Housing plans for fields off Worry Goose Lane have been contested for years

It is a highly controversial site in the process of being turned over from fields to housing - but even a protest group accept residents may have a curious interest in the latest development at the Worry Goose site.

The fields, off Worry Goose Lane in Whiston, are earmarked for hundreds of new homes.

As part of the development process, York Archaeology has been examining the site and on Sunday, October 25 it will be opened up to the public.

It is thought that evidence exists of ancient field systems and - relatively recently - coal mining before such things were properly mapped in the 19th Century.

Developers Miller Homes have announced the event, from 10am to 3pm, which will feature a series of displays activities and artefact demonstrations.

There will also be one hour site tours at 10.30am, noon and 1.30pm.

According to York Archaeology, anomalies in the ground and crop marks indicate the presence of enclosures on part of the site.

That could date activity to as long ago as 700BC, with activity potentially lasting more then 1,000 years, from late Iron Age into the Roman era.

Features on the site match others, on sites elsewhere in South Yorkshire.

Other factors suggest “a strong possibility that the site was subsequently associated with industrial activity, particularly coal mining,” according to the experts.

“A ground investigation undertaken in 2019 identified possible mine entries within the site.

“These features were not record on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map, suggesting that they predate the nineteenth-century mapping of the area although their precise date remains uncertain.”

A small mine, called Black Hill Colliery, is known to have existed close to the site.

The land was identified for housing in Rotherham Council’s Local Plan, the blueprint which identified major sites for housing and commercial development across the borough.

However, when plans were put forward, they provoked major local objections, with concerns about how the site would be drained and the impact on the local infrastructure, including Worry Goose roundabout and traffic.

Rotherham Council also needed to sell a ‘ransom strip’ of land - which they had not initially realised they owned - to allow access to the site, brining in a £4.5m windfall for the authority.

Whiston Residents Action Group has been behind much protest activity, but accept the event may be of interest locally.

Those attending are advised to wear sensible clothes and shoes.