Kimberworth Area Collieries
Coal was mined in Kimberworth near Rotherham, from Medieval times, often from the same bell pits as the iron ore for smelting worked by the lay brothers at Kirkstead Abbey Grange. Old pit workings litter the area from Droppingwell over to Thundercliffe though the golf course covers many of them these days. The scoria or slag from many of these old workings was dug out and used to make the sub-base for roads in the area. There was a colliery at Droppingwell in the 1850s and also sign saying 'Old Pit' and 'Coal Pit' and though I can trace the coke ovens on later maps it looks as if the mine had gone. The coke ovens were called Duke's Ovens after George and Henry Duke who operated them in the 1880s.
Grange Colliery, a deep shaft mine existed from 1845 - 1962 on a site at the top of Droppingwell Road. In 1881 it was registered to and worked by Newton Chambers Co. who also operated Rockingham (? not sure where this was), Thorncliffe (Chapeltown Sheffield) and Smithywood (Chapeltown Sheffield) Collieries. At its peak it employed 800 men.
Coke was produced here in large quantities much of which was exported by railway. The colliery had its own branch line through Ockley Bottom which joined the Great Central Railway in the valley of the Blackburn Brook. The last time I walked this way the only thing I could find was a few heaps of slag now covered by wild flowers.
The 1916 Ordnance Survey map shows Kimberworth Colliery (disused) to the west of the village but it is not shown on earlier maps so perhaps it was quite short-lived. An opencasting site called Bradgate Drift Colliery which was opened in 1921 by Newton Chambers. It closed in 1963 and I think that Bradgate Park occupies part of the site. Barker's Park at Kimberworth was also an opencast site.