Many of the miners employed there then moved to work at pits owned by T & R W Bower Ltd on the opposite side of the river on the Lowther estate at Swillington.

There was a big influx in population in 1911 when Henry Briggs, Son & Company Ltd sunk two shafts to the Beeston and Silkstone seam at Water Haigh.

When coal production ceased at Rothwell in 1983 the area declined but has recovered in large part due to its proximity to the centre of Leeds with housing for commuters[citation needed].

The village was the home of Bentley's Yorkshire Bitter but after the brewery was acquired by Whitbread plc in 1968 beer production ceased in 1972.

The Woodlesford postal district also extended as far as the now disappeared mining village of Bowers Row on the Swillington side of the river[citation needed].

New Woodlesford related to houses on Midland Street and the area on Aberford Road which is now dominated by 19th-century terraces, a Co-op store and a butcher's.

[citation needed] At the centre of the village is a small park which contains a football pitch, children's play area and skatepark.

[5] The village has an Army Cadet Force unit, part of Yorkshire (North & West) ACF, which is based on Oulton Lane near the playing field/skate park.

[6] Woodlesford railway station to the north-east of the village provides trains to Leeds, Barnsley, Sheffield and Goole from which services link to major cities throughout the country.

Other services connect the village to Castleford, Normanton, Glasshoughton, Pontefract Monkhill, Knottingley, Wakefield Kirkgate, Darton, Barnsley, Wombwell, Elsecar, Chapeltown, Meadowhall Interchange and Sheffield.