Tankersley deer park was enclosed in 1303-4 after Hugh de Elland was granted free warren (Hey 1986, 81-2). Prior to the enclosure of the park this area of land was probably unenclosed as the settlement as Tankersley was very small (indicated in the Domesday Book). The origin of the former moorland landscape is uncertain though this area is likely to be moorland by the Roman period (see Bevan 2003 for discussion of environmental evidence in region). Ironstone mining began within the park boundary from at least the early 18th century (old ironstone pits marked on a estate map of 1749) (Jones 1995, 84). Mining within this polygon dates to around 1850. It was a mixture of shallow bell pits and deeper 'gin pits' as the seam deepened. These were connected to the Elsecar Thorncliffe railway by several tramways and the Tankersley Park mineral railway (ibid, 97-8). The spoil heaps dominate the area and survive reused as part of a golf course. There is fragmentary legibility of the former parkland as the golf course sits within the old park walls.