About

The Story of South Elmsall is dedicated to preserving and sharing the fascinating history of the Yorkshire village of South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, and neighbouring settlements. Known in the Domesday records as Ermeshale, and colloquially better known now as Emmy, the settlement of South Elmsall has evolved through generations that have ties to royalty, wars, political revolution and much more. From plough to pick, generation by generation, this is our record of our shared ancestry.

The Author

Matthew Thomas was born and educated locally in South Kirkby and South Elmsall before going on to read archaeology at Alcuin College, University of York. Matthew has undertaken archaeology site work in both the United Kingdom and Africa and enjoyed a placement at the British Institute in East Africa, in Kenya. Matthew has also worked previously within local studies archives and has led on a number of community heritage projects, including the successful Historic England listing of the South Elmsall and Moorthorpe War Memorial. Matthew is a member of the Royal Historical Society and the National Council for Metal Detecting. Matthew is also a published writer and commentator on politics, having been featured on BBC Look North, Channel 4 News, BBC Radio Sheffield and other notable television and radio programmes. Matthew has been published in traditional print such as the Yorkshire Post and more local to home the Wakefield Express and Hemsworth and South Elmsall Express, discussing local and regional heritage issues and as a strong advocate for Yorkshire devolution. Matthew, being a proud Yorkshireman, was previously elected to the Yorkshire Party’s Executive Committee, seeking to advocate for and campaign for fairer funding for Yorkshire’s communities. As an Executive Committee member leading into the 2017 General Election Matthew helped the Yorkshire Party to become the sixth most popular party in England despite contesting only seats within Yorkshire. Following the landslide win nationally by Labour and a lack of progress on regional Yorkshire issues Matthew joined a number of Yorkshire Party colleagues locally in moving across to the official opposition, the Conservatives, in search of better and faster devolution powers for Yorkshire and other issues. Matthew is an Anglo-Catholic and advocate for strong Christian values, which have been noted in other publications. Matthew is a Conservative candidate for the South Elmsall and South Kirkby Ward, in the 2026 local elections, on a platform of building on our fantastic heritage in a positive way, bringing jobs, training and opportunities to our community as a sensible and highly experienced alternative to Labour, for locals seeking real change locally.