Land of Oak and Iron Coal Mapv 4.3
Allerdeans
c1610
Ashtree
Colliery 1798
Axwell 1320
Barlow Fell
1700
Beamish Coll.
1763
Davison’s Beckley
1726
Benfieldside
c1440
Bensham
Colliery
1636
Billingside Pits
c 1755
Clavering’s
Beckley (9 pits) 1726
Bird Hill
1622
Blackburn
Fell Colliery 1559
Axwell Morrisfield
1580s
Bradley West
c1755
Brockwell
Colliery c 1670
Birtley Northside Colliery
1724
Shibdon Colliery c1570
Bradley Moor
Colliery
1736
Breckenbeds
Colliery 1700s
Broomfield
Colliery
c1700
Bucksmoor Colliery 1719
Bucksnook Colliery
c1700
Burdon Moor
Colliery 1723
Burnopfield
Colliery 1702
Bushblades
Colliery 1702
Byermoor Colliery c1700
Carr Hill Colliery
c1676
Causey Colliery
c1723
Chopwell
Colliery
1520s
Vane Colliery
c1690s
Claxton
Colliery
1750s
Clockburn Coll
1636
Collierley Col
1722
Crawcrook
(Ryton Moor)
Colliery 1603
Crookbank Coll.
c1727
Deanery Moor Coll.
1779
Deckham Hall Coll.
1652
Derwent Crook
Coll.
1670
Dipton Coll.
1731
Dummy’s Pit
before 1790
Dunston (Redheugh) Coll.
(c 8 pits)
1652
East Shieldrow
Coll. 1737
Ewehurst Coll.
1724
Farnacres Coll.
1617
Fawdon Field
Coll. late 1500s
Felling Coll pre 1550
Tyne Main
(Old Fold)
Flatts Colliery
(Pelton Fell)
Fieldhouse
(Wilson’s Field)
1636
Friar’s
Goose
1744
Fugarfield Coll
1269
2 Bell pits
Oakwellgate
1200s
Gateshead Fell Coll.
(Parkmoor)
c1690s
Gateshead Head
Coll. 1636
Low Fell
Coll.
Gateshead Park Coll.
1500s
Gibside Coll.
1500s
Glebe Pit
1787
Greencroft Coll
1739
Greenside Coll.
1766
Blaydon Burn
Coll.
Groves
Pit
before 1790
Harraton Outside
Coll. 1727
Hedley Fell Colliery
c 1700
Bucks Hill
Coll. 1647
Heworth (High) Coll
1701
Upper Heworth Coll.
1750
Hollinside Colliery
1587
Winlaton Coll.
1360s
Iveston pits
1611
Jacks Leazes
Coll.
1597
Kibblesworth Coll.
1717
Kiphill
Coll.
1727
Stella Grand Lease
Colliery c1600
Kyo Wood
Pit before 1790
Lands Coll.
pre 1700
Leefield Coll.
1700s
Lingy Fine
Coll.
1625
Lintz
Coll.
1710
Marley Hill
1620
Medomsley
Coll. pre 1550
Mill Moss
c1742
Mount Moor
Coll. c1730
Northbanks Colliery
58 pits 1699
North Birtley
Colliery
1754
Norwood Coll.
before 1650
Ouston Colliery
c1740
Picktree Colliery
1737
Parkhead Coll.
1724
Peal Flats
Pits c1580
Pelton Coll.
c1700
Pelton Common
Coll. 1755
Pelton Fell (Flatts)
Coll. 1768
Pont Head Coll.
c1754
Silvertop’s
Pontop Coll.
1765
Middle pit
1765
Engine Pit
1765
Windsor & Simpson’s
Pontop Coll.
1738
Pontop Pike
(Lanchester Common)
Coll. 1737 – 19 pits
Stobb
Harelaw
Delight
Ive Pit
High Park
Colliery c1700
Horsemouth
Wood pits
1620
Ravensworth Park
Coll. c1717
Ravensworth Betty
1796
Ravensworth Ann
(Eighton Moor)
1726
Ravensworth
Shop (Allerdene)
Col. 1726
Rickleton Coll.
1761
Riding Field Coll
1606
Salt Meadows Coll.
1620s
Saltwell
Side Coll.
1636
Sheriff Hill Coll.
1793
Shield Row Coll.
1700
South Birtley
1754
South Derwent
Coll. 1794
South Moor Coll.
1738
East Stanley
Coll.
1760
(17 pits)
Stella Colliery
1520s
Davison’s Tanfield
Colliery 1725
Tanfield Easter
Leigh Coll.
1725
Pitt’sTanfield Moor
Coll.
1647
(Many pits)
Earl of Kerry’s
Tanfield Moor
Coll. 1768
Tanfield Moor
Edge Coll.
1729
Dawson’s
Tanfield
1723
Andrews House
1725
Thornley Coll.
1717
Townley Main
(Stargate) Coll.
1789
Twizell Coll.
1736
Tyne
Main
1798
Urpeth Coll.
1510
Weed Park 1717
Silvertop’s Whitefield
Colliery 1759
Topp Moor
Coll. 1767
West Shieldrow 1725
West Stanley
Coll.1775
Whaggs
1692
WGL
WGL
Whickham Grand
Lease Colliery(WGL)
1600 (c 80 pits)
WGL
WGL
WGL
Garesfield Coll
1800
Cornmoor
Bog Hall Coll.
1772
Dukeshagg
1737
Edgewell Coll.
1750
Eltringham
Coll. c1700
Greymare Hill Coll. 1609
Hedley Fell Colliery 1685
Kiln Pit Hill
Coll. 1787
Mickley Moor
1743
Mickley Coll.
1774
Mickleybank
Coll.c1700
Risemoor pits
1740
Whittonstall
1292
Windmill Hills
Coll. 1647
Lands Coll.
post 1728
Pape Hills
Waggonways
1621-1659
1660-1698
1699-1723
1724-1800
Collieries
OS 6″ 1862-4
OS 6″ 1882-1913
OS 25″ 1898
OS 6″ 1950s revision
Other
Unnamed shafts/collieries on OS maps
Mineral Railways
Bowes Railway
Chopwell & Garesfield Railway
Derwent Valley Railway
Crawcrook Greenside Stargate Railway
Blaydon Burn Railway
Stanhope South Shields and links
Tanfield Railway
Carlisle Newcastle
Redheugh Branch
East Coast Line
Derwenthaugh Branch
Pelaw Main
Scotswood Newburn Wylam Branch
Border Counties Railway
Durham Lanchester Consett
l
Friar’s Goose c1746
Stella Grand
Lease Way
Built around 1635
Winlaton Way
Built around 1633
Bensham Windmills
Hills Way
Built no later than 1647
Whickham Grand Lease
1621 – c1710
Crawcrook Way
1663?
Chopwell Way
1661 -<1728
Hollinside Way
1692-1710
Riding Field Way
1684?-c1745
Team Way
1670
Bensham Way
1670- 1800
Felling Way
c1676
Gateshead Head Way
>1659
East Winlaton
East Winlaton Way
c1703
Northbanks
Northbanks
1699-1723
Western Way I
1712-1732
Western Way II
Western Way II
1721-1726
Northbanks Burdon Moor
Northbanks Burdon Moor
1717
Tanfield 1724
Blaydon Shibdon
1749
Garesfield 1801
Lands 1728
Risemoor 1737
Western Way III
1728- c 1800
Birtley Fell 1725
Heworth c1759
Blackburn Fell Drift
Windmill Hills
© Land of Oak & Iron Trust 2024
19th & 20th Centuries
Before 1800
The Coal Industry
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About the Coal Industry before 1800
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waggonway. The green circles are disused mines shown on
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Waggonways built 1724-1801
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Settlements and Industry 1860/2020
About this map
The orange dots show the approximate position of
collieries. Before 1800 a colliery referred to a collection of
pits which were usually spread over the area of a coal
owner’s estate or over land covered by a mining lease. We
have not attempted to plot individual pits, because they
were so numerous and the location of many is unknown.
On hovering over a colliery the cursor will change to an
arrow and a question mark. A left click of the mouse will
reveal a pop up box giving some information about the
colliery.
The routes of the wooden waggonways built to transport
coal to the Rivers Tyne and Wear can be turned on
sequentially (Purple 1621-1659, Blue 1660-1698, Brown
1699-1723, Red 1724-1801). There are also menu options
to turn them all on/off at once.
