Mexborough, United Kingdom

Throughout the 18th, 19th and much of the 20th century the town's economy was based around coal mining, quarrying, brickworks and the production of ceramics, and it soon became a busy railway junction. These industries led to an increase in industrial illness and an increase in the mortality rate. Although the town boasted a cottage hospital, the lack of suitable facilities led to Lord Montagu donating land for a new hospital to be built. Lord Montagu laid the first stone at the site in 1904. The site is still a working hospital, which now forms part of the Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS trust.

The industries that led to the creation of Montagu Hospital not only brought problems to the town but also led to an increase in population and, for some, an increase in wealth and opportunity. Many more public houses and other businesses were created, many of which are still trading today. It was in one of these public houses, the Montagu Arms, that Stan Laurel stayed overnight after performing at the town's Prince of Wales Theatre on 9 December 1907.

During the second half of the 19th century, as in many other industrial towns, a Cooperative Society was formed in Mexborough. It was modelled on the consumer cooperative set up by the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844. In 1861, nine working men met at the home of James Simpson in Mexborough and decided to form the Mexborough Working Men's Industrial Society (later renamed the Mexborough Cooperative Society). The aim of the Society was to supply (at first to the nine men themselves) the necessary things of life. Membership quickly grew and by the 1890s it stood at 1,200. At one time, there were ten shops across the built-up area of Mexborough. By 1903, land had been purchased in the middle of Mexborough on which to build a large and grand new central store, but then suddenly in 1904 the Mexborough Cooperative Society went into liquidation. Soon afterwards it was taken over by the Barnsley British Co-operative Society. One of Mexborough's landmarks is closely associated with the Cooperative Society. This is the former Barnsley British Cooperative Society flour mill, which stands on the north side of the River Don Navigation, close to the Church of St John the Baptist. It started off as the "Don Roller Mills". It was owned by James White, who sold it to the Barnsley British Cooperative Society in 1912.

The Old Market Hall opened in 1880, and was replaced by the current indoor market in 1974, with the old building later becoming a pub.

For more than a hundred years the railway locomotive maintenance and stabling depot (colloquially known as "Mexborough Loco") was a major employer. The South Yorkshire, Doncaster and Goole Railway arrived in Mexborough in 1850. The extensive coal traffic generated by the local collieries required railway locomotives to haul it and these locomotives required driving, firing, refuelling, maintenance and stabling. Mexborough was chosen as the site for a large 15-road depot. In its heyday it had an allocation of about 150 locomotives. In the 1920s it was the stabling point for the LNER Garratt, then the most powerful locomotive in the UK. The depot closed in 1964. Following the demise of coal-mining in the 1980s, Mexborough, like many ex-mining towns and villages, is still in the process of economic and social recovery.

The Rock Pottery originally operated as Beevers & Ford. In 1839 it was bought by James Reed, whose son John renamed the business the "Mexborough Pottery", and expanded the works. On the bankruptcy of the Rockingham Pottery in 1842, John Reed bought many of its moulds and continued their production, though with different transfer prints and also in a plain green with a leaf design impressed "Reed".