Penistone livestock market was granted a royal charter in 1699 and animals were bought and sold in the street outside the Spread Eagle pub even within living memory. The livestock market was closed down by Barnsley Council after the cattle foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001. A disastrous BSE epidemic some years earlier had caused farming and other related businesses in the area to suffer huge setbacks. The National Farmers' Union is working to try and save this, South Yorkshire's last remaining livestock auction mart. The market is due to be constrained into a small square walled area soon with no room to expand and the current plot is earmarked for a new supermarket car park.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/97355030@N00">Bryan Ledgard</a>
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