Aston Area Collieries
From about the middle of 19th Century Rotherham the area around the village of Aston was heavily mined. These are the collieries that I have found:–
Aston Colliery
Aston Colliery was sunk on Aston Common in the 1840s but soon superseded by North Staveley.
Beighton Colliery
Beighton Colliery on Park Lane, adjacent to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, was sunk in 1920. Though I'm not sure if this was in Rotherham or Sheffield.
Brookhouse Colliery
Brookhouse shaft was sunk to the south of North Staveley Colliery in 1929 by the Sheffield Coal Company. The company, which became part of the United Steel Companies in 1937, already owned other collieries in the area, particularly the Birley Collieries and that at Aston Common, known as North Staveley Colliery. Brookhouse was linked by underground tunnels to other pits owned by the company. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947 and was closed in 1985.
From 1988 the site was opencast as part of the Pit House West Opencast Site. The opencast site yielded 1.5 million tonnes of coal during its working life between 1989 and 1994, 300,000 tonnes of which came from reworking the massive spoil heaps left by the former Brookhouse Colliery. The rest came from the working of 9 seams ranging from 0.1 to 1.3 metres thick. When the coaling was complete another 12 months were spent completing the landscaping of the site.
Fence Colliery
Fence Colliery was sunk in 1842. Fence Colliery was connected underground with Treeton Colliery and all coal was hauled from the Treeton shaft after 1887. Coal ceased to be mined at Fence Colliery in 1904 but the shaft remained in use for pumping. In the 1950s the colliery site became the NCB area workshops and stores but these closed in the 1990s.
These comments are from Roger:–
"Coal mining on the site at Fence, to the west of the village adjacent to the main Sheffield to Worksop road, commenced in the mid-1830s, however the Fence Colliery Company did not come into being until 1862 when the workings were developed. In 1875 the Fence Colliery Company became part of Rother Vale Collieries and its last coal was raised to the surface in 1902. The site was retained as a pumping station and much later became the site of the National Coal Board's area workshops, these finally closing in the 1990s."
North Staveley Colliery
In 1864 the workings of the Aston colliery were taken over and developed by the North Staveley Colliery Company, who not only extended the coal workings but built housing, a chapel and reading room for its workers. This increased the population of the parish of Aston by 672 between 1861 and 1871, an increase of over 70%. In the 20th Century it was owned by the Sheffield Coal Company. All I can find on my map is the railway junction. The site of North Staveley Colliery is now occupied by industrial units.
Pit House West Opencast Mine
Opencasting took place on the site of the old pit tips to the north of what is now Rother Valley Country Park.
Waleswood Colliery
Waleswood Colliery was a coal mine situated between Swallownest and Wales Bar adjacent to the Rotherham to Clowne road and the main line of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway about 2 miles east of Woodhouse. The first shaft was sunk in the 1880s when the colliery was owned by Skinner and Holford Limited. In 1947 the colliery and its associated by-product plant passed to the National Coal Board, the colliery being closed the following year. As the collieries in the area became inter-connected it was retained as a pumping station. The coke ovens and by-products plant closed in 1962. Many of the colliery buildings have been retained and now form the basis of an industrial estate.
Between 1902 and 1926 Waleswood which was worked the High Hazels, Flockton, and Thorncliffe seams down to a depth of 200m.
All these pits have now gone. Rother Valley Country Park has been developed on part of the area they covered. The Pit House West Site opencasting site has partly been reclaimed and the Yorkshire Experience Sensation (YES) is being built here.