The 19th-century former primary school on Holmesfield Road is now an elderly care home.

Coal mining was an important activity in the village in the 19th and early 20th centuries and the last pit to close was Hurst Hollow in 1947.

The current public house, the Miners' Arms, stands opposite the entrance to one of the former mines.

In the 1960s a large housing development took place in the adjacent Gosforth Valley turning Dronfield Woodhouse into a quiet dormitory settlement for nearby Sheffield and Chesterfield.

The surrounding countryside is still readily accessible, however, and the boundary of the Peak District National Park is less than 2 miles to the west.