Doncaster at Work

Explore a pictorial history of the working life of Doncaster and its people over the last century and more.

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Doncaster has always benefited from its location. It stands on the Great North Road, superseded by the A1, the primary route for all traffic from London to Edinburgh, and due to its strategic geographical importance it emerged as an industrial centre in the mid-nineteenth century. Beneath the town lies a huge coal seam and it was this that prompted Doncaster’s exponential population growth. In the early part of the twentieth century Doncaster became one of the largest coal mining areas in the country, with the industry becoming one of the most significant local employers.

Doncaster at Work explores the life of the town and its people, from pre-industrial beginnings through to the present day. In a fascinating series of photographs and illustrations it takes us through the rise of the coal industry and the town’s role as a major railway engineering centre, the closure of several collieries in the mid-1980s and subsequent loss of many other tertiary industries, and into the twenty-first century as the town’s fortunes have changed with the redevelopment and rejuvenation of its centre.