Before the 1830s Crook was an agricultural community of around 200 residents. Towards the end of the nineteenth century it
became a town of more than 12,000 due to coal mining and the coming of the railways. Coal mining was a main industry
in the town for more than 120 years. Running alongside the coal mining was a thriving industry in the production of coke
and other coal by-products.
The pits were closed and the railway service was withdrawn by the 1960s.
