Mexborough and Swinton Times, July 23, 1937

Industrial Versatility.

In its industrial history, Swinton has been on the whole more fortunate than Mexborough. Though the far-reaching fame of the Rockingham Pottery has not endured in practical form, the town has not seen the bulk of its major industries dwindle and disappear, as has been the case at Mexborough.

It still retains a flourishing glass bottle works (Dale, Brown, and Co.), there is a colliery which continues to progress at Kilnhurst, with the steelworks of Messrs. John Baker and Bessemer, Ltd., and the works of the Yorkshire Tar Distillers, Ltd., also providing an outlet for local labour. A new pit, the Warren Vale (High Hazel) Pit, has recently been opened not far from the head gear of the old Swinton Common Pit, and the foundry of Messrs. Hattersley Bros. continues to provide work for many Swinton as well as Mexborough men. Of course, a large proportion of Swinton labour is absorbed by the Manvers Main Collieries, as has been the case for many years.

Mexborough also provides a fair number of workers for the Manvers Main Collieries, but it also acts as a dormitory town for Barnburgh Main, Denaby Main, and to some extent Cadeby Main workers.

Both the Manvers and Denaby companies have shown foresight in anticipating the present satisfactory state of affairs in the coal trade. Both have made extensions above and below ground with the result that they are now able to take full advantage of the improved conditions in the industry, with consequent advantage to the towns which cluster round them.

One industry which has been lost to the Swinton Urban District during the last decade is the pottery industry which hung on at Kilnhurst, long after it had disappeared in the rest of the district. But if Swinton’s wider variety of industries has enabled it to stand the effects of a slump, which started in 1927, and which is only now being left behind, better than Mexborough, in trading services it has made by no means the same progress as its neighbour. Mexborough still remains the better shopping centre.