Waggonway Trail Sign

Coal from the famous ‘Silkstone seam’ - named after this village where deposits were found near to the surface - was valued for its quality to give off considerable heat while leaving little ash. Wealthy landowners started a ‘black gold’ rush and poor workers migrated from across the country to work in the mines. This walk follows the Silkstone Waggonway, which was constructed to take horse drawn wagon loads of coal from small-scale mining operations scattered across the nearby countryside, mainly from Nabs Wood, to the nearest canal basin, The Barnsley Canal, for transportation to towns and cities of the North of England during The Great Industrial Revolution.