Brancepeth Colliery, that was really in Willington, opened in 1840 and operated until 1967. It was a large colliery having 3 pits and a drift mine. It had its own coke works, brick works, gas works and tar plant. The gas that was manufactured at the colliery supplied Willington and Oakenshaw. It employed 2300 people in 1921.

Its massive spoil heap, 58 metres high, dominated Willington and was identified as a High risk after the Aberfan Disaster in 1966. Shortly after that it was’ flattened’ by bulldozers and large scraping machines that pushed the top of the spoil heap on to land that had previously been occupied by terraced, pit houses and allotment gardens. The works were completed in July 1969.