South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It covers 599 square miles (1,552 km2) and had 1,374,792 residents at the 2021 census.
The county is made up of four metropolitan boroughs: Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley. There has been no county council since 1986; strategic functions now sit with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.
| Country | England, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Region | Yorkshire and the Humber |
| Status | Metropolitan county; four metropolitan boroughs |
| Created | 1 April 1974 |
| Area | 599 sq mi (1,552 km2) |
| Population (2021) | 1,374,792 |
| Sheffield (2021) | 555,035 |
| Doncaster (2021) | 308,697 |
| Rotherham (2021) | 266,173 |
| Barnsley (2021) | 244,887 |
| Postcode areas | S and DN |
Towns and Villages in South Yorkshire
The gazetteer records 298 named settlements in South Yorkshire, listed below by borough. The Sheffield list covers outlying townships and villages rather than the city’s inner suburbs.
Sheffield (56)
- Beighton
- Bolsterstone
- Bradfield
- Brightholmlee
- Burngreave
- Chapeltown
- Coldwell
- Deepcar
- Dore
- Dungworth
- Ecclesall
- Ecclesfield
- Ewden Village
- Foldrings
- Frecheville
- Fulwood
- Gleadless
- Grenoside
- Hackenthorpe
- Handsworth
- High Bradfield
- High Green
- High Hazels
- Hill Top
- Holdworth
- Hollow Meadows
- Intake
- Load Brook
- Long Line
- Low Bradfield
- Meadowhall
- Midhopestones
- Mosbrough
- North Americ
- Onesacre
- Orchard Square
- Oughtibridge
- Parson Cross
- Ringinglow
- Sheffield
- Stacey Bank
- Stannington
- Stocksbridge
- Storrs
- Tinsley
- Totley
- Ughill
- Upper Midhope
- Wadsley
- Wharncliffe Side
- Whitley
- Wigtwizzle
- Wincobank
- Wood Seats
- Woodhouse
- Worrall
Doncaster (86)
- Adwick le Street
- Adwick upon Dearne
- Almholme
- Arksey
- Armthorpe
- Askern
- Auckley
- Austerfield
- Barnburgh
- Barnby Dun
- Bawtry
- Bentley
- Blaxton
- Braithwaite
- Braithwell
- Branton
- Brodsworth
- Burghwallis
- Cadeby
- Campsall
- Cantley
- Carcroft
- Clifton
- Conisbrough
- Cusworth
- Denaby Main
- Doncaster
- Dunscroft
- Dunsville
- Edenthorpe
- Eskholme
- Far Bank
- Fenwick
- Finningley
- Fishlake
- Frickley
- Hampole
- Harlington
- Hatfield
- Hatfield Woodhouse
- Hay Green
- Hayfield Green
- Haywood
- Hickleton
- High Melton
- Hill Top
- Holme
- Hooton Pagnell
- Kirk Bramwith
- Kirk Sandall
- Kirkhouse Green
- Loversall
- Marr
- Mexborough
- Micklebring
- Moorends
- Moss
- New Edlington
- New Rossington
- Norton
- Old Cantley
- Old Denaby
- Old Edlington
- Pickburn
- Pincheon Green
- Rossington
- Scawsby
- Scawthorpe
- Shaftholme
- Skelbrooke
- Skellow
- South Bramwith
- Sprotbrough
- Stainforth
- Stainton
- Sutton
- Sykehouse
- Thorne
- Thorpe in Balne
- Tickhill
- Toll Bar
- Wadworth
- Warmsworth
- West End
- Wilsic
- Wormley Hill
Rotherham (74)
- Aldwarke
- Aston
- Aughton
- Barrow
- Blackburn
- Bramley
- Brampton en le Morthen
- Brecks
- Brinsworth
- Brookhouse
- Canklow
- Carr
- Catcliffe
- Dalton
- Dinnington
- Firbeck
- Flanderwell
- Gildingwells
- Greasbrough
- Guilthwaite
- Hardwick
- Harley
- Harthill
- Hellaby
- Hoober
- Hood Hill
- Hooton Levitt
- Hooton Roberts
- Kilnhurst
- Kimberworth
- Kiveton Park
- Laughton en le Morthen
- Lea Brook
- Letwell
- Lindrick Dale
- Listerdale
- Maltby
- Morthen
- Nether Haugh
- Netherthorpe
- North Anston
- Orgreave
- Park Gate
- Ravenfield
- Ravenfield Common
- Rawmarsh
- Rotherham
- Scholes
- Slade Hooton
- South Anston
- Stone
- Street
- Sunnyside
- Swallownest
- Swinton
- Templeborough
- Thorpe Common
- Thorpe Hesley
- Thorpe Salvin
- Thrybergh
- Thurcroft
- Todwick
- Treeton
- Ulley
- Wales
- Wath upon Dearne
- Waverley
- Wentworth
- West Melton
- Whiston
- Wickersley
- Woodall
- Woodhouse Mill
- Woodsetts
Barnsley (82)
- Ardsley
- Barnsley
- Barugh
- Barugh Green
- Billingley
- Birdwell
- Blacker Hill
- Bolton upon Dearne
- Brierley
- Bromley
- Broomhill
- Bullhouse
- Carlecotes
- Carlton
- Cat Hill
- Catshaw
- Cawthorne
- Clayton
- Crane Moor
- Crow Edge
- Cudworth
- Cundy Cross
- Darfield
- Darton
- Dodworth
- Dunford Bridge
- Eastfield
- Edderthorpe
- Elsecar
- Finkle Street
- Fullshaw Cross
- Gateway Plaza
- Gawber
- Goldthorpe
- Great Houghton
- Green Moor
- Grimethorpe
- Harden
- Hazelhead
- Hemingfield
- High Hoyland
- Higham
- Hill Top
- Hood Green
- Howbrook
- Hoyland Nether
- Hoylandswaine
- Ingbirchworth
- Jump
- Kexbrough
- Langsett
- Little Houghton
- Lundwood
- Middlecliffe
- Millhouse Green
- Oxspring
- Penistone
- Pilley
- Platts Common
- Pogmoor
- Redbrook
- Roughbirchworth
- Royston
- Shafton
- Silkstone
- Silkstone Common
- Snowden Hill
- Stainborough
- Staincross
- Swaithe
- Tankersley
- Thurgoland
- Thurlstone
- Thurnscoe
- Townhead
- Upper Hoyland
- Victoria
- Ward Green
- Wombwell
- Worsbrough
- Worsbrough Bridge
- Wortley
Geography
The county tilts east. Its western edge lies in the Peak District, where about a third of Sheffield’s area sits inside the national park and moorland rises above 500 metres at Margery Hill. From there the land falls through the wooded valleys of the Don, Rother, Sheaf and Dearne to the flat Humberhead Levels east of Doncaster.
