COAL
Coal has been worked in the Swinton area certainly since 1600. Early mining was by the use of bell pits, opencast and drift methods. The deep mined Manvers Colliery opened in 1870 and Wath Main in 1875 heralded the era of the super pits and population growth in the area necessitated corresponding urban expansion. The Swinton Common Colliery operated into the 1920,s and was then demolished.It was situated near the Woodman roundabout. A shaft marker is all that can be seen today.
Inside the Churchyard at Swinton can be found many graves of former colliers killed at work in the mines.
OTHER INDUSTRIES AND TRANSPORT
Waterways have played an important part in Swintons past as the town was an important junction of the Dearne and Dove Canal and the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation. Boat building in the town started in 1770 and the tradition was carried on later by Thomas Scholey and the Waddington family.
Railways first came with the North Midland line and the first station opened in 1840 at the site of our present interchange. A new station was built by the Midland Railway slightly to the north of this, openeding in 1899 and closing in 1968. The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway came through Swinton around 1870 and Swinton Central station opened. The present Swinton interchange opened in 1990, restoring rail services to the town after a gap of 22 years. In 2002, the facility was presented with a National Award for the best Small Interchange in the UK. Today buses and trains provide regular services to a good range of destinations.
Here can be seen the first Railway station the town had.
On the production side, Burnetts Wagon Works produced rail vehicles and wheels from their premises on Whitelea Road.
The Iron and Steel industry was well represented by Baker and Bessemer at Kilnhurst. These works turned out a whole range of products, including railway and tram wheels and munitions. Brothers Thomas and Charles Hattersley moved to Swinton from Sheffield in 1864. They went on to establish a large and prosperous industrial enterprise on Whitelea Road called Queens Foundry. A wide range of manufactured goods were made, including many types of domestic and industrial heating equipment and home appliances. The works had an impressive record of entering their products in national trade and industrial fairs. The heating industry is still manufacturing in Swinton at the Stelrad Plant.
Swinton was home to the glass industry from the 1850s until 1988 trading under a number of names e.g. South Yorkshire Glassworks, Dale & Browns, Canning Town Glass and United Glass Containers.
As the end of the World War II, the General Electric Company took over a former munitions factory at the side of the River Don. Cookers were produced in prodigious numbers as the factory grew into one of the largest cooker plants in the empire. Morphy Richards Limited now manages the plant which continues to employ significant numbers of local people.
Swintons many other industries, both past and present, have included chemicals, mineral water, plastic products, foodstuffs, vehicles and much more!
