Brancepeth Castle, with the population falling to 427. The stone for this building work had been quarried in Brandon village, and Sawmills Lane is thought to have been constructed as a more direct route for the carting of stone to Brancepeth. Industry Agriculture The great majority of the local workforce was engaged in agriculture, when the lessee of Brandon's coal seams was as much a farmer as he was a collier. It is recorded that John Shaw was operating a landsale pit in 1836 using a whim-gin, usually employing horses or a bull, to raise the coal to the surface. Coal mining The area experienced a dramatic change in the 1850s, as the growing iron and manufacturing industries required coal and coke in ever-increasing quantities and entrepreneurs moved into the area to develop coal mines. Brandon colliery The Newcastle firm of Straker and Love obtained the site that was to become Brandon colliery, sinking the 'A' shaft in 1856 and the 'C' pit in 1860. In 1894, 1150 men and boys were employed working the Hutton, Busty, and Brockwell seams of coal at this colliery. Brandon Pit house was sunk in 1924. Coal mining finally came to an end at Brandon on 15 March 1968. Browney colliery Other firms arrived to take leases. Bell Brothers of Newcastle and Middlesbrough commenced sinking at Browney colliery in 1871, with coal being drawn in 1873 from three shafts working the Brockwell, Busty, and Hutton seams. The firm was taken over by Dorman Long & Co. in 1923. In 1930, 625 were employed at the colliery. In July 1938 the pit closed due to flooding. Littleburn colliery In North Brancepeth the coal company secured the lease to Littleburn colliery, in 1870 sinking the engineer shaft to the Busty seam, followed by the merchant shaft to the Brockwell in 1871. In 1931 the company went into liquidation, and the pit was re-opened by Bearpark Coal and Coke Co. on a smaller scale to work the Busty seam, until flooding from the River Browney forced its closure in December 1950. Local government changes In May 1877, under a newly confirmed provisional order, the Parish of Brandon and Byshottles was formed into a local government district governed by a local board, finally breaking away from the Parish of Brancepeth. After the Local Government Act 1894 came into force, the local board was superseded by the Brandon and