The history of Woolley Colliery & Woolley Grange
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1301
First records of mining in the area, thought to be by monks.
1799
Barnsley Canal opens in Darton, new collieries open in the area, Woolley is too far to benefit from improved links.
1st January 1850
Darton railway station opens.
March 1854
Work begins under the supervision of the 'Woolley Coal Company'. Shallow draft mines were worked along Woolley Edge and a shaft mine at Woolley Warren house.
1861
20% cut in pay announced, miners strike. Colliery refuses to re-employ the striking miners, instead bringing in 90 new men from Derbyshire to take their place.
1863
Colliery is listed for sale at £40,000.
1867
Colliery purchased by 'The Woolley Coal Co. LTD'.
Late 1860s
2 stone rows of terraced houses are built to house the miners, forming Woolley Colliery Village.
1869
Main site moves and shafts are sunk in Wheatley Wood (Locally named 'Beamshaw Pit').
1873
Colliery sold again, details of new ownership unknown.
1894
Final ownership change to Fountain and Burnley, already the owners of North Gawber Colliery.
1896
758 employed at the colliery.
1901
The census records residents at 25 households in Top Row and 29 in Low Row, with a total of 227 people.
1910 - 1912
2 shafts sunk at a new site, to the west of Woolley Colliery village, which was to remain the permanent home to the colliery until mining ceased in 1986.
1913
100 new houses built as the rows extended eastwood. Bluebell Road created.
1923
The colliery employs 1989 people. Records indicate the colliery is now doing well, despite its troubles under previous ownerships.
1930s
Life for the pit village residents continues to improve. A Miners Institute is created, joining other local amenities such as Bill Nash's "chip oil" and a small general store.
1932
Woolley Colliery becomes the first pit in the country to become fully electrified.
1933
The colliery now employs 3080 people and its annual output is recorded as 700,000 tons.
1939
Pit head baths opened.
1940
Annual output has almost doubled to a staggering 1,300,000 tons.
1942
3rd shaft sunk.
1947
Nationalisation of the coal industry.
1950s
Part of the original housing demolished due to ???????
1959
Ventilation shaft sunk, the 4th and final shaft the colliery would sink.
1970s
Old houses demolished.
1982
£40 million investment announced by the NCB. The West Side Coal preparation plant built.
1983
Fire destroys 'press house' section of the newly built West Side complex, causing £8 million of damage.
6th March 1984
The miners' strike begins.
3rd October 1984
First miner returns to Woolley Colliery. Trouble breaks out between police and striking miners.
3rd March 1985
Strike finishes, miners parade (known as loyalty parades) from the Rose & Crown, through Darton and up to the colliery, holding their colliery banner high.
1985
Men from North Gawber Colliery are transferred to Woolley.
December 1987
A £5000 redundancy bonus was offered if the strikers stopped resisting the closure of the colliery.
22nd December 1987
Woolley Colliery closes.
21st February 1993
Washery demolished.
12th July 1993
Coal preparation plant demolished.