[1] While Hemsworth's recent history and reputation are dominated by the coal mining industry that developed in the latter part of the nineteenth century, it had long existed as an agricultural village.

Hemsworth, meaning “Hymel’s enclosure” is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Hemeleswrde[3] and in the twelfth century as Hymelswrde.

From the Middle Ages to Tudor times it would have seen little change to the manorial features, open fields, woods, commons, enclosed holdings, manor house, scattered farmsteads and the church, dedicated to St Helen, which dates to the eleventh or twelfth century.

[5] A grammar school and a hospital, or almshouses, founded in the mid-sixteenth century owe their existence to Robert Holgate, thought to have been born in Hemsworth, who was consecrated Archbishop of York in 1544.

At times there were complaints about the masters failing in their duties, which were to teach Latin, Greek and Hebrew to the sons of husbandmen in Hemsworth, Felkirk, South Kirby, Ackworth, Royston and Wragby.

The Archbishop Holgate almshouses,[7] or hospital, still exist and still offer housing accommodation in a complex of 24 cottages for selected elderly people.

It ended the tithe system in kind and allocated common land to local landowners, particularly to Sir Francis Wood, and, less so, to Earl Fitzwilliam.

Hemsworth was a one-industry town, where coal mining employed the vast majority of residents, and the closure of the pits during the 1980s led to huge levels of unemployment and deprivation in the area.

He comfortably held the new seat of Normanton and Hemsworth in the general election of July 2024, taking 47.5 per cent of the vote.

The local weekly newspaper, the Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express,[18] is edited by Gavin Murray and published by National World, the parent company of Yorkshire Post Newspapers and which also publishes The Scotsman and scores of local papers and websites.

World-class cricketer Geoffrey Boycott was born in nearby Fitzwilliam in 1940 and attended Hemsworth Grammar School.

[22] Former UFC fighter Scott Askham Cromwell Bradley, footballer and minor counties cricketer.

Footballer for Arsenal, West Ham United & Blackburn Rovers John Radford was born in Hemsworth.