Sources
Waggonways to the Tyne: Bennet,Clavering & Rounding,
‘A Fighting Trade’
Waggonways to the Wear: Turnbull, ‘Railways Before
George Stephenson’
Collieries: Research by Dr M Eyre
Roads: Greenwood’s map surveyed 1818-1819
Settlements: OS maps c1860
Whickham Grand Lease Colliery
There are records of early mineral leases at Whickham
granted by Bishops of Durham in 1346, 1356, 1367.
Following an outbreak of the Black Death in 1373-4,
workers were conscripted to work in the mines.
In 1582 Queen Elizabeth I forced the Bishop of Durham to
grant a 99 year lease of his manorial lands in Gateshead
and Whickham (the Grand Lease). This was eventually
vested in Newcastle Corporation which controlled all trade
on the Tyne.
A waggonway was built to take coal down to staithes at
Dunston c 1621. This was probably the world’s first
commercially successful railway. It operated until around
1703. In addition, coal continued to be taken to the Tyne
in wains (carts hauled by 4 animals).
A survey for Parliament in 1652, revealed coal had been
worked in twenty-one different locations and that there
were about 100 pits in the Whickham Grand Lease
Colliery. About 90% of the men in Whickham were
working in the coal industry.
When the Grand Lease expired in 1681, Bishop Crewe
granted a new lease which in 1712 came into the control
of William Coatsworth and the Grand Allies. By this time
the main areas of production had moved to the south.
Northbanks Colliery
In 1690, Charles Montague, the youngest son of the Earl
of Sandwich, with the help of his relation, Lord Crewe,
Bishop of Durham, obtained a mining lease of land owned
by the Blakiston-Bowes family of Gibside. Montague lived
mainly in London. His local agent and partner was Charles
Baker.
There were around 58 pits in the colliery which was the
largest concern in the world at the start of the 18th
century.
A waggonway was constructed to take the coal down to
Dunston. The way operated between 1699 and 1723. It is
known from the accounts that 781,675 waggonloads of
coal were carried down to Dunston (estimated at 1.75
million tons) between 1704 and 1723, and it is likely that
over its lifetime over 2 million tons were transported.
Hollinside Colliery
William Jennison’s will dated 28 June 1587 referred to his
share of a lease of the coal mines at Hollinside.
Robert Harding, of Hollinside Hall owned the land in the
17th century and worked some of the pits himself. He
granted a lease of a quarter of the colliery to John
Clavering and in 1692 another quarter was leased to
Matthew White, William Johnson, Robert Fenwick, Peter
Bernardeau, Daniel Poyen and John Richardon. They also
acquired Clavering’s quarter interest in the colliery.
Between 1692 and 1710, the colliery was served by a
waggonway built by Alderman White taking the coal to
staithes in Swalwell. A branch line served White’s colliery
at Whaggs. Western Way I later adopted the route of the
Hollinside way between Swalwell and Clockburn Lonnen.
Clockburn colliery is probably the part of the Hollinside
colliery worked by John Clavering.
X
Whaggs Colliery
Part of the Whickham Grand Lease Colliery.
In 1692 Alderman Matthew White secured a lease of the
Hollinside and Whaggs Collieries. A branch of the
Hollinside Waggonway from the Morrisfield (adjacent to
the lower slope of Swalwell Bank) to the Whaggs colliery
enabled coal to be taken by waggons down to staithes in
Swalwell.
Bucks Hill Colliery
Part of the Whickham Grand Lease Colliery.
The pits at Bucks Hill were served by the extension of the
Whickham Grand Lease waggonway from around 1652.
There is evidence of a waggonway embankment over a
dene, leading to the colliery west of Washingwell Farm.
The embankment has been somewhat eroded and the
dene to the north of the embankment has been filled in.
The Northbanks waggonway, built in 1699 skirted the
Bucks Hill plantation, but it is thought that the pits there
were probably exhausted by this time.
Axwell Morrisfield Colliery
Part of the Whickham Grand Lease Colliery.
There were pits in production from the 1580s through to
around 1712.
Jack Leazes Colliery
In January 1597 William Greenwell inherited his father’s
shares in Whickham Grand Lease pits, including pits at
Jacks Leazes Colliery, which in those days was situated in
unenclosed common land near what is now Wellington
Road, Dunston.
There are records of fatalities in 1632 and 1636 in pits
owned by Henry Liddell.
The Whickham Grand Lease Way passed through the
colliery to staithes at Dunston.
Allerdeans Colliery
Allerdeans belonged to the Rector of Whickham and in
1610, pits were sunk in this area by Grand Lease tenants,
working alongside Thomas Liddell and partners. The
colliery was situated in the vicinity of what is now the A1
Gateshead Western By-pass near Dunston.
Part of the evidence for the existence of the Whickham
Grand Lease waggonway, which passed nearby, comes
from records of a court case brought by John Hedley in
1621 who complained that he had been evicted by Henry
Liddell from stables used to house wagon horses.
In the 1620s Henry Liddell and William Jennison created a
sump in an old pit near the river Team to drain the lower
seams at Allerdeans and the nearby Farnacres colliery.
Peal Flat Colliery
There are records of Grand Lease tenants having pits on
land owned by Sir George Selby known as Peal Flat, near
Swalwell in the 1580s and 1590s.
There are no records of pits in this vicinity after 1610.
Farnacres Colliery
This colliery was thought to have been first owned and
developed by Alderman Sir Thomas Liddell in 1617 and
was inherited in 1619 by his second son, Henry Liddell
who worked it in partnership with his father in law,
William Jennison. It has been estimated that the annual
output from the colliery in 1636 was around 30,000 tons
(800T).
There are records of the colliery being in operation in
1717. The coal was by then regarded as inferior and was
not being exported by sea. There is a record that a pit was
sunk in 1800 but by 1813 it was not considered worth
working.
The colliery was reopened later in the 19th century.
Norwood Colliery
It was probably at this pit that in 1620 Henry Liddell and
his father in law, William Jennison sunk an underground
shaft to serve as a sump in order to drain this and
neighbouring collieries. Before 1650 coal was taken by
wains to the nearby staithes on the River Team.
The colliery was in operation in the 18th century. There is
a record that in 1766:
‘a boy, while driving the gin at a pit at Norwood, in the
parish of Whickham, receiving a blow from one of the
horses, staggered over the edge of a shaft and fell to the
bottom, nearly seventy yards without receiving any
further injury than breaking his thigh.’
The colliery was reopened in the 19th century.
Dunston (Redheugh) Colliery
A map derived from the Parliamentary Survey of 1652
shows c 8 pits. in this vicinity.
It is believed that these produced landsale coal i.e. coal
which was sold for local use.
X
Riding Field Colliery
The freehold of this colliery belonged to the Hardings of
Hollinside Manor, who granted mining leases to several
different lessees.
It is estimated from Ship Tax Assessments that the colliery
was producing 300 ten of coal in 1636 (probably about
12,000 tons). There are records of fatalities in 1647 and
1651.
A waggonway was built in about 1684 to take the coal
from this colliery and possibly from Fawdon Field to
staithes in Dunston and operated until 1744. The precise
route is unknown.
In 1716, shares in the colliery were acquired by Montague
(who mined at Northbanks). These were transferred to
the Grand Allies in 1726 and it was they who closed the
waggonway in or around 1744.
Bird Hill Colliery
Henry Chapman held a quota of 700 ten for this colliery in
1622, but it it was probably in production in the late
1500s.
Fawdonfield (Fawdon Field) Colliery
Fawdonfield was the name formerly given to land which
extends from the south side of Bird Hill near Fellside, to
Burnopfield. The first record of mining here was in the late
1500s. Output estimated from Ship Tax assessments is 300
tens in 1636. The colliery continued to produce coal into
the 1700s. In the 1720s it was worked by a partnership of
seven.
Fawdonfield was the scene of conflict in the first decade
of the 18th century when Coatsworth sought to disrupt
the Bucksnook Waggonway (otherwise known as Western
Way I).
Byermoor Colliery
Byermoor was a colliery owned by Sir James Clavering in
the 1680s. Lady Jane Clavering was running it by 1714. It
was served by the Bucksnook (Western Ways I & II)
Waggonway which took the coals down to Swalwell, until
this was closed by Sir Francis Clavering in 1736. The Grand
Allies had paid off the debts of the young Sir Francis in
exchange for a bond that he would close the waggonway
on his succession to the estate.
In the 1790s Byermoor coal was used at Crowley’s iron
works at Winlaton Mill. It was taken there by cart.
