Rob Royd Colliery

Overview

A Strafford Collieries pit at Dodworth near Barnsley, sunk in 1896 to the Silkstone seam, employing over 600 men in 1910 and discontinued in 1935, then kept as a pumping station.

History

Rob Royd Colliery stood at Dodworth, about a mile and a half south-west of Barnsley, and was worked by the Strafford Coal Company, later Strafford Collieries Company Limited. It was sunk in 1896 and was working by 1897. The pit worked the Silkstone seam, raising household and steam coal in 1900 and coking, gas and household coal from 1905. It employed 397 men in 1900, 560 in 1905 and 611 in 1910, almost all of them underground, then 507 in 1915, 511 in 1923 and 434 in 1933. The colliery may also have been called Hound Hill.

Among the men killed there were James Garaghty, a collier of 23 killed by a fall of roof while ripping a gate road and building packs in 1904, and Joseph Henry Dickinson, 29, struck by a large stone from a slip in the roof as he cut out a prop in the goaf in 1906; the accident would probably not have happened had a dog and chain been used to draw the prop.

Work at Rob Royd was discontinued in August 1935. The shafts were afterwards kept as a pumping station, from 1944 to 1952 and again from 1970 to 1987. Abandonment plans of the Rob Royd and Strafford workings in the Parkgate, Flockton, Fenton and Silkstone seams are dated 31 December 1938.

Geology

The colliery worked the Silkstone seam; the abandonment plans of the Rob Royd and Strafford workings also cover the Parkgate, Flockton and Fenton seams.

Workings

Underground workings in the Silkstone seam, with gate roads ripped and packs built in the goaf; 586 of the 611 men employed in 1910 worked below ground.

Closure

Discontinued in August 1935 and kept as a pumping station from 1944 to 1952 and from 1970 to 1987; the abandonment plans are dated 31 December 1938.

What remains

Unknown.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Rob Royd Colliery may also have been called Hound Hill. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Rob Royd Colliery opened in 1896 and closed in August 1935. ^1,2
• Rob Royd was used as a pumping station from 1944 to 1952 and from 1970 to 1987. ¹
• Rob Royd employed 611 men in 1910, 586 of them below ground, working the Silkstone seam. ²
• Joseph Henry Dickinson, a collier of 29, was killed at Rob Royd on 19 March 1906 by a stone falling from a slip in the roof as he cut out a prop in the goaf. ^2,3
• Abandonment plans of the Rob Royd and Strafford workings in the Parkgate, Flockton, Fenton and Silkstone seams are dated 31 December 1938. ^4,5
• Rob Royd Colliery may also have been called Hound Hill. (uncertain) ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Coal Mines in Yorkshire 1854 onwards (R) - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Rob Royd Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) NMRS deaths and accidents record: Joseph Henry Dickinson, Rob Royd & Strafford Silkstone, 1906 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21945690: Rob Royd and Strafford, Silkstone, abandoned 31 December 1938 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21945688: Rob Royd and Strafford, Parkgate, abandoned 31 December 1938 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 19 October 2026 · Last researched: 20 October 2026