WHY IS SKELMANTHORPE KNOWN AS "SHAT"?

Locals know it as "Shat", which appears to be an abbreviation of "Shatterers" which is what the locals were known as. Local labour was taken on during construction of the railway to break or 'shatter' rocks as well as work on the excavations. These unskilled labourers were referred to as Shatterers.

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More fanciful is the tale that Skelmanthorpe quarrymen were recruited to demolish Sandal castle in the war of the roses and got the name shatterers from that. The same tale is told about Cromwell and Sandal castle in the English civil war!

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