Gibside Hall Colliery
Coal was mined at Gibside West Wood in the late 1500s in
shallow workings. It continued throughout the 17th and
18th centuries at various locations on the Gibside Hall
estate owned by the Blakiston- Bowes family. Bennet,
Clavering and Rounding (A Fighting Trade) found evidence
of a branch line from Western Way II leading to the West
Wood, which suggests that by 1721 it may have become a
sea coal colliery. Western way II closed in 1726. In later
years coal was mined for use at Gibside Hall.
Coal mining around the hall ceased in 1884 with the
closure of the Snipes Dene drift.
This colliery has to be distinguished from that on land
owned by the Bowes family in the vicinity of Marley Hill,
which was also part of the Gibside Estate. In 1699, the
Bowes family granted a mining lease of it to Montague
and Baker, who developed there the hugely successful
Northbanks Colliery. George Bowes refused to renew the
lease in 1723 and from then was able to take control of
Northbanks.
Blaydon (Shibdon) Colliery
Exploited from around 1570 onwards, Blaydon (Shibdon)
Colliery was amongst the greatest of the Tyneside
Collieries, producing 20-30,000 tons of coal p.a. by 1700.
Mining continued throughout the 18th century. A short
waggonway was constructed to the Tyne in 1749.
By 1787 the colliery was 144 ft deep. It closed on 18
October 1798.
The colliery was reopened in the nineteenth century.
Winlaton Colliery
The manor of Winlaton had been owned by the Neville
family (later the Earls of Westmorland) since the 13th
century. In 1362 coal was sold and shipped to Windsor
where it was used to burn lime for mortar for repairs at
Windsor Castle. When Ralph Neville, the first Earl of
Westmorland died in 1425, he owned two mines in the
manor of Winlaton called the Fulley and Morley Pits.
In 1569 the Earl of Westmorland granted mineral leases to
Hodgson, Scrivener, Blunt, Selby and Anderson, all
Newcastle merchants. It has been suggested that his
motive for doing so was to finance the Northern
Rebellion, an unsuccessful attempt to depose Queen
Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots. The
Earl fled into exile where he died penniless in 1601. His co-
conspirator, the Earl of Northumberland was executed.
Between 1570 and 1700 production increased fourfold. A
waggonway was constructed around 1632.
Winlaton was one of the great early Tyneside collieries.
However, the geology made it difficult to extract the coal
which was not of the highest quality. There is evidence
that by 1653 some of the mines were becoming
uneconomical.
Axwell Colliery
In 1758, the Claverings built a new Axwell Hall (still
standing) in the Derwent Valley south of Blaydon, the
grounds of which were known as Axwell Park. Pits in this
area were mined as early as 1320.
Some care has to be taken when referring to Axwell.
The first Axwell Hall, the home of the Claverings was
originally situated on the eastern slopes of the Derwent
Valley near the junction of Clockburn Lonnen and
Woodhouses Lane, Whickham. Early maps refer to the
surrounding land as Axwell, which may explain why the
19th century Bagnall colliery situated adjacent to
Woodhouses Lane was sometimes referred to as Axwell
colliery.
To add to the confusion, the 19th century colliery situated
near the north end of Swalwell Bank in close proximity to
the Newcastle & Consett railway, was known as Axwell
Park Colliery.
Lands Colliery
Coal had been mined at Lands Wood before 1700.
In 1728 the colliery was being worked by Albert Silvertop.
In 1728 he built a waggonway to take the coal to staithes
at Derwenthaugh.
In the 1750s the coal at Lands Colliery was being worked
by Matthew Ridley and John Simpson at the Pyanett or
Magpie pit. Ridley appears to have extended the
waggonway to an area around the former Norman’s
Riding sanatorium around 1769.
In 1782 the colliery was run by Anthony Hood. The price
of coal fell and Hood became insolvent. The colliery
appears to have failed by 1787.
Thornley Colliery
Thornley was worked by Richard Ridley between 1717 and
1748.
Widdrington and Blackett proposed to reopen the colliery
in 1766, but this did not happen.
There was a further abortive attempt to market the sale of
the colliery in 1801 to exploit coal in the lower seams.
Blaydon Burn Pit
Fire clay was mined in Blaydon Burn from around 1660
and was made into bricks at Paradise on the north side of
the town.
Brickworks were established in the Blaydon Burn around
1730.
Joseph Cowen took over the Blaydon Burn Pit and Works
in 1819.
Stella Colliery
Mines in the vicinity of Stella were worked in the 1520s
and 1530s by James Lawson who had five pits there.
In 1566 they were leased to Thomas Swinburn.
There are records of Stella coal being sent to London in
1590.
By about 1700 Lord Widdrington had four pits at Stella
and there are records of coal mining throughout the 18th
century.
Lands Colliery
Bennett, Clavering and Rounding (A Fighting Trade) found
traces of an extension of the Lands Way leading to pits to
the west of the former Normans Riding Sanatorium and
surmised that Ridley in partnership with William Wright
and Peregrine Tyzack had extended the Lands Colliery to
this area in in 1768.
Brockwell Colliery
The Winlaton Waggonway (sometimes known as the
Brockwell Way) was already in existence in 1633. There
are records in c1670 of shafts at Brockwell to the west of
Winlaton.
By 1713 the waggonway had been reorganised to serve a
colliery owned by Matthew Bell and there are records that
he was still mining there in 1753.
Barlow Fell Colliery
There were pits worked by Sir William Blackett at Barlow
Fell in about 1700.
There is a record in the Churchwardens’ Books that Ben
Nicholson drowned in a pit at Barlow Fell on 29 December
1722.
It is believed that between 1750 and 1755 an extension of
the Brockwell Waggonway was constructed to serve a
number of pits in the area.
A plan of 1766 shows the route of the waggonway
between the Bloom pit on Barlow Fell and staithes at
Stella.
By 1778 the Barlow fell Colliery was almost worked out.
Ashtree Colliery
This colliery opened in 1798. It is not known for how long
it was worked or by whom.
Garesfield Colliery
There had been pits at Garesfield associated with the
Barlow Fell colliery in the mid seventeenth century.
The Earl of Bute opened 4 pits in the vicinity of Thornely/
Garesfield c1800. A waggonway was built to the colliery
terminating at the 4th pit.
The colliery operated until 1837.
Broomfield Colliery
There was a branch of the Chopwell waggonway to a pit at
Broomfield (near Chopwell) in 1696.
There is a record of an auction sale of a three eighth share
of Broomfield Colliery in October 1801. The sale
particulars describe the colliery as under an extent of 273
acres adjoining the well-known collieries of Mr Silvertop.
Chopwell Colliery
There are records of bell pits in the Chopwell area in the
1520s.
Upon the dissolution of the monastries in 1536, the
Manor of Chopwell was transferred from the monks of
Newminster Abbey to the Crown. The land was acquired
in 1608 by Ambrose Dudley. The coal, however, was
worthless because it was too far from the River Tyne.
Dudley’s daughter married Robert Clavering who built the
first Chopwell waggonway in 1661. Thereafter Chopwell
became one of the great collieries of the Tyne.
The beginning of the 18th century saw a rapid decline in
the colliery. By 1710 the principal workings were at
Coalburns near Greenside. The coal was of poor quality
and had to be mixed with coal from other collieries.
There was a revival in 1745 when leases were acquired by
George Silvertop. He reorganised the waggonways, the
centre of production moving to the south at Whitefield
Colliery.
Stella Grand Lease Colliery
An early colliery operating at the beginning of the 17th
century, the mining rights were owned by the Bishop of
Durham. The land was not part of the Gateshead and
Whickham Grand Lease, but the Bishop’s Ryton royalty
was nevertheless known as ‘Grand Lease Stella,’ possibly
because the original lessees, Henry Maddison, Sir Thomas
Tempest and William Hall were Newcastle merchants
working pits in the Whickham Grand Lease colliery.
The Maddison share passed to Sir Henry Vane in 1646.
This transferred to Montague and Baker in the 1690s.
In 1660 Tempest sold a quarter interest to William Carr
and William Blackett.
It is thought that by 1700 the colliery was producing over
50,000 tons of coal p.a. The colliery was served by an early
Waggonway thought to have been built by Robert
Sanderson in 1634, probably to a pit near Kyo.
George Silvertop bought interests in pits near Greenside in
the 1750s. The higher seams were virtually exhausted by
the end of the 18th century. In 1772, Silvertop sunk a
mine at Whitefield to exploit the deeper seams and
transferred Stella traffic to the Chopwell way.
Vane (a.k.a. Chopwell Wood) Colliery
This is a late 17th century colliery.
In c 1730 the colliery was leased to Richard Ridley who
extended the Cowclose waggonway to it at a place in the
vicinity of the present day golf course.
