Introduction Crofton in 1775 Crofton in 1838 Crofton in 1849 Crofton in 1907 Pits and Land Use Crofton in 1949 Crofton in 1965 Crofton in 1971 Crofton Today

Pits and Land Use - (6 of 10)

Pit Map (1921)

The 1921 map of pits and railways illustrates the scale of mining activity and the spread of railways in the Crofton area. Each pit and railway line is marked with its respective owner, as there were no unified railway or mining organisations in the UK until nationalisation in the late 1940s.

Sharlston West is the Walton Nature Reserve site which puts Crofton in the middle of the pink part of the map.

Note: Haw Park Pit was located just south of Haw Park Wood and can be seen on the 1907 map.

Land Use Map (1937)

The 1937 land-use map provides a detailed view of how land was being utilised in the Crofton area between 1932 and 1937. The map uses the following key:

• Purple: Housing with gardens large enough for productive growing.
• Red: Pits, quarries, and industry.
• Red over Housing: Housing density too high for agriculture.
• Green horizontal lines: Meadowland and permanent grass.
• Brown: Arable land.

Much of the area around Crofton remained grassland or meadowland (green horizontal lines) or arable land (brown), similar to today. Industrial areas, such as the brickworks and collieries at Nostell and Walton, are highlighted in red.

Most housing is marked in purple, indicating gardens of a reasonable size. In contrast, the new estate on “The Lump” is shown in red, suggesting gardens too small to be productive.

A new stretch of the main road to Pontefract, called Weeland Road, had been constructed, bypassing the older Cock and Crown–Spring Green section of Pontefract Road.