Aston Colliery was a small coal mine sunk on Aston Common, within
Rotherham Rural District
Rotherham () is a large minster (church), minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother which then merges with the River Don, South Yorkshire, River Don. The R ...
but six miles east of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
in the 1840s. In 1864 its workings were taken over and developed by the North Staveley Colliery Company, part of the
Staveley Coal and Iron Company, based in North Derbyshire. It was later acquired by the Sheffield Coal Company.
History
A small coal mining operation commenced in the 1840s on Aston Common, south of
Rotherham
Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...
and east of the city of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
, between
Aston
Aston is an area of inner Birmingham, England. Located immediately to the north-east of Central Birmingham, Aston constitutes a ward within the metropolitan authority. It is approximately 1.5 miles from Birmingham City Centre.
History
Aston wa ...
(in South Yorkshire) and
Beighton (then in Derbyshire but now part of South Yorkshire).
In 1864 the workings of the Aston colliery were taken over and developed by the North Staveley Colliery Company, who not only extended the coal workings but built housing, a chapel and reading room for its workers. This increased the population of the parish of Aston by 672 between 1861 and 1871, an increase of over 70% (as a commuter town for Sheffield and Rotherham it had over 14,000 inhabitants by 1991).
An
industrial tramway
Tramways are lightly laid railways, sometimes with the wagons or carriages moved without locomotives. Because individual tramway infrastructure is not intended to carry the weight of typical standard-gauge railway equipment, the tramways over w ...
connected the mine with the
railway line between Sheffield and Worksop.
![Brookhouse Road - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Brookhouse_Road_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1129515.jpg)
Aston Common Industrial Estate now covers the area of the former colliery.
References
* ''"East of Sheffield"'' by R. Milnes, ''"Forward"'', the journal of the Great Central Railway Society, No.16, March 1978 () and includes unpublished research material gathered for this article from various local sources including Alan Rowles of the Wales and Kiveton Local History Group.
* National census details, 1861, 1871 and 1991.
{{coord, 53, 21, 25, N, 1, 18, 44, W, display=title, type:landmark_region:GB
Coal mines in Rotherham
Coal mines in South Yorkshire
Underground mines in England