In the early 1800s the colliery was leased to Sir Henry
Vane Tempest who worked drifts within Chopwell Woods
near the River Derwent. It was soon worked out.
Silvertop’s Whitefield Colliery
Towards the end of the 18th century, the Stella Grand
Lease, Greenside and Chopwell Collieries were operated
by John Silvertop of Minsteracres.
He sunk a deep mine to the north of what would become
the settlement of Chopwell and marketed the coal from
this and his other pits in the vicinity as Whitefield coals.
They were for the most part sold abroad where they were
much in demand. Production continued until the mid
nineteenth century.
Greenside Colliery
This colliery was owned by John Silvertop in 1766. He
mined the colliery together with pits in the Stella Grand
Lease and Chopwell Collieries. He also opened a new mine
at Whitefield, near Chopwell.
John Buddle Senior ( father of the famous viewer and
mining engineer of the same name) was the manager of
the Greenside pit before moving to Wallsend Colliery in
1792.
Crawcrook (Ryton Moor) Colliery
There was an early 17th century colliery at Crawcrook
leased to Robert Anderson in 1633. Anderson died in 1640
with debts. The colliery, along with the debts, transferred
to Sir Francis Anderson.
A waggonway to the Tyne was constructed in 1663. It is
thought that the colliery was producing between 10 and
20 thousand tons of coal per annum. By 1720 it was nearly
exhausted.
In 1786 David Crawford began to work coal at Crawcrook,
naming it Ryton Moor. In the 1790s he sunk a series of pits
(Hopewell, Glebe, Good Intent, Catherine & Elizabeth).
The colliery continued to be worked in the 19th century.
Risemoor Colliery
The first recorded workings were in c1685. They had
ceased production by 1710.
In 1736 the price of coal had risen and idle pits were re-
opened by John Humble who worked in partnership with
Hodgson. In 1737/8 the Crawcrook way was extended to
serve around 20 Risemoor pits.
In 1742 Humble and Hodgson obtained a lease of Hedley
Fell Colliery previously worked by Ridley.
Humble & Hodgson did not renew their lease in 1763. A
new partnership led by a Yorkshire coal owner, John
Wrightson undertook a redevelopment of Risemoor,
Mickley Moor and Hedley Fell and extended the
waggonway through Dukeshagg Wood to Leadgate and
Airey Hill.
By 1764 mining had reached Hedley village. Mining at
Risemoor had finished by 1782.
Hedley Fell (Risemoor) Colliery
Owned by the Duke of Northumberland and leased to T.
More for 26 years, the first pit at Hedley Fell was opened
in 1685.
An extension of the Crawcrook waggonway was built
between 1698 and 1700 by Hudson and Weatherby to
Leadgate, near Chopwell with a branch to the Duke of
Northumberland’s pits at Hedley Fell, which by this time
were being mined by John Rogers.
In addition to coal, this waggonway carried lead which
was brought by pack horses from Blackett’s mines in
Allendale to Leadgate.
Rogers died in 1719 and a lease was granted to Richard
Ridley, who mined at Hedley Fell until 1740, after which it
was taken over by John Humble. In 1763 a new
partnership led by a Yorkshire coal owner, John Wrightson
mined the pits on Hedley Fell.
Large scale mining ended by the end of the 18th century,
but various landsale pits were worked until 1938.
Bradley Moor Colliery
John Humble had a colliery at Bradley Moor in the 1740s.
It was part of the Stella Grand Lease royalty.
The colliery closed in 1767.
Bradley West Colliery
It is believed that this pit was working in c1755.
Mill Moss Colliery
There were workings at Mill Moss towards the end of the
17th century, served by a branch of the Crawcrook
waggonway built around 1700. Pits at Mill Moss were
sunk in 1742 and 1753. The colliery flooded in 1754. It
recovered in c1761 but it seems to have been abandoned
shortly afterwards.
Dukeshagg Colliery
There is a record of mining at Dukeshagg in 1590.
Pits at the colliery and those at Hedley Fell were served by
a waggonway built in the early 18th century.
Mickley Moor Colliery
Pits at Mickley Moor were opened in 1763 and were
worked by the John Wrightson, George Cooke and
Matthew Waters partnership. They also worked the
Risemoor Colliery.
An extension of the Crawcrook Way to pits on Mickley
Moor was built in 1766.
There is no evidence of the waggonway on Gibson’s map
of 1787 and it is possible that any pits that then remained
were producing landsale coal.
Eltringham Colliery
Eltringham colliery featured in a watercolour by John
Bewick painted c1700.
Eltringham Common was owned by William Fenwick and
had been leased in the early 1700s to Ralph Bewick who
worked landsale collieries there.
In the 1750s and 1760s the colliery was worked by John
Bewick.
Mines, producing land sale coal for local use, operated
until the mid 20th century.
Edgewell Colliery
Edgewell colliery opened in 1750.
It operated through the 19th century and the coal was
exhausted by 1904.
There was a nineteenth century brick and tile works at the
colliery.
Mickley Colliery
The Isabella and Matthew pits were sunk in 1765 and
c1770. The colliery was opened in 1774.
Mining continued until the 1960s.
Mickleybank Colliery
Mickleybank was a drift mine which had been leased by
the Bewick family of Cherryburn House since the late
1690s.
In the early 18th century, John Bewick a farmer and father
of the famous engraver, Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), was
the lessee.
The colliery was worked until 1928.
Whittonstall Colliery
In 1292 Grey Darraynes transferred his lands and coal
mines to John de Vallibus.
In 1642 there was an agreement for Edward Radcliffe to
buy Whittonstall coal.
A Militia list of 1762 includes three Whittonstall colliers.
The manorial rights (including the right to mine coal) were
given Greenwich Hospital in 1735. Shotley mine at
Whittonstall is mentioned in Greenwich Hospital reports
of 1774.
Greymare Hill Colliery
Francis Radcliffe granted mining leases to Jeffrey Fairbrick
on 28 June 1609, to John Cowper on 14 November 1610
and to Ralph Green on 28 March 1612.
In the early 18th century coal from Greymare was used at
Allenheads Lead Mill.
There are records of mining throughout the 18th century.
The manorial rights (including the mineral rights) were
transferred to the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich
in the eighteenth century. Mining took place throughout
the nineteenth century and the colliery was finally
abandoned in the mid twentieth century.
Kiln Pit Colliery
This pit operated between 1787 and 1944.
Bucksnook Colliery
In 1708 the Mallabar/Clavering family in association with
Thomas Brummell developed a colliery near Burnopfield
and by 1710 had built the Western Way to take coal down
to Swalwell. The colliery was opened at a time when a
cartel of coal owners (the Coal Office) led by the Liddells
of Ravensworth were determined to stop production.
After years of attempting to close the waggonway and the
colliery, the dispute was settled in compromise.
Coatsworth, the Secretary of the Coal Office acquired a
share in the colliery and the litigation over the waggonway
ended. In 1726 Brummell sold his three-eighths share in
the colliery to the Grand Allies ( a new cartel which
superseded the Coal Office) and by 1732 the colliery was
closed.
John Buddle (snr) reported in 1790 that the disputes and
changes of ownership had resulted in the mines being
worked in an irregular manner and with little expense
being applied to them. Coal had been obtained by stealth
from collieries on Tanfield Moor. Some repairs had been
attempted in c1774 and a small amount of coal had been
taken to Derwenthaugh. He concluded that the colliery
was not worth working.
X
Bucksmoor Colliery
In 1719 Jane Clavering opened the first colliery of her own
near Burnopfield and called it Bucksmoor.
The colliery was served by the first Western Way (or
Bucksnook) Waggonway which led to staithes at Swalwell.
During the life of this colliery William Coatsworth who had
control of land over which the Waggonway passed
attempted to take a share of the Bucksmoor coal in
exchange for a wayleave. Lady Clavering rather than
giving in to his demands reverted to transporting the coal
by wain.
The colliery was short lived and closed around 1722.
Burnopfield Colliery
There is a reference to a colliery at Burnopfield in a Will
dated 26 March 1687.
In 1722 Mr Robinson leased the colliery to Richard Ridley
and Mr Francis Simpson but the profits were relatively
disappointing.
The colliery was served by Western Way II which operated
between 1721 and 1726 and by Western Way III which
was built in 1728.
The Hobson pit was sunk c 1780 and closed on 9 August
1968.
Lintz Colliery
This colliery was working from around 1710. It was served
by western Way I.
The colliery was owned by Lady Windsor and John
Simpson between 1757 and 1772.
It ceased production towards the end of the 18th century.
The coal was worked again in the early 19th century from
mines on Tanfield Moor.
