Rotherham The Unofficial Website An unofficial website about the Town and Borough of Rotherham

A Short History of the Mains

Where I have been able to find any information I have written very short histories below or added a link to enable you to explore. The history of the mines in the Rotherham area is a long and complicated subject which I am only going to skim over here.

Black Hill Colliery

The first edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1841 shows Black Hill Colliery off Black Hill Lane (now Wickersley Road) between the Stag and the Brecks. The area is now covered by housing.

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Dinnington Main

The sinking of Dinnington Colliery began in 1902 and the pit opened in 1904 when the Barnsley seam was reached. The first coal was raised in 1905 and a second shaft opened in the same year. Coking ovens were built in 1907. The sinkers and miners were housed in tin huts known as 'Tin Town'. The Dinnington Colliery Company built Dinnington Colliery Institute in 1908 with many recreational facilities and new housing for the miners. By 1911 the colliery was providing employment for 450 surface men and 1,568 below ground. Pithead baths were installed in 1937. In 1945 prior to nationalisation it was owned by Amalgamated Denaby Collieries Ltd., Denaby Main, Doncaster, Yorks. The colliery closed in the 1990s.

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Kiveton Park Colliery

Please visit the website here for more information about Kiveton Park Colliery. The colliery site has now been reclaimed and is now a woodland area with cycle track and fishing ponds.

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Masbrough Collieries

The coal seams at Masbrough were exploited from the 1760s by the Walker Brothers to provide fuel for their ironworks. The first was at Garrow Tree at Holmes. By 1901 there is no sign of the mine on the Ordnance Survey map of Masbrough. By then housing and allotments covered the site. Holmes Colliery, between the River Don and the canal just north of the Phoenix Bessemer Steel was noted 'Disused' on the 1901 map. Jordan Colliery off Meadowhall Road was still in operation in 1901. It was reopened in 1894 after being closed for thirty years due to flooding. It looks to me as if Meadow Bank Road now cuts through the site. The 1850 Ordnance Survey map shows Swallow Wood Pit just below Garrow Tree but this has gone by 1888.

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Silverwood

Silverwood Colliery was situated on Hollings Lane between Dalton and Ravenfield Common. It was owned by Dalton Main Collieries Ltd and was originally known as Dalton Main until some bright spark came up with the idea of re-naming it after the local woodland (Silver Wood being preferred to Gulling Wood for obvious reasons). The sinking of the first shaft for Dalton Main began in 1900 and production began in 1905 when the coal seams were reached at a depth of 746 yards. At one time the pit, tips and railway sidings covered a vast area between Thrybergh, Ravenfield, Flanderwell and Sunnyside. It drew colliers from housing estates all over the area.

The colliery closed in the 1995 and there has been a large coal washing and reclamation project been going on ever since. The old area of tip around Woodlaithes Farm has now been developed as rather posh housing known as Woodlaithes Village complete with village pond grandly called a lake. Other parts of the site are still being worked on and it is intended to provide local amenities - probably another country park. There is a project afoot to restore and raise one or is that half of one of the old winding wheels in memory of the past.

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Thorpe Hesley Collieries

Smithy Wood Colliery was situated to the east of Thorpe Hesley. I think it closed in the 1970s. Barley Hall Colliery was north of the village but I have no details. There were also collieries at Scholes Common and Thorpe Common.

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Thurcroft

Thurcroft Colliery was sunk in 1909. The pit was opened in 1913. At one stage over a third of the population of Thurcroft worked at the pit. Thurcroft was closed 1990s.

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