Wharncliffe Woodmoor 1, 2 and 3 colliery (part of Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery Company Ltd, the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery Company was formed in 1873 when it purchased the New Willey Colliery, which had been sunk in 1871) was a coal mine that was located at the junction of Laithes Lane and Carlton Road, about north-east of Barnsley, South Yorkshire and a quarter mile east of Staincross and Mapplewell railway station, on the Great Central Railway. The branch line junction was about from Staincross that connected it to the colliery via a private line. The line finished up between the three main shafts and the coking ovens. History The colliery was sunk in 1871 just after Joshua Willey, an Hoyland wine and spirit merchant, leased land from the Earl of Wharncliffe. Willey sank two shafts, reaching the Woodmoor Seam in November 1871. The colliery eventually had four shafts (No.3 used as a Pumping Station from 1970 to 1988). In its earlier days the pit was also known as 'Old Carlton'. It received its modern name from the landowner, the Earl of Wharncliffe, and the Woodmoor seam of coal, first exploited in the 1870s. Willey sold the colliery in 1873 and a new company, the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Coal Co. was formed. During the mid-1870s there was an apparent collapse in the coal industry and the colliery was again available to buy. The colliery was purchased at auction by Joseph Willey for £18,000. Howard Allport became the new owner in 1881 and in 1883 converted the privately owned business into a limited liability concern and become known as the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery Co. Ltd. The colliery occupied a large site, with coke ovens, brickworks to the east of the colliery producing 50,000 bricks per week and an engine shed. The site was south-west of the village of Carlton, between Carlton Lane and Laithes Lane. Seams worked were Haigh Moor, Barnsley, Kent's Thick, Winter, Lidgett and Beamshaw. During the 1930s the company had listed William Sutherland (Scottish politician) and Lady Sutherland of Braithwaite Hall, Darton as principal owners/directors. The couple had other business interests in the town including the North Gawber and Woolley collieries. At the time of nationalisation in 1947 the colliery employed 1069 workers underground. In November 1965 it was announced by the National Coal Board that an accelerated pit closure programme would get under way affecting 120,000 men. Collieries were categorised as