It has a history stretching back to Anglo-Saxon times, and its name is derived from 'Beorn's Ley'. Ley (or Leah in the original Anglo-Saxon spelling) referred to land that had been cleared (deforested) to make way for a village or settlement.

Barnsley was traditionally an industrial town, and had an extensive coal mining industry until the mid 1980s when the pits closed following the miners strikes.