Swinden House
building in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, UK
Swinden House in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England is a Victorian style Grade II listed Victorian building. It is located on Tata Steel (formally British Steel then Corus) Swinden Technology Centre.
Pre-steel 1880-1946
It was built between 1878 and 1880 by Thomas W. Badger, a member of a well-known Rotherham family, prominent in legal circles. It was originally called Red House or as it was frequently termed the “palatial residence”. Several of the rooms on the ground floor are panelled in oak, which was obtained from Rotherham Parish Church during the construction of the house.
In 1882, Thomas Badger fled the country [reported by the Rotherham Advertiser], leaving his business in financial confusion and with heavy debts. The house was sold to William H. Micklethwait, the owner of an iron foundry at the Clough Works in Masbrough. His lived there until his death in 1925 and his widow continued to live there until she died in 1932.
The house remaining empty until 1939 when it was occupied by the National Fire service during the Second World War.
Steel industry 1946-2005
In 1946 it was purchased by United Steel, and the house was renamed Swinden House in tribute to the first director of research, Dr.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Swinden House” as building in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, UK. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, UK. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7658398. Authority coordinates are 53.415, -1.335. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1880, 1946, 1878 and 1882.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Swinden House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Swinden House primary sources, Swinden House archive and Swinden research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Swinden House”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Swinden House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.