicated.<ref name="WatHar4"/>

On a well-hidden site between [[Brierley]] and Grimethorpe stood the fortified '''Manor of Hall Steads''' (the name means 'hall site'), which belonged to the early Brearley estate. Hall Steads is not mentioned until 1284 in connection with a later Lord of Brierley Manor. Hall Steads was surrounded first by a high, stone wall and then by a moat. The site covered an area of approximately five acres. The building was mainly of local sandstone and many of the stones can still be seen in the soil. Fragments of 14th and 15th-century pottery have been found amongst these stones.<ref name="WatHar3">Brereley – A History of Brierley, by M. R. Watson & M. Harrison, First Edition 1975, Reprinted 1976, Anchor Press, Barnsley Road, Cudworth [http://bfhsociety.tripod.com/hi00003.htm]</ref>