Historic maps show an area of fairly regular enclosures probably enclosed from open moorland. Part of the area is named as Whincover Hill which suggests it was covered in gorse (Field 1972, 253). By Jefferys 1775 map the moorland had been enclosed. This may have been around the same time as the enclosure of the adjacent Low Common in 1773 (date from English 1985). Monckton Colliery developed on the site in 1875. The colliery was linked to the Barnsley Canal, Midland Railway and MS & L railway and had associated brickworks, gas works and coke ovens. The colliery became New Monckton Colliery in 1901 and continued to work until 1966. (Hill 2006, 169-173). In 1975 Royston Drift mine was opened on the site and continued to work until 1989 (ibid, 241-3). The spoil heaps were still being exploited for coal in 2003. There is partial legibility of the former enclosed landscape in the shape of the surviving roads around the mine.