Thurnscoe was a very small rural village until the early 20th century. Hickleton Main Colliery was first sunk in 1892 and became one of the largest collieries in the country (Hill 2001, 164-5). This lead to rapid expansion of the population. These large geometric semi detached housing estates in the north of the current town were built by the 1930s. Little of the pattern of former strip fields survives except in the edge of the estate, giving fragmentary legibility of the past landscape.