Dovecliffe railway station was situated on the South Yorkshire Railway's Blackburn Valley line between High Royds and Wombwell Main Junction.

The station opened with the line on 4 September 1854 and closed on 7 December 1953.

The line through the station remained open until the 1986 to allow freight access to Barrow Colliery, although the through line to Sheffield was severed between Birdwell and Westwood in the late 1960s with the construction of the M1 motorway.

It was controlled by a signal box which sat on the station roof.

When the line opened, as a single line, there was no block working and when a box was needed it was required to be placed on the outer side of a bend to give better visibility.