{{Short description|Former coal mine in South Yorkshire, England}} {{Use British English|date=July 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} '''Rotherham Main Colliery''' was situated in [[Canklow]], about 0.5 miles south of Rotherham town centre in the [[River Rother, South Yorkshire|Rother Valley]]. The area was the site of an ancient crossing of the river set below the [[cliff|crag]] on which were Canklow Woods, an ancient woodland area.
== History == The first shaft was commenced in 1890 with the pit going into production in 1894. The owners of the [[colliery]] and later the [[Coke (fuel)|coke]] ovens and by-products plant were Sheffield-based steel makers [[John Brown and Company]] who also built houses for their workers and a school for the children of the colliers.<ref>[http://www.rotherhamweb.co.uk/h/mining.htm Mining Heritage, Rotherham<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
An accident occurred in 1891 when 8 miners fell {{convert|60|ft|m}} from their wooden platform.<ref>[http://www.rotherhamweb.co.uk/district/canklow.htm About Canklow, Rotherham, South Yorkshire<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
The colliery had problems, the area was prone to flooding but prior to the [[First World War]] it employed around 2,000 miners. Following the [[1926 United Kingdom general strike|General Strike]] in 1926 the colliery was virtually closed and needed just 300 employees to maintain it.
The colliery closed in 1954 and nowadays there are no signs of its existence, the last of what did remain being swept away under a road scheme which followed the Rother Valley linking the town's relief road to the M1 via Rother Way to Junction 33.
== The Railway Connection == The colliery was linked to the main [[railway]] network by a branch line from the [[Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway]] at a junction known as "Rotherham Main", situated about {{convert|0.75|mi|km|1}} on the Sheffield side of [[Rotherham Central railway station|Rotherham Central]].
This branch line was also the subject of an agreement between the [[Great Central Railway| Great Central Railway Company]] and steel makers [[Steel, Peech and Tozer]] giving access to the steel company's locomotives and wagons across the main line tracks and to tip furnace waste (slag etc.) on land adjacent to the line.
==References== * Original agreement between the G.C.R. and Steel, Peech and Tozer, 1912. {{reflist}}
==External links== [http://www.rotherhamweb.co.uk/h/extracts/canklow1891.htm Rotherham Main Colliery Disaster, Canklow, 1891]
{{Coal mining in Yorkshire}}
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[[Category:Coal mines in Rotherham]] [[Category:Coal mines in South Yorkshire]] [[Category:1954 disestablishments in England]] [[Category:1890 establishments in England]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Rotherham]]