The owners of the colliery and later the coke ovens and by-products plant were Sheffield-based steel makers John Brown and Company who also built houses for their workers and a school for the children of the colliers.
[2] The colliery had problems, the area was prone to flooding but prior to the First World War it employed around 2,000 miners.
Following the General Strike in 1926 the colliery was virtually closed and needed just 300 employees to maintain it.
The colliery was linked to the main railway network by a branch line from the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at a junction known as "Rotherham Main", situated about 0.75 miles (1.2 km) on the Sheffield side of Rotherham Central.
Rotherham Main Colliery Disaster, Canklow, 1891 2: The Selby Coalfield straddled the border of North and West Yorkshire