Welcome to Hunshelf Parish Council
Hunshelf, or “Sunny Ledge” in an Old English dialect, is part of Barnsley MBC. Located on the western edge of the borough the parish enjoys views over the Peak District to the south and over the Don Dale to the north. Bounded now by the ridge between the Porter or Little Don and the Don rivers the parish is only half its original size when the Little Don was the boundary
Parish councils are named after the village they serve. Unique as far as we know as there is no village called Hunshelf, the parish grew round the quarries extracting stone for the world. There is a well built from the bottom up, a piece of land called “The Isle of Skye” and another called “The Delf”. Both of these spaces are open to all. A “drover pond” lies at the side of the one road through the village. This is divided by a wall so that the farmer can water his stock without harassment by herds travelling the old “Salt Road” between Rotherham and Manchester.
The main centre of population is the village of Green Moor which gives its name to the blue hued stone that is laid as flagstones in the Palace of Westminster as well as many other important buildings worldwide. Green Moor has a population of about 150, with Snowden Hill, Pond Farm and Well Hill being smaller centres. A very rural parish with still many working farms. Wortley Top Forge, now a museum, is a “Grade I Ancient Monument” dating back to the 17th Century. This has regular open days and events. It was famed for its railway wagon axles that “never failed”.
