Map - Cudworth, South Yorkshire (Cudworth)

Cudworth is an urban village approximately 3.5 mi north-east of Barnsley transport interchange in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, Cudworth has a busy shopping area along the Barnsley to Pontefract Road which serves a local population of 10,977.

The modern village equates roughly to the Cudworth ward of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and with a mix of housing types with a great many developments from the inter-war and post-war periods. These supplement a small residual number of more ancient dwellings and buildings reflecting the importance of the rural economy before the opening of the deep mine collieries in the near vicinity at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The village is still surrounded by open space, including green belt, regenerated public open spaces that were formerly part of neighbouring collieries and the remaining agricultural land which still dominates the south and south-east sides of the village.

Cudworth has two distinct historic centres known as Upper or Over Cudworth and Low or Nether Cudworth. Nether Cudworth was the centre of the old Cudworth manor, Upper Cudworth has road links.

Since the local government reforms of 1974 Cudworth has been a ward within the Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council and returns three ward councillors. This same Act saw the establishment of the South Yorkshire metropolitan county, but its council was later abolished and the four constituent boroughs became unitary authorities.

Before the establishment of the Poor Law Union, almost every aspect of local governance had been shared between three authorities; the Justices of the Peace for the West Riding in their Quarter or Special sessions; the Parish of Royston and its Vestry, and the Manor of Cudworth with its Court Baron and Court Leet.

In the period before 1900, Cudworth's governance passed through a number of changes introduced by the Government at Westminster due to the increasing population. The 1873 and 1875 Public Health Acts created Rural Sanitary Districts which effectively gave control of the sewers and other health matters to the local board of Guardians, who had hitherto been responsible for the workhouse and other matters relating to the Poor Laws. The Barnsley Rural Sanitary District which included most of the Barnsley Poor Law Union of which Cudworth was a part was abolished under the 1894 Local Government Act when the Barnsley Rural District Council with elected councillors took over the responsibilities previously administered by the Poor Law Guardians. The new Barnsley Rural District very quickly began to lose territory as the rapid population expansion due to the opening of the deep mine collieries created the need for the urban district councils to act as the first tier of the local authority. Cudworth was the third of the eight civil parishes within Barnsley RDC to leave when the UDC was established in 1900.

Cudworth Urban District existed between 1900 and the 1974 reforms. It had an urban district council as the second tier local authority under the West Riding County Council. The Cudworth Urban District Council was responsible for a great many changes within its boundaries including the development of a number of housing estates, including the Newtown and Birkwood estates and the much later Crown estate. In order to build the Newtown Estate it was necessary to demolish the old Manor House which previously stood on the site occupied by the houses on Lunn Road bearing the inscription commemorating the new estate in 1922.