Weed Park, Collierley and Ewehurst Collieries
In 1724/1725 Lady Jane Clavering and George Bowes in partnership entered into 18
year leases of land at Ewehurst and Collierley, extended Western Way II and took control
of pits at Weed Park which had been mined by George Mallabar since 1717
The opening of the Tanfield Waggonway in 1723 and the closure of the Western Way in
1726 drove George Bowes to join Liddell, Montague and Coatsworth in a new
arrangement which they dubbed ‘The Grand Alliance.’ The Grand Allies entered into
negotiations with Lady Jane seeking to take a share of her interests and limiting
production. The negotiations failed and Lady Jane in 1728 constructed a new
waggonway from Burnopfield down Busty Bank to the Derwent into which the southern
stretch of the Western Way could connect.
Lady Jane died in 1735, leaving her wealth to her daughter. There is no evidence that
Lady Jane was able to exploit Ewehurst and Collierley before her death.
Benfieldside Colliery
There are records of mining activity at Benfieldside c 1440.
The colliery was never served by a waggonway. There was
drift mining in the vicinity until the 20th century.
Medomsley Colliery
There are records of pre 1550 mining activity in the
Medomsley area.
There were numerous bell pits in the eighteenth century.
In 1739 Robert Hunter gave evidence to a Government
Inquiry that he let a colliery at Medomsley to Colonel
Liddell, Mr Bowes and Mr Wortley (the Grand Allies).
In the nineteenth century prior to 1834, mining was
carried out on a small scale at Medomsley. This was to
change with the coming of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway
in that year and the development of the new Medomsley
and Derwent Collieries.
Dipton Colliery
Land sale mining appears to have taken place since the
fourteenth century in the vicinity of Dipton.
Ridley had a colliery at Dipton and by 1731 the Western
Way had been extended to serve it.
Pont Head and Billingside Collieries
The Western Way was extended to Billingside and Pont
Head by 1754/5. The colliery was 10 miles from the Tyne
and this was as far as any wooden waggonway ever
reached.
Mining seems to have ceased by c 1800.
Windsor & Simpsons’ Pontop Colliery
Following Lady Jane Clavering’s death in 1735, her
considerable personal wealth passed to her daughter
Alice, the wife of Viscount Windsor. In 1738 Windsor,
together with John and Francis Simpson, developed the
Pontop Colliery where thick seams of quality coal lay 60
feet beneath the surface.
The Western Way was extended to the colliery in 1739. It
was originally a single track way, but the track was
doubled in 1750 to accommodate the output from the pits
of this colliery (Virgin, Oak, Hall, Ash, Wood, Stubble,
Spring, Stapple and Day).
In the 1770s this was the largest colliery on Tyneside.
Marley Hill Colliery
A court case in 1402 makes reference to coal mined at
Marley Hill. It is known that coal was mined here
throughout the 1500s.
There are references to a derelict Marley Hill Colliery in
1665.
Marley Hill was the eastern most part of the Northbanks
colliery leased by Montagu and Baker from the Blakiston
Bowes of Gibside in 1699.
By 1775 a colliery at Marley Hill owned by Bowes and
served by the Tanfield Waggonway was working at a depth
of 36 fathoms (66 metres). It was abandoned by the
Grand Allies in 1815 as uneconomical. A new colliery was
sunk in 1839.
Andrews House Colliery
In 1725 the infant Sir James Clavering, 4th Baronet owned
a colliery at Andrew’s House served by the Western Way.
SIr James died in 1726 aged 18 and his estate passed to
his uncle Sir Francis Clavering. Sir Francis, who was
indebted to William Coatsworth, had given a bond that he
would close the Western Way if ever he succeeded to the
Baronetcy and this was enforced in 1726. Without a
waggonway to serve his collieries, Sir Francis had little
option but to grant the Grand Allies a lease so that they
could work the colliery which would be served by their
newly constructed Tanfield Waggonway.
Sir Francis Clavering died in 1738 and the Baronetcy
passed to the 6th Baronet Sir James, of the Greencroft
branch of the family. He let Andrew’s House to Henry
Liddell and partners who sank a new pit in 1739. In 1748
on the death of the Sir James, the 7th Baronet, Sir Thomas
leased Beckley and Andrews House to the Grand Allies for
14 years. By 1765, Sir Thomas was mining at Andrews
House, himself.
Clavering’s Beckley Colliery
In 1725 the infant Sir James Clavering, 4th Baronet owned
a colliery at Beckley served by the Western Way. Sir James
died in 1726 aged 18 and his estate passed to his uncle Sir
Francis Clavering. Sir Francis, who was indebted to
William Coatsworth, had given a bond that he would close
the Western Way if ever he succeeded to the Baronetcy
and this was enforced in 1726. Without a waggonway to
serve his collieries, Sir Francis had little option but to grant
the Grand Allies a lease so that they could work the
colliery which would be served by their newly constructed
Tanfield Waggonway, access being gained over the Causey
Arch bridge.
Clavering’s Beckley in 1726 consisted of Dyke, Prosperous,
George, Plain, Delight, Venture, Thistle, North and
Hopewell Pits.
By the time the Grand Allies’ lease expired in 1738 and
control of the colliery reverted to the Claverings, the
colliery was said to be nearly worked out. In 1748 the 7th
Baronet, Sir Thomas Clavering leased the colliery once
more to the Grand Allies, this time for 14 years. A map of
1776 showed 6 pits working at the colliery. By 1780 new
branch lines of the Tanfield were built and access was no
longer gained over Causey Arch.
Davison’s Beckley Colliery
Montagu, who had worked the Northbanks colliery
became ill and his business interests were taken over by
his elder brother, who had married a wealthy heiress and
whose surname he adopted. He was known variously as
Edward Wortley and Edward Wortley Montagu.
Wortley had formed a partnership with Liddle that was to
become the Grand Alliance when they were joined by
others, notably George Bowes.
In 1722 Wortley secured leases of collieries at Beckley
owned by Thomas Davison with power to construct a
waggonway branch which was to connect into the Grand
Allies’ newly planned Tanfield Waggonway.
A plan of 1726 shows Boundary Pit, East Pit, Flower Pit
and Intake Pit leased to the Grand Allies. A map of 1766
shows Boundary, Stapple, East and Intent Pits.
Dawson’s Tanfield Colliery
Montagu, who had worked the Northbanks colliery
became ill and his business interests were taken over by
his elder brother who had married a wealthy heiress
whose surname he adopted. He was known variously as
Edward Wortley and Edward Wortley Montagu.
Wortley had formed a partnership with Liddle that was to
become the Grand Alliance when they were joined by
others, notably George Bowes.
In 1723, coinciding with the end of Montagu’s lease of the
Northbanks colliery, Edward Wortley Montague secured
two Tanfield leases one from Davison and the other from
Dawson.
There was an explosion in one of the pits in 1738 which
was out of action until 1740. There was a fire in another.
Davison’s Tanfield Colliery
Montagu, who had worked the Northbanks colliery
became ill and his business interests were taken over by
his elder brother who had married a wealthy heiress
whose surname he adopted. He was known variously as
Edward Wortley and Edward Wortley Montagu.
Wortley had formed a partnership with Liddle that was to
become the Grand Alliance when they were joined by
others, notably George Bowes.
In 1722, Davison granted Wortley a mining lease at
Tanfield with power to build a waggonway to serve them.
By 1725 the Tanfield Way had opened to serve the pits
(Meadow, Spring, Hound, Far, Broom, Oak & Bog).
There was an increase in the price of coal in 1739 and the
response of the Grand Allies was to open a further pit at
Tanfield.
Pitt’s Tanfield Moor Colliery
In 1647 Thomas Wray sold the coal under Tanfield Moor
between Tanfield Village and Burnopfield to George Pitt, a
London based lawyer, who opened up a colliery in 1679,
at first transporting the coal to the Tyne by Wains (carts
pulled by horses and oxen). The colliery became extremely
profitable. Western Way I opened in 1712 and Pitt secured
the right to transport coal to Swalwell on it.
In 1727 following the closure of the Western Way, Pitt
came to an arrangement with the Grand Allies to build a
waggonway from his colliery connecting in to the Tanfield
Way at Bowes Bridge. A sketch of 1729 shows 9 pits in the
colliery and a map of 1742 records 19 pits. By 1761 there
were 40 pits in the colliery. The output of the colliery in
1767 was 17,000 chaldrons.
