[4] The 1086 Domesday Book records a manor previously held by lord Hakon in 1066 tenanted by William the Conqueror's half-brother, Robert de Mortain.

G & WG Gummer Ltd exported brass products across the world, supplying fittings for hotels, hospitals, Turkish baths and the RMS Mauretania.

In 1854, Samuel Beal & Co produced wrought iron plates for Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous steamship the SS Great Eastern.

Precision manufacturing companies in the town include AESSEAL, Nikken Kosakusho Europe, MTL Advanced, MGB Plastics and Macalloy.

Rotherham is the location of the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), which is home to a number of world-class companies including Rolls-Royce and McLaren Automotive.

But the most extraordinary establishments of this kind, of late years, were the iron-foundries belonging to Messrs. Walker, in which immense quantities of cannon of the largest calibre were wrought for government during the war, till the works were given up by the original proprietors, and let out to small capitalists.

In 1836 an act was passed for making a railway to Sheffield, with a branch to the Greasbrough canal and coal-field; it was opened [in] 1838, and the distance is about six miles....The market is on Monday, for corn, cattle, and provisions: on alternate Mondays is a celebrated market for fat-cattle, sheep, and hogs, numerously attended by grazers from distant parts of the country; and fairs take place on Whit-Monday and December 1st, for cattle.

Fire service and police officers used multiple high-powered pumps to lower the water level in the reservoir and reduce pressure on the dam wall, which was damaged but held.

[23][24][25] Following a 2012 article published in The Times newspaper alleging the cover-up of large-scale sexual abuse of young children by gangs of people of Pakistani origin in Rotherham,[26] Rotherham Council commissioned Professor Alexis Jay, a former chief social work adviser to the Scottish government, to lead an independent inquiry about the handling of the cases and a suspected child exploitation network.

[27][28] Subsequently, Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, commissioned Louise Casey to conduct a best value investigation of Rotherham Council.

[32] The National Crime Agency was called in to investigate whether Rotherham councillors were complicit in hiding the depth and scale of the child abuse due to a "fear of losing their jobs and pensions" following a concern that they might be considered "racist" if they spoke out.

[33] Jayne Senior, a former youth town worker,[34] was reported to have worked for more than a decade to expose rampant child sexual abuse in Rotherham, but had been met with "indifference and scorn".

[37][38][39] All Saints Minster, on a square of the same name, was built using neat-cut pieces made of a unique sandstone, Rotherham Red, with a low-pitched lead roofing.

Threatened with demolition in the 1960s, it has been preserved as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and stands as a focal point in a sheltered housing complex and close to the path leading up the Rother valley.

More urban forms of local government began in 1801 when a body of improvement commissioners was established for Rotherham township, with responsibilities for paving, lighting, and repairing the streets.

[45] The commissioners were superseded in 1852 by an elected local board, whose district covered both the Rotherham and Kimberworth townships and had more extensive responsibilities, particularly relating to water supply and sewers.

[58] Shaun Wright, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for South Yorkshire from 2012, was the Labour councillor in charge of child safety at the council from 2005 to 2010.

[59] He initially refused demands to resign as PCC from the Home Secretary, Theresa May,[60] as well as members of his own party and local Labour MP Sarah Champion, saying: "I believe I am the most appropriate person to hold this office at this current time.

When Rother Valley was won by the Conservatives in the 2019 General Election, this marked the first time the borough of Rotherham had returned anyone other than Labour MPs to Parliament since 1931.

Like most of South Yorkshire, the Rotherham constituencies are considered to be 'safe', having enjoyed 'substantial' majorities over a 'long' period of time; a typecast which heightens the incumbency factor present in first past the post elections.

Beyond the town centre and away from the Don Valley, the Rotherham district is largely rural, containing a mixture of retired people, larger properties, some farming and tourism and the landscaped Wentworth Woodhouse estate, where the last surviving kiln of the Rockingham Pottery can be seen.

Aside from two regular roads and two bypasses (one being the motorway network), Sheffield is connected directly by the Trans Pennine Trail which passes the Meadowhall shopping centre on both sides.

Rotherham is within a green belt region that extends into the wider surrounding counties, and is in place to reduce urban sprawl, prevent the towns in the Sheffield conurbation from further convergence, protect the identity of outlying communities, encourage brownfield reuse, and preserve nearby countryside.

[69] The green belt surrounds the Rotherham urban area, with larger outlying towns and villages within the borough such as Treeton, Swallownest and Thurcroft exempted.

A subsidiary aim of the green belt is to encourage recreation and leisure,[69] with rural landscape features, greenfield areas and facilities including the Wentworth Woodhouse estate and temple, River Rother, northern portions of the River Don and Hooton Brook, Pinch Mill Brook, golf courses, Ulley reservoir, Herringthorpe allotments, Rotherham Roundwalk and Sheffield Country Walk/Trans-Pennine trails, Thurcroft Hall, and Valley Park.

[77] In 2019, work began on the former Tesco site on forge island to build a multiplex cinema, 4 restaurants, new urban public space and a hotel.

The parade lead to a festival in the park with flags, decor 'Eh Up Rotherham' sign, rides, stalls Djs and bands, workshops and activities.

[80] A plaque commemorating the award was unveiled by Secretary of State for Local Government & Committees Sajid Javid MP in September 2016.

Rotherham is the hometown of the Chuckle Brothers, Manchester City and England forward Jess Park, Huddersfield Town and Arsenal manager, Herbert Chapman (born in Kiveton Park, which was amalgamated into Rotherham in 1974), Arsenal and England goalkeeper David Seaman, along with World Cup and English Premier League referee Howard Webb.

Christopher Wolstenholme of Muse, DJ Kritikal Mass, Dean Andrews of Life on Mars, artist Margaret Clarkson, band Jive Bunny & The Mastermixers, musician Rebecca Taylor and singer-actor Rob McVeigh were all born or mostly raised in Rotherham.