In 1866 the Sheffield Coal Company, which had been founded in 1805, signed an agreement with the Earl Manvers to work below his lands in the Frecheville, Woodhouse and Hackenthorpe area, just outside the then Sheffield boundary.
and continued this until 1866 when they leased a large tract in the area of Woodhouse, Hackenthorpe and Beighton, at that time outside the Sheffield boundary, from the Earl Manvers.