Thurgoland is mentioned in the Domesday Book but is likely to be a very small settlement at the time. The name means Thurgar's expanse of land (Wheeler 1994) and probably started life as a isolated farmstead. The string of settlement along Cote Lane is a possible area of medieval expansion to the village but there is little physical remains to indicate burgage plots. The buildings are largely 19th century and may have been built to house workers in the nearby coal pits and iron working sites. There is also a wire mill in the south of the village, first marked on 1892 maps. This building survives well. There has been some modern infilling and some of the 19th century structures have been rebuilt. There is fragmentary legibility of a possible medieval town plan as the housing follows the line of an earlier road.