Thorne and Hatfield Moors, north-east of Doncaster, form the largest area of lowland raised bog in Britain. The Don, the county’s main river, runs from the Pennines through Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster to join the Ouse at Goole.
South Yorkshire borders West Yorkshire to the north, North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire to the east, Nottinghamshire to the south and Derbyshire to the west.
Demographics
The 2021 census counted 1,374,792 residents: 555,035 in Sheffield, 308,697 in Doncaster, 266,173 in Rotherham and 244,887 in Barnsley. Sheffield is the fourth largest city in England by population within its boundary.
Outside the four main towns, the largest settlements are Dinnington, Rawmarsh, Maltby, Wath upon Dearne, Wombwell, Adwick le Street, Thorne, Conisbrough, Mexborough, Hoyland and Penistone, most of them former pit villages that grew into towns of 15,000 to 20,000.
Sheffield has a young profile, with about 60,000 students at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University. The Dearne Valley, running through Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster, has some of the highest deprivation in England, a direct legacy of the coalfield closures.
Economy and Local Life
Steel still matters. Sheffield Forgemasters, taken into public ownership in 2021 to supply the naval nuclear programme, and the electric arc plants at Rotherham and Stocksbridge keep the county in specialist and stainless steel rather than bulk production.
The Advanced Manufacturing Park at Catcliffe, between Sheffield and Rotherham, hosts the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and aerospace suppliers working with Boeing and Rolls-Royce. Doncaster runs on rail engineering and logistics, with the iPort freight terminal at Rossington and a long history of locomotive building at the Plant works.
Retail and services fill much of the rest, including Meadowhall shopping centre beside the M1. Farming in the east is large-scale arable on the Levels, and Penistone, Bawtry and Tickhill keep their market-town roles.
History
Doncaster began as the Roman fort of Danum on the road north, and Conisbrough Castle’s twelfth-century keep is one of the finest surviving in England. Sheffield made cutlery from the fourteenth century onwards; Chaucer mentions a Sheffield knife in the 1380s.
Two Sheffield inventions changed metallurgy. Benjamin Huntsman developed crucible steel at Handsworth in the 1740s, and Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel in the city in 1913. Coal underpinned everything else: the South Yorkshire coalfield employed tens of thousands until the pits closed between the 1980s and 2015.
The 1984 to 1985 miners’ strike hit hardest here, and the confrontation at Orgreave near Rotherham in June 1984 remains contested. The county council created in 1974 was abolished in 1986, and an elected mayor for South Yorkshire has led the combined authority since 2018.
Getting There
The M1 runs north-south through the county past Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley. The M18 branches to Doncaster and the M180, and the A1(M) skirts Doncaster to the east. The A57, A61, A628 over the Woodhead Pass and A631 carry cross-county traffic.
Doncaster station sits on the East Coast Main Line, about 95 minutes from London King’s Cross. Sheffield is the main Midland Main Line and TransPennine hub, with Meadowhall Interchange, Rotherham Central and Barnsley on regional services. Sheffield Supertram runs three lines plus a tram-train to Rotherham Parkgate.
Doncaster Sheffield Airport at Finningley closed to commercial flights in November 2022, and work to reopen it has been under way since 2024. Leeds Bradford, Manchester and East Midlands are the practical alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the population of South Yorkshire?
1,374,792 at the 2021 census, across Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley.
What is the largest town in South Yorkshire?
Sheffield, with 555,035 residents in 2021. Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley follow, each between about 245,000 and 309,000 across their whole borough.
How many towns and villages are there in South Yorkshire?
The gazetteer lists 298 named settlements across the four boroughs.
Which councils cover South Yorkshire?
Four metropolitan borough councils: Sheffield City Council, City of Doncaster Council, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority handles transport and economic development.
What postcode areas cover South Yorkshire?
S, centred on Sheffield and covering Rotherham and Barnsley, and DN, centred on Doncaster.
Where is South Yorkshire?
In northern England, on the eastern edge of the Peak District, between West Yorkshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the east, Nottinghamshire to the south and Derbyshire to the west.