Edlington

Coordinates: 53°28′52″N 1°10′55″W / 53.481°N 1.182°W / 53.481; -1.182

Edlington is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, lying to the south west of Doncaster and Warmsworth. It has a population of 8,276. The original parish town of Edlington is now known as Old Edlington; adjacent, and to the north, is New Edlington. It is often referred to by locals as 'Edlo'. Since 1974 Edlington has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in the metropolitan county of South Yorkshire. It had, since 1894, formed part of Doncaster Rural District in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Period

During the final stages of the last Ice Age, a period known as the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Periods, Edlington was a place of settlement for the Palaeolithic groups of early nomadic humans. The groups had followed the improving climate northwards as the Ice Sheets covering Europe retreated. In 2003 the South Yorkshire Archaeological Survey found compelling evidence that these early groups of Humans had been using caves and natural outcrops in Edlington wood as shelters and bases for hunting. Additionally quantities of flint tools from the period were unearthed near to a Rock Shelter in the wood. During the period in which the tools can be dated the landscape of the area was a vast treeless tundra, with forestation occurring only as late into the period as 7500 BC.