subject: Rotherham's renaissance owes much to international parcel delivery experts [print this page] Rotherham's renaissance owes much to international parcel delivery experts
A town which enjoys an important strategic location, sending a parcel to Rotherham is fast and easy. Often overshadowed by its neighbour, Sheffield, six miles to the south-west, Rotherham was nevertheless an archetypal northern industrial town, with its fortunes founded on the coal, steel and glass-making industries. It is one of the four major centres of the former metropolitan county of South Yorkshire, the others apart from Sheffield being Doncaster and Barnsley.
The town earned early renown for the quality of the iron it produced, and a plant in the town supplied wrought iron for Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous steamship, the SS Great Eastern. Iron, and later steel, were major drivers of the town's economy, with the largest steelworks, at Templeborough, employing 10,000 workers at their height. The site of this factory is now the Magna science adventure centre, and has one of the old plant's electric arc furnaces as its centrepoint.
Rotherham was also at the heart of the south Yorkshire coalfield, with collieries sited in many of the borough's largest villages, and contributing heavily to the town's prosperity and population growth of the 20th century. As the coal and steel industries in the area flourished, Rotherham's population doubled between 1901 and 1971. It has fallen slightly in recent years, but remains close to 250,000.
Since the decline of its principal industries, Rotherham has grown in importance as a satellite area for neighbouring Sheffield, and the two lie either side of the London to Leeds M1 motorway. Rotherham also lies on the main rail route from Sheffield to Leeds and York, an important link in the cross-country rail network. It is also alongside the M18 motorway which leaves the M1 south of Sheffield, and links with the A1 London-Edinburgh trunk road, and the M62 which offers quick and easy travel to the major east coast port of Hull.
Retail has become an important sector for Rotherham since the decline of its heavy industries. It is home to the Meadowhall Centre, one of the UK's largest shopping centres, which also lies next to the M1 motorway, and draws in visitors from a wide area. Its convenient location means that sending a parcel to Rotherham is easy, and the town is well served by leading international delivery companies. Some have even established major distribution depots on former industrial land in order to take advantage of the town's proximity to the country's major motorways.
As it enjoys such a central location, there is a wide choice of options for sending a courier to Rotherham. National and international courier companies offer swift and reliable services to and from the town.
