Coal mines were worked as early as 1850, and at about that time the village was established when two rows of small terrace cottages were built to accommodate miners.

The mine had three shafts, three seams (named Fenton, Lidgett and Thorncliffe), and five coal faces.

Woolley Colliery was nationalised in 1947 and the majority of the coal mined there went to the production of electricity and coke.

The colliery began when two tunnels or drifts were dug into the Barnsley bed seam in the hillside.

[7][8] The proposed construction site covered a natural habitat housing a colony of the small blue butterfly, with the development plans leaving only the SUDS undeveloped.