Explore the History and Heritage of Featherstone Rovers
Featherstone has a prehistoric history with evidence of Romano-British settlements in the area. The first documented evidence of Featherstone’s existence comes in Doomsday Book of 1086 in which North Featherstone church is recorded. For most of its history Featherstone was a rural, tiny village with at most several hundred residents. A very unlikely place in which a competitive sports team would develop that would compete successfully with large city based teams.
The most dramatic event in Featherstone’s history was the start of coal mining with the sinking of the first shaft at Featherstone Main Colliery in 1868. By the end of the 19th century the population had leapt to over 10,000 as the coal industry boomed to feed the industrial revolution. These men were employed in three collieries operating within Featherstone. It was a dangerous and dirty job and during the history of the 3 collieries over 300 men and boys lost their lives at work.
With the influx of all these workers there was a call for recreation and entertainment activities. Initially cricket was the most popular sport but in the 1880’s rugby began to develop in the town. A raft of teams were formed and disbanded in the late 19th and early 20th century. These included Featherstone and Purston United, Featherstone Trinity and Featherstone Red Star. Featherstone Rovers were originally formed in 1902 and reformed in 1908. In the run-up to the First World War there were two other competing teams in the town – Purston White Horse and Tommy Side’s Featherstone. Eventually Featherstone Rovers emerged as the towns’ sole team following a merger with Tommy Side’s Featherstone.
With the town developed around a single industry, coal mining, for most its existence the fortunes of the town were inextricably linked to the fortunes of the mining industry and the behaviour of the owners of those mines. Consequently it has never been an affluent place, and has seen some desperate times, which makes the survival and existence of Featherstone Rovers even more remarkable.