It is located at 53°31′ N 1°8′ W - the site of a Roman fort which was built in the 1st century A.D. at the site of a crossing across the River Don. The Romans called this fort Danum, from which the town derives the Don part of its name; caster was from the Roman word for "fort". In Anglo-Saxon times, Doncaster is thought to have been the site of a palace of the Kings of Northumbria.

The town was rebuilt by the Normans after William I took the throne. The Normans also built a castle at nearby Conisbrough. From around the 16th century, it grew rich from the stagecoach trade. This led to horse breeding in Doncaster, which in turn led to the start of horse races there. There is evidence that horse races were held in Doncaster as far back as the early 17th century, but it is the St. Leger Stakes, first held in the 1770s, which makes the town's races famous.

Doncaster is traditionally very wealthy. The borough itself was known for its rich land owners with vast estates and huge stately homes such as Brodsworth Hall, Cantley Manor, Nether Hall, Wheatley Hall and Cusworth Hall. This wealth is evidenced in the luxurious and historic gold guilted 18th Century Mansion House which resides on High Street. This land ownership developed what is an ancient Market place and huge 18th Century Corn Exchange building.

Doncaster was already a communications centre at this time. Doncaster sat on the Great North Road or A1. This was the primary route for all traffic from London to Edinburgh and Doncaster cashed in on it's location.

The late 18th Century to 20th Century saw Doncaster emerge as a Industrial Centre. Using its communication links and in particular waterways Doncaster became extremely busy and saw vast migration to its centre. Underneath Doncaster lies huge natural resource by way of deep seam Coal. It was Coal that prompted Doncaster's exponential population growth. The waterways, River Don and Don Navigation were used to transport coal from Doncaster to the Steel Production centres at Rotherham, Sheffield and Scunthorpe.

Coal became the heart of Doncaster as a primary resource however this was not Doncaster's only talent. The Coal brought Secondary and Tertiary industries to Doncaster. Thus Doncaster became famous for chemical production and contained a huge Chemical works on Wheatley Hall Road. Many of the Hydro-Carbon products were derived from the naturally resourced Coal. Doncaster also became famous for its glass. Doncaster still contains glass plants which produce high-quality specialist glass. The furnaces of these plants traditionally were powered by Coal. Doncaster also became famous for steel products such as high-tensile steel rope. From these industries the story went on and on. Doncaster became a Car Production centre for Ford Motor Cars, Tractors, Light bulbs, Tools and equipment...all because of Coal.

Continuing the Industrial Revolution, the railway came to Doncaster, and the Great Northern Railway Locomotive and Carriage Building Works was established there. The reasons for this were due to Doncaster's communication links, the necessity to transport coal quickly and efficiently and Doncaster's expertise in specialist Metal products. The Doncaster Plant became famous for building LNER 4-6-2 locomotives Mallard and the Flying Scotsman, as well as many thousands more locomotives. Today, the town remains on the main East Coast line running from London to Scotland.

During World War I and World War II, the rail industry gave way to munitions building. In the early part of the 20th Century Doncaster became one of the largest coal mining areas in the country, with the industry employing more people in the area than anything else. However, along with many other areas, a large number of mining jobs were lost in the late 1980s, and several pits closed. Today, coal mining has been all but eliminated from the area, with only a handful of collieries surviving. The demise of Coal saw a cascade effect which saw the removal of many other Tertiary industries however several companies diversified and can still be seen today .

This page was last updated: 12 September 2005

Town history extracts are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under GFDL