 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.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.