Station Row

A terrace of ten cottages built in the late 18th century, originally for the Fitzwilliam estate in Elsecar. The terrace, initially known as Colliery Row, was constructed to house workers for the Elsecar New Colliery, which opened in 1795, and possibly also workers at Elsecar Ironworks. The design is thought to be based on plans produced in 1796 for the Earl Fitzwilliam by the architect John Carr of York.

The terrace is built of rubble sandstone with a Welsh slate roof, originally at least partially stone slated, and brick stacks. The ten cottages are arranged symmetrically, with the central pair and the two end cottages forming three-storey blocks that project slightly forward of the two-storey linking ranges. The three-storey blocks have hipped roofs; the central pair has a central stack, and the east cottage retains an end-stack. The linking ranges each have two ridge-stacks. The cottages have replacement front doors with rendered lintels, except for number 60, which retains a tooled-stone lintel. Windows have concrete lintels and sills and are divided with glazing bars. The rear elevation has been significantly altered.

Originally, workers' housing on the Fitzwilliam Estate was of a superior quality, including walled yards to both front and rear, and a separate allotment garden assigned to each cottage. The survival of buildings like Station Row at Elsecar is significant, illustrating three centuries of coal mining, Christian paternalism, and industrial boom and decline within what was formerly an agricultural landscape.