Waleswood Colliery was a coal mine situated between Swallownest and Wales Bar, near Rotherham

Rotherham

Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...

, South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire

South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The colliery was adjacent to the Rotherham to Clowne road and the main line of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway 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.-Origin:...

 about 2 miles east of Woodhouse

Woodhouse railway station

This station is in Woodhouse, Sheffield. It should not be confused with a station of similar name at Mansfield Woodhouse.Woodhouse railway station, formerly Woodhouse Junction, is a railway station serving the Woodhouse and Woodhouse Mill in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The station is ...

.

The first shaft was sunk in the 1880s when the colliery was owned by Skinner and Holford Limited. In 1947 the colliery and its associated by-product plant passed to the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

, the colliery being closed the following year. As the collieries in the area became inter-connected it was retained as a pumping station. The coke ovens and by-products plant closed in 1962.

Many of the colliery buildings have been retained and now form the basis of an industrial estate.

Read more about Waleswood Colliery and its neighbours Kiveton Park and West Kiveton at http://www.kivetonwaleshistory.co.uk

Locomotives

During its lifetime the colliery had four steam locomotives, never more than two at any one time.

• The first locomotive, a Yorkshire Engine Company
  Yorkshire Engine Company
  The Yorkshire Engine Company was a small independent locomotive manufacturer in Sheffield, England. The Company was formed in 1865 and continued to produce locomotives and carry out general engineering work until 1965...
  
   0-4-0 Saddle Tank built in 1878, Works No. 323, carried the name "Waleswood" and was sold to Thomas W. Ward in 1902.
• There is no record of any further locomotives being bought until 1906 when the company bought another 0-4-0ST from Hudswell Clarke & Company (Works No.750). The "Waleswood" name plates were removed from the original locomotive when it was sold and these were attached to the saddle tanks of this locomotive. The locomotive was rebuilt by the original builders in the early 1930s. It was moved to Kiveton Park Colliery
  Kiveton Park Colliery
  Kiveton Park Colliery was a coal mine in the village of Kiveton Park, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. Until 1845 Kiveton was a rural village, the main work being in agriculture. In that year a railway was built through the district which connected Sheffield with Worksop, Retford and...
  
   in 1962, preserved in 1972 and moved to Staveley
  Staveley, Derbyshire
  Staveley is a town within the borough of Chesterfield, in Derbyshire, England. The town is situated alongside the River Rother, adjacent to Eckington to the north, Barlborough to the east, Sutton-cum-Duckmanton civil parish to the south and Brimington to the west.-History:It has traditionally been...
  
  , Derbyshire
  Derbyshire
  Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
  
  . It was later moved to the, now closed, Steamport Railway Museum at Southport. Since 1990 it has been at the Battlefield Line Railway
  Battlefield Line Railway
  The Battlefield Line Railway is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, England. It runs from Shackerstone to Shenton , via Market Bosworth, a total of...
  
  , Shackerstone
  Shackerstone
  Shackerstone is a village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district of Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal and the River Sence. According to the 2001 census the parish, which also includes the village of Barton in the Beans, had a population of...
  
  , Leicestershire
  Leicestershire
  Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
  
   where it is being restored to working order.
• The third locomotive arrived just two years afterwards, again from Hudswell Clarke
  Hudswell Clarke
  Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
  
  & Company, Works No.829
• The fourth, and last, locomotive came from Sir Linsay Parkinson & Company. Again it was a product of Hudswell Clarke, Works No. 1636, Built in 1929 and which carried the name "Jennie".

Download Alan Rowles' 'Railways of Kiveton and Wales' at http://www.kivetonwaleshistory.co.uk/#sections/publications/ and see photos of the Waleswood locomotives in the site's photo archive.