Welcome to Rotherham Minster

Welcome to Rotherham Minster. One of Yorkshire's largest churches sketched by Turner. JMW Turner made three grand tours of Yorkshire between 1797 and 1816 inspired by the wild hills and dales, to the fine castles and country houses., Turner started his first tour of Yorkshire in 1797 by stopping off in Rotherham. He made a complete drawing of Rotherham Bridge and the Chapel of Our Lady in the foreground, with the elegant All Saints Church (now Rotherham Minster) behind., There has been a church on this site since 937 AD. Much of the present building dates from the 15th century, although there are parts remaining from the Saxon and Norman structures. It has been described by Pevsner as "the best perpendicular church in the country.", The Chapel on the bridge is one of only four surviving medieval bridge chapels in the country. One of the others is in Wakefield which Turner also went on to visit on his first tour and paint a fine watercolour., Between 1777 and 1826, this Chapel was used as the town's jail and you can still see the original cell doors with graffiti carved by the prisoners., Turner's viewpoint shows the fine architecture of these buildings but at the time of his visit, the industrial age had started in Rotherham Walker's iron foundry, which would have been on the river bank just to the right of Turner's sketch, was starting to develop as a major munitions factory. Amongst its products were cannons for Nelson's ship, HMS Victory., Take time to trace Turner's footsteps on the Turner Trails throughout Yorkshire.