Tanfield Easter Leigh Colliery
Mining in the Easter Leigh (Lea) area near Tanfield took
place before the construction of the Tanfield Waggonway
branch line in 1733. It is said that the first Newcommen
Steam Engine in the North East was located at a pit here in
1715, but that may have been a misreading of a document
referring to an engine operating at Tanfield Moor Edge in
1755.
Land in this vicinity was owned by Davison and Spearman.
A plan of 1725 shows the Corner Pit, Rose Pit and Hill Pit
belonging to Davison. Davison appears to have worked
some of the coal himself, but the majority was leased to
the Grand Allies by 1729. In c 1727 the Grand Allies had
also taken a 44 year lease to work pits on land owned by
Spearman.
In 1745 George Spearman sold land and coal mines to
Matthew Ridley. He was in financial difficulty and
transferred them to John Simpson who later worked the
coal as part of his Tanfield Moor Edge Colliery.
Tanfield Moor Edge Colliery
A branch of the Western Way III opened in 1731 to serve
John Simpson’s Pits at Tanfield Moor Edge. Matthew
Ridley acquired the pits in 1739 and sold them back to
Simpson in 1748 together with other land and pits which
he had acquired from George Spearman.
A record of March 1766 shows that the colliery was
owned by Dr Sayer & Co and leased to Mr Ridley. A map of
1770 shows the Engine, Success, Wood and Fortune pits.
Earl of Kerry’s Tanfield Moor Colliery
The colliery was sunk and opened in 1768 by the Earl of
Kerry who owned the land. Coal was transported to
Derwenthaugh via the Western Way III Waggonway.
Pontop Pike (Lanchester Common) Colliery
Pontop Pike was originally part of the Lanchester
Common, which before 1781 was open waste land upon
which neighbouring tenants grazed cattle. The mineral
rights were owned by the Bishop of Durham as Lord of the
Manor. The Bishop granted a Head Lease to William
Fenwick and he granted mining leases to Lady Windsor
and John Simpson, who sank the Stob pit and five others
in 1754.
Two branches of the Western Way III waggonway were
constructed around the elevated Pontop Pike to serve pits
on both sides of it.
Fenwick’s head lease ended in 1778 and was taken over
by the Earl of Sefton in trust for the Smythe family. The
Marquesses of Bute and Sefton had acquired Lady
Windsor’s share of the mining lease by marriage
A 1781 sketch plan showed the following pits: Hive (or
Ive), West, Pike, Intake, Well, Browns, Road, Delight,
Catch, Vale, King, Boom, Oval, Waterlevel, Stob, Harelaw,
Bog, Pit, Light.
Mining in parts of the colliery continued into the 20th
century.
Silvertop’s Pontop Colliery
George Silvertop opened a large colliery in 1765 served by
the Western Way III waggonway.
Silvertop had built an engine and by 1767 this was the
fourth largest colliery exporting via the Tyne.
There is a record in 1792 that Silvertop’s lease had 8 or 9
years to run and was unlikely to be renewed, implying that
most of the coal had been worked.
The colliery was shown on a map of 1812, but references
to it had disappeared by 1830.
Bushblades Colliery
Richard Ridley bought part of the colliery in 1729. A steam
engine was erected in 1730 to drain pits at Bushblades
and Tanfield Moor Edge. It has been suggested that this
was a replacement for an even earlier steam engine.
Branches of Western Way III Waggonway were built in
1731 to serve the colliery.
George Silvertop took a lease of other land at the colliery
in c1750 from the Swinburne family. He worked seven pits
there (Broom, Middle, Stapple, Venture, Success,
Conclusion and Prosperous).
George and John Silvertop bought the pits worked by the
Ridley family in 1781.
The colliery was worked out by 1788. Some of the pillars
were taken out in the 1820s and 1830s.
South Moor Colliery
The colliery was originally one of the Lanchester Moor
(Pontop) collieries worked by George Silvertop, but
following the construction of the branch of the Tanfield
Waggonway to South Moor in 1738 the Grand Allies (Lord
Ravensworth) took over leases and sank new pits.
In 1787 the Colliery was 270ft deep (c90 metres). The
Grand Allies mined at the colliery until 1828 when it was
taken over by the partnership of William Bell, James
Morrison and William Hedley and a new colliery created.
West Shieldrow Colliery
In 1725 Robinson took a lease of the West Shield Row
Colliery. The pit was served by wains until a branch of the
Tanfield was constructed in 1739.
A plan of 1739 shows the following pits in the control of
the Grand Allies: Pea, Oxhill, Nab End, Broom, Hedge,
Adam, Benson, Machine, Fox, Lamb and Dyke.
In 1799 when the Beamish Waggonway extension became
operational, coal from the colliery was transported to the
Wear.
West Stanley Colliery
In 1775 the colliery owned by Thomas Eyre consisted of
the following pits: West, South, Nancy, Lamp, Mary, Knabb
and South. Eyre leased the pits to the Grand Allies.
On the closure of the Tanfield way, the coal was taken
along the Beamish way to the Wear.
East Shieldrow Colliery
A lease of East Shieldrow was acquired by George Bowes
in 1725 and was worked by wains until the opening of the
Tanfield waggonway extension in 1737.
A plan of 1739 shows the following pits: Oak, Burn, Level,
Whin, Moss Rose, Thorn and Rose.
In 1799 when the Beamish Waggonway extension became
operational, coal from the colliery was transported to the
Wear.
Shieldrow Colliery
George Bowes bought the colliery in c1725.
There are references to Gill Pit, Fifth Pit, Sinking Pit and
Burn Pit, Level Pit, Fox Pit and Hedge Pit
A fire engine was installed in 1796 by the Grand Allies to
raise water from the lower seams, but they were found to
be in an unworkable state and abandoned. A new seam,
however, was opened and was in work in 1802
In 1799 when the Beamish Waggonway extension became
operational, coal from the colliery was transported to the
Wear.
Kiphill Colliery
There were two 18th century collieries at Kip Hill, one
worked by Dawson and the other by Davison. In 1727, the
Grand Allies acquired Dawson’s colliery which was served
by an extension of the Causey Branch of the Tanfield
Waggonway. They entered into an agreement which
enabled Davison and the Grand Allies access over each
other’s land and waggonways.
Davison’s son later constructed a waggonway to lead his
coal via Beamish to the River Wear. There was a major
falling out between Davison and the Grand Allies when in
1759 the Grand Allies attempted to use the Beamish Way
to transport coal from their recently acquired Stanley
Colliery. Davison tried to prevent this. In 1764, the Grand
Allies took Davison to court, relying on the 1727
agreement and arguing that if he failed to allow them to
use his waggonway, they were entitled to refuse him
access over their Kip Hill colliery and the use of the
Tanfield Waggonway. Davison failed to achieve his
objective and the court imposed a compromise, allowing
the Grand Allies limited rights over the Beamish Way.
The Causey branch of the Tanfield closed in 1779 and the
Grand Allies abandoned their colliery at Kiphill. The
remaining pits at Kiphill were worked as part of the
Beamish Colliery.
Causey Colliery
In about 1724, Ralph Clavering leased his North and
Middle Causey Collieries to Edward Wortley Montagu (one
of the Grand Allies). To reach these collieries an extension
of the Tanfield Waggonway was built. This had to cross the
deep Causey Burn ravine. In 1725 the burn was culverted
and a huge embankment was created to carry the
waggonway. The culvert and embankment still remain.
There were still some pits operating at Causey in 1766.
Parkhead Colliery
In 1725, Ralph Clavering agreed to lease his Parkhead
Colliery to Edward Wortley Montagu and George Liddell
(Grand Allies).
The colliery was served by a branch of the Tanfield
Waggonway terminating at the Fox Pit.
A map of 1729 shows the following pits: Lane, Store, Pit,
Moon, Clay and Nettle.
A map of 1766 shows that the waggonway to the colliery
had been closed.
South Derwent Colliery
The Creswell or Bankfoot pit was sunk in the 1790s and
probably opened around the turn of the Century.
Coal was worked in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Horsemouth Wood Colliery
In 1620 Thomas Liddell worked pits at Horsemouth Woods
on the Ravensworth estate. He built a wain road from
these pits to staiths at Dunston. This way served pits at
Ravensworth for 50 years.
Derwent Crook Colliery
Alderman Liddell had purchased the Ravensworth estate
in 1607 and in 1619 part of the estate at Derwent Crook
went to his son Roger. By 1670 it was served by a branch
of the Team Waggonway. The colliery was owned by the
Ord family in 1719.
In 1740 the colliery was worked by an entrepreneur called
Claughton. In 1746 there were two new pits: George and
Thomas. Between 1756 and 1768 they were mined by
Joseph Liddell, who rebuilt the Team Way branch line to
the colliery. Mining continued until 1857.
