Earl Fitzwilliam's private railway near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was constructed in order to link the Earl's coal interests to the southeast of his Wentworth estate with the Greasbrough Canal, also owned by his estate, which gave an outlet to the River Dun (Don) Navigation.
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England, which together with its conurbation and outlying settlements to the north, south and south-east forms the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, with a recorded population of 257,280 in the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, its central area is on the banks of the River Don below its confluence with the Rother on the traditional road between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham was well known as a coal mining town as well as a major contributor to the steel industry.
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England. It is the southernmost county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region and had a population of 1.34 million in 2011. It has an area of 1,552 square kilometres (599 sq mi) and consists of four metropolitan boroughs, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. South Yorkshire was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972.Its largest settlement is Sheffield.
Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. Considered to be the largest private residence in the United Kingdom, it has an east front of 606 feet (185 m); the longest country house façade in Europe. The house has more than 300 rooms, although the precise number is unclear, with 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) of floorspace. It covers an area of more than 2.5 acres (1.0 ha), and is surrounded by a 180-acre (73 ha) park, and an estate of 15,000 acres (6,100 ha).
This was not the first connection between the coal pits, at that time owned by the Marquess of Rockingham, and the canal, for in the middle years of the 18th century, a wagonway had been built to link the Bassingthorpe pits to the newly opened "Rotherham Cut" of the River Dun Navigation. The Greasbrough Canal, connecting to the navigation on the boundaries of Rotherham and Parkgate, was opened in 1780 to serve the Marquess's interests, and the wagonways from his coal pits at Bassingthorpe were diverted to the canal head. Two years later, the Marquess died, and the estate passed to his nephew, Earl Fitzwilliam.
Marquess of Rockingham, in the County of Northampton, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1746 for Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Earl of Malton. The Watson family descended from Lewis Watson, Member of Parliament for Lincoln. He was created a Baronet, of Rockingham Castle in the County of Northampton, in the Baronetage of England in 1621. In 1645 he was further honoured when he was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Rockingham. The third Baron served as Lord-Lieutenant of Kent. In 1714 he was created Baron Throwley, Viscount Sondes and Earl of Rockingham in the Peerage of Great Britain. His eldest son Edward Watson, Viscount Sondes, predeceased him and he was succeeded by his grandson, the second Earl. The second Earl was Lord-Lieutenant of Kent before his early death in 1745. He was childless and was succeeded by his younger brother, Thomas. He had previously represented Canterbury in Parliament. He died in 1746, whereupon the barony of Throwley, viscountcy and earldom became extinct.
The Earl owned coal pits at High Stubbin and Swallow Wood, and these pits were, from the early 19th century, joined by a wagonway to the Greasbrough Canal. In 1839, the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway opened a branch from its main line at Holmes, which had been opened the previous year, to join with the Earl's railway at Parkgate. This line ran alongside the construction works of the North Midland Railway before joining the canal bank. This connection broke the near monopoly of the Duke of Norfolk's estate in supplying coal to the developing industries of the city and gave the Earl's coal a competitive edge in the marketplace.
The Greasbrough Canal was a private canal built by the Marquess of Rockingham to serve his coal mining interests in and around the village of Greasbrough, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1780, and the Newbiggin branch was built some time later. The main line to Greasbrough closed in 1840 with the coming of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, and the canal ceased to carry commercial traffic during the First World War. Most of it has been filled in, but a small section near the River Don Navigation remains in water.
The Sheffield and Rotherham Railway was a short railway in England, between Sheffield and Rotherham and the first in the two towns.
The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masbrough) and Leeds in 1840.
In 1840, the estate bought a six-coupled steam locomotive for use on the line, and to accommodate this, the wagonway was rebuilt.
A connection was made from the North Midland Railway to the Earl's line, which rendered the branch from Holmes redundant. This connection was closed in 1977, a year before New Stubbin Colliery itself. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway constructed a line from Rotherham Road alongside the canal and below the North Midland line to reach the canal head. The line opened in 1873, and the agreement between the Earl's Colliery Company and the M.S.& L. terminated on 31 December 1978 when the line closed.
New Stubbin Colliery was a coal mine situated in the township of Rawmarsh near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The colliery was situated in a deep valley. Along one side at the top of the valley runs Haugh Road, Rawmarsh and on the other a lane known locally as “Greasbrough Tops”.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed by amalgamation in 1847. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension.
Rotherham Road railway station, named Park Gate until 1 November 1895, was a railway station situated in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was built close to the Rotherham borough boundary with access from Rawmarsh Road, Rotherham and served two rows of stone build terraced houses, "Parkgate Row", closest to the station and "Stone Row", actually on Rotherham Road, Parkgate.
In 1915 Viscount Halifax invested heavily into improvement of the rail line.
The line can be divided into two sections, both originally rope-worked. The lower section serving New Stubbin Colliery, sunk between 1913 and 1915, changed to locomotive working.
Its last steam locomotives were two examples built by Hudswell Clarke & Co. of Leeds: No. 34, an outside cylinder, six-coupled side tank locomotive, works No.1523, built in 1925 and delivered new to the Appleby-Frodingham Steel Company in Scunthorpe, which came to the line in the 1950s; and No. 37, an outside cylinder, six-coupled saddle tank. They worked until the mid-1960s, when the line became fully dieselised, Hudswell Clarke again supplying the power.
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
