A major industry in Brackenhill was quarrying, and at the end of the 19th century the majority of the male inhabitants of the village were occupied in the quarries. The stone is counted among the Pennine Upper Coal Measures which originated in the Carboniferous age. Quarried materials include magnesian limestone and sandstone. The quarries were served from 1914 to 1962 by the Brackenhill Light Railway, a subsidiary of the London and North Eastern Railway. It branched off the line between Sheffield and York east of Ackworth and joined the line between Wakefield and Doncaster at Hemsworth Colliery near Fitzwilliam. Brackenhill inhabitants also worked in Hemsworth Colliery.
^Cameron, D. G.; Bide, T.; Parry, S. F.; Parker, A. S.; Mankelow, J. M., eds. (2014). Directory of Mines and Quarries. Keyworth, Nottingham: British Geological Survey. pp. 1–107.