Ravensworth Park Colliery
There are records of coal being worked at Ravensworth in
1356. The Ravensworth estate refers to land acquired by
Alderman Thomas Riddell in 1607 from a relative by
marriage, Sir William Gascoigne. The estate extended to
land on both the east and west banks of the River Team.
Ravensworth Park is on the west bank. In 1710 there were
new pits here and in 1717 the Team Waggonway was
extended to them.
Fugarfield Colliery
There are records of coal pits at Fugarfield in 1269, 1365
and 1377. By 1578 there were about 65 bell pits in the
area.
Many of these were on the Bishop of Durham’s manorial
(copyhold) land. They were part of the land which
Elizabeth I forced the Bishop to lease to her (the
Grand Lease) and which eventually became vested in
Newcastle Corporation.
The pits were exploited by Alderman Thomas Liddell who
in 1609 acquired the adjacent Ravensworth Estate.
High Park Colliery
There are records of Alderman White working pits in High
Park Wood in 1700. The coal was transported via the Team
Waggonway extension from 1717.
Lingy Fine Colliery
There are references to a colliery at Lingy Fine (Streetgate)
in the early 17th century. It is likely that Montagu’s
Burdon Moor extension of the Northbanks Way passed
the site of the colliery.
Blackburn Fell Colliery
There are records of mining leases granted by Bishops of
Durham in 1559, 1606 and 1693 at a rent of £20 per
working pit. The 1693 leaseholders were Sir James
Clavering and Thomas Liddell.
In 1717 Edward Wortley Montagu acquired Clavering’s
interest in the Blackburn Fell mines and constructed a
waggonway from them as a branch of his Northbanks
Waggonway. On the closure of the Northbanks Way in
1723/4, Liddell allowed Montagu to connect into the
newly constructed Tanfield Way.
In 1747 the Colliery was let to Sir Henry Liddell and
Nicholas Fenwick. At the end of the lease in 1789, Sir John
Eden was granted a lease on the same terms. Liddell,
however prohibited him from using the Tanfield
Waggonway and this rendered the colliery unworkable.
According to a report of 27 November 1764, a servant girl,
crossing the Fell at night, had the misfortune to fall into an
old coal pit, 60 metres deep, and was up to her armpits in
water. She remained there for two days and two nights
and was discovered alive thanks to a dog drawing
attention to her cries.
Hedley Fell Colliery
The land was owned by Davison. He agreed with Bowes
to grant him mining rights and wayleaves for 7 years in
1721. In 1722 Davison reneged on this agreement and
gave the rights to Edward Wortley Montagu, one of the
Grand Allies. By 1724 Bowes had also become a member
of the Grand Alliance and did not contest the arrangement
between Davison and Wortley Montagu. By 1725 the
Burdon Moor Branch of the Northgate Way, which was
now a branch of the Tanfield, reached HedleyFell.
Burdon Moor Colliery
Liddell had a colliery at Burdon Moor in 1723.
It was served by Montagu’s Burdon Moor branch of the
Northbanks Waggonway, later to become a branch of the
Tanfield.
Oakwellgate
In the 13th century 2 bell pits were sunk in Oakwellgate,
opposite the Church.
There was a later colliery at Oakwellgate opening in 1842
and closing in 1860
Pape Hills
Nicholas Fenwick, Henry Melbourne and John Emmerson
were granted liberty to work coal reserves at Pape Hills St
Willinors Close in 1695.
Windmill Hills
There was a colliery at Windmill Hills mined by William
Riddell the younger.
In c 1647 he built a waggonway to the Pot House Staith on
the Tyne, near the Redheugh bridge.
X
Bensham
There is no mention of the colliery in the vend of 1603
and it must date from after this. The colliery was probably
served by the Windmill Hill Way built in 1648 by William
Riddell who then worked the colliery. It seems that his
venture failed and by 1685 three quarters of the Bensham
Coal came to be owned by Riddell’s cousin, Ralph
Clavering of Callaly.
In 1685, Clavering granted a lease of Bensham Coal to a
partnership comprising Thomas Henry Liddell, John Rogers
and William Creagh. By 1700 there were 2 pits producing
around 30-50,000 tons p.a. In 1710 there was an
explosion killing 80 people. In 1717 William Coatsworth
acquired the Bensham lands of John Clavering. The Liddell
partnership had ceased mining in Bensham before 1736.
Field House (Wilsons Field) Colliery
Prior to the Civil War, the colliery was owned by Ralph
Wilson, related by marriage to the Riddell family who
owned a large area of Gateshead. The land had been
mortgaged before the Civil War and the mortgage was
foreclosed shortly after the War. The land was sold to
Ralph Clavering of Gateshead (later to live at Causey).
The colliery was probably idle in the early 1680s, until it
was leased to Ralph Carr when production resumed. Coal
was transported to the Tyne via the Windmill Hill
waggonway until it closed in 1728. Thereafter coal was
taken to the Tyne via the Bensham Way. It seems as
though mining had ceased by 1785.
Saltwellside Colliery
This large colliery was worked by George Vane in the
1660s and 1670s. By 1683 Henry Liddell, Lionel Vane,
John Blakiston, George Morton, Thomas Liddell, John
Rogers, Edward Carr and 7 others were working pits there.
Sir Ralph Carr took a lease of part of the colliery in 1697.
The colliery had probably closed by 1718.
New pits were sunk in the 1780s, but only operated for 6
years.
Gateshead Head Colliery
The colliery was in production in 1636. In 1652 Thomas
Nichol, Matthew Kirkley and James Liddell were in
partnership there. Liddell built a waggonway to the Tyne.
He sold his half share in the colliery to Kirkley in April
1660.
In 1707 John Wilkinson obtained a lease. The colliery
probably closed before 1735.
Gateshead Park Colliery
(Including Saltmeadows, Old Fold and Friar’s Goose)
The area comprised former parkland in the centre of
which was a fine mansion built in 1730 for Henry Ellison.
The house was absorbed into Clarke Chapman’s factory in
the nineteenth century.
A map in the late 1500s showed eight pits in the park
opposite the mouth of the Ouseburn. These were worked
by Newcastle merchants, following the transfer of the
Grand Lease to Newcastle Corporation. The accessible coal
in these pits was exhausted by c 1610.
Mining took place on a limited scale into the 17th century
and a short waggonway from a pit in the park to
Saltmeadows was constructed in 1660.
There was a pit known as Old Fold situated close to the
Mansion House. There was an explosion in this pit on 17
May 1782 killing four workers.
William Coatsworth and five partners took a lease of a
colliery in Gateshead Park in 1716. He tried to buy a
Newcomen engine to drain it, but failed. It is believed that
Ridley bribed the engineer not to install one.
The Grand Allies took a lease of a colliery at Friar’s Goose
in 1746 and three years later four engines engines were
installed to drain the seams, two being located at Friar’s
Goose and two elsewhere in the Park. The pumping
station worked until 1763 and was replaced with a more
efficient pumping house in 1823.
Felling Colliery
There had been mining at Felling before 1550. In 1568 Sir
Robert Brandling died, owning coal in Jesmond, Gosforth
and Felling.
Robert Brandling built a waggonway and staiths to serve
pits at Felling c 1676.
In c1680 Brandling leased the Felling colliery to Thomas
Owen until 1718.
In c 1690, Thomas Owen and his brother Stephen, in
partnership with George Harrison opened a colliery in
High Felling and constructed a second Felling waggonway
to the Tyne.
The partnership’s venture seems to have failed and the
colliery reverted to Brandling around 1705. Shortly after
he took over, the pit flooded and a very powerful steam
engine was installed.
A new Felling Colliery (Brandling Main) was sunk around
1779 for Charles Brandling and a steam engine installed.
There were three pits initially, John, Venture and William.
Mining continued until 1933. There were pit disasters at
the colliery in 1812, 1813, 1821 and 1847. The 1812
disaster claimed 92 lives and led to the development of
miners’ safety lamps.
Deckham Hall Colliery
A colliery at Deckham Hall was inherited by Roger Liddell
from his mother in 1652 and was mortgaged to Mark
Milbanke in 1659 by James Liddell for £672.
It was leased in 1707 to John Wilkinson until 1735.
A later colliery operated between 1875 and 1893.
Claxton’s Colliery
This colliery was working after 1750. In 1760s a
waggonway was constructed to serve the colliery then
being run by Labourne and Huntley in partnership. It
seems that the partnership was in arrears to the
Grand Allies in respect of wayleave payments and the
waggonway was pulled up in 1774.
By 1780 the colliery had closed.
Carr Hill Colliery
A waggonway to pits at Carr Hill was built in the late 17th
century and extended in in 1719. The way was still
working in 1737. The pits appear to have closed in the
early nineteenth century.
Heworth Low and High Collieries
There are records of coal mining at Heworth in the
fourteenth century. The colliery at Low Heworth was
being mined by Sir William Blackett and his viewer John
Wilkinson around 1700 and was worked out by 1708.
A waggonway serving Sir William Blackett’s new colliery in
High Heworth was built around 1700. In 1800 the colliery
was leased to Charles Brandling for a term of 21 years. The
colliery appears to have been worked out by 1810.
Upper Heworth Colliery
Blackett’s colliery was opened in 1750, operating with two
steam engines by 1770.
It was served by a waggonway to the Tyne.
A new colliery was sunk in 1820.
Topp Moor Colliery
This colliery on Gateshead Fell was worked between 1770
and 1777. After that date it became part of the Sheriff Hill
Colliery. It was served by a waggonway to the Tyne.
Sheriff Hill Colliery
Sheriff Hill was served by an extension of the Carr Hill Way
before 1760 and after this date by an extension of the
Bensham way.
In 1775 Ellison’s trustees were mining there under a lease
from the Bishop of Durham at the following pits: Isabella,
Fanny, Ann, Bess, Centre, Dolly, Edge, George, King,
Bradley, Doll, Kells, Stapple and Hope.
In December 1793 there was an explosion at the Hope pit
killing 14 people. Mining took place throughout the 19th
century. The colliery closed in 1897.
Crookbank Colliery
Crookbank was one of a string of proposed collieries
owned by Lady Jane Clavering which in 1727 had not been
won. The Grand Allies unsuccessfully tried to convince her
to join the cartel regulating the trade. The ensuing conflict
delayed the winning of the colliery.
There are records showing allocations for the colliery in
1753 and the colliery was working from 1797. Mining
continued until 1963.
Gateshead Fell (Parkmoor) Colliery
By 1694 a waggonway had been constructed to serve pits
on the western edge of High Fell and in Low Fell.
The Parkmoor colliery was opened in about 1768 by Carr-
Ellison to replace worked out pits in Gateshead Park.
The following pits on Gateshead Fell and Parkmoor were
operating between 1773 and 1786: Ann, Arkley, Bess,
Blueberry, Bounder, Centre, Clayhole, Crows, Doll, Durham
Roadside, Edge, Engine, Fanny, Fortune, George,
Goodluck, Grindstone, Hope, Hornsby, Isabella, King,
Knabland, Milking Hill, Milking Hill New, Pigg, Popplewell,
Rush, Spooners, Stoop and Swang.
Mining appears to have continued in some pits until the
mid nineteenth century.
Gateshead Low Fell Colliery
In 1773 Henry Ellison and Thomas Carr were mining at
Low Fell.
William Brown, who was the viewer at the colliery, had
built a steam engine in 1764. The main winding shaft was
at the Dolly Pit. At this time Bess Pit, Centre Pit and
Engine Pit were also open.
More pits were opened in the early nineteenth century.
X
Breckenbeds Colliery
In the 1740s coal at Derwent Crook and Brackenbeds was
worked by Claughton. Between 1756 and 1768 the
collieries were mined by Joseph Liddell.
Ralph Dodds, the Grand Allies’ principal viewer, acted as
superior at Breckenbeds, South Moor and Shield Row.
Ravensworth Shop (Allerdene) Colliery
The Grand Allies were mining at Allerdene by 1726. The
colliery was served by the Team Waggonway.
A double engine was built there in c 1750. The original
colliery comprised Engine Pit, Spring Pit and Moss Pit.
More pits were opened in the nineteenth century and
mining continued until 1962.
Ravensworth Betty (Team) Colliery
The Ravensworth Betty was opened by Lord Ravensworth
in 1796.
Mining continued here until 1956.
The Angel of the North stands close to the site of this
colliery.
Ravensworth Ann (Eighton Moor) Colliery
There are records of mining by Thomas Boynton at pits in
Eighton in 1550.
The Grand Allies (Liddell) opened a colliery in 1726,
served by an extension of the Team Waggonway.
The Stubble, Meadow,Hill, Corn, Centre and Quarry pits
were bored in the 1770s.
A map of 1785 shows the George Pit and the Emily Pit.
Sir Thomas Liddell let the colliery to George Burdon in
1797.
More pits were opened and worked in the 19th century.
Mining at the Colliery continued until its final closure in
1973.
Kibblesworth Colliery
A new colliery was opened at Kibblesworth in 1717 by
James Clavering, William Coatsworth, Henry Liddell and
John Hedworth. The main line of the Team Waggonway
was extended to Kibblesworth, but its route is uncertain.
The colliery only operated for 20 years and was closed by
about 1740.
Mining recommenced in the nineteenth century.
Mount Moor Colliery
Lord Ravensworth established a colliery at Mount Moor or
Black Fell in 1751 with a waggonway leading to staiths at
Bill Quay on the Tyne. By 1787 this waggonway had been
abandoned and Gibson’s map of waggonways shows a
route from the colliery to the Wear.
Mining continued into the nineteenth century. The
colliery was reopened in 1901 and finally closed in 1931.
Birtley Northside (Toft Moor) Colliery
Francis Rudston and John Reed built a waggonway from
Birtley to Bill Quay Tyne in 1724 to serve this colliery on
Birtley Fell. The waggonway carried stone from quarries
at Windy Nook and Springwell as well as coal.
In 1733 the colliery caught fire and Rudston was declared
bankrupt. The colliery was taken over by Thomas
Donnison in c1734 and production resumed within a year.
Two engines were installed in 1757 and George Humble
was appointed the viewer to run the colliery for Donnison.
Donnison died in 1759 and William Peareth administered
the colliery on behalf of a trust.
By 1766 the colliery was owned by Mrs Carrick and let to
Mr Pearson. It appears that by then the coal was being
taken to the Wear. Limited mining took place into the
nineteenth century.
North Birtley Colliery
Thomas Donnison was working this colliery in 1754,
shipping the coal from the Tyne. Donnison died in 1759
and a trust administered it after his death. The colliery
was sold to Humble and Stafford in 1769 who worked it
until at least 1777, shipping the coal from a staith at
Fatfield on the Wear. The colliery continued working into
the 19th century. An advert was published on 18 July 1812
seeking pitmen with enquiries directed to John Stokoe at
the colliery.
Harraton Outside Colliery
This colliery is mentioned in the minutes of the
Grand Allies between 1727 and 1730.
The colliery was situated on land owned jointly by Sir John
Thorold, Sir Ralph Milbanke and Sir Francis Blake. It had
been leased to Ralph Milbanke for 20 years in 1778 and in
an advert for the sale of the land in 1796 it was described
as ‘advantageous’.
In 1797 the colliery was being worked by Robert Wade. In
1802 Thomas Longridge & Co took over. Mining continued
in the 19th century.
South Birtley Colliery
The colliery was worked in 1754 by Thomas Donnison. It
comprised the following pits: Borehole, Bunder, Broom,
Clover East, Dayhole, East, Fortune, Friendship, Gill,
Goodspeed, Hedge Lane, Lodge, Lucky, Prosperous, South
Stubble, Trial, View, West Wheat and Clover West.
The colliery was served by a waggonway to the Wear. In
1776 engines from the colliery were sold to Washington
Colliery.
A later colliery opened in 1866.
Leefield Colliery
The Lambton family owned 2/3rds of the pits at this
colliery. These were let to William Peareth in 1760 for a
term of 42 years. The remainder of the mines were owned
by John Humble, a lawyer by training, who owned a
brewery in Felling. Mining continued into the nineteenth
century.
Picktree Colliery
There were pits at Picktree shown on a 1737 plan.
It was served by a waggonway to the Wear.
On 9 June 1794, an explosion at the colliery killed 30
men.
Rickleton Colliery
There are records of working pits at Rickleton in 1761
(Bounder, Catch, Chance, Cut, Dyke, Fire Engine, Fogg,
Glover, Hedge, Luke, Meadow, Sandy, Thistle and Water).
Mining continued into the nineteenth century.
Flatts Colliery
Thomas Allan of Newcastle upon Tyne owned this colliery
in c 1690.
In 1693, he built the first waggonway to the River Wear to
serve the colliery. An early engine was in operation at the
colliery in 1723.
The viewer at the colliery was T. Pratt. He ‘turned
unsteady’ and was succeeded by J and W Daylish,
according to