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 of the two shafts for Dalton Main began in 1900 and production began in 1905 when the Barnsley seam was reached at a depth of 746 yards. The shafts were known as the East Pit and the West Pit. Silverwood was connected underground to Roundwood Colliery at Rawmarsh.
Between 1953 and 1962 there were major redevelopments at Silverwood with the mining of the Meltonfield Seam from a new pit bottom, a new pit bottom in the Barnsley seam, new locomotives and mine cars and upgrading of other facilities.
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.
There was a Paddy mail crash on 3 February 1966. Shortly after 6 a.m. the day shift men had gone down the pit to board the 'Paddy mail'. It was normal practice for the 'man-rider' to be followed by a second train which carried equipment. On this day the second train suddenly ran out of control and gaining speed caught up with the 'man-riding' train hitting this hard in the rear. Ten men lost their lives and a further 29 miners were injured.
The colliery closed in 1992 and there was a large coal washing and reclamation project for several years. 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. Reclamation work finished in 2006, with the Forestry Commission planting tree saplings in 2007. The coal tip has been grassed completely and the once dangerous slurry lake turned into a freshwater nature reserve.