Thurcroft Colliery

In 1902, the Rother Vale Colliery Company leased the rights to work coal from below the Thurcroft Estates which were owned by Messrs. Marrian (of Sharrow Hall, Sheffield) and Binns, but it was not until 7 years later that they began sinking a shaft.

Problems were encountered within a year when they found water which needed to be pumped from the workings and caused a delay in reaching the coal seam.

The Barnsley seam, which is of good quality coal had been thrown out of its normal alignment and its expected position by a geological fault which was not discovered until the shaft was sunk.

From 1913, the company began to build housing for the miners, designed by Rotherham architect James Knight.

2: The Selby Coalfield straddled the border of North and West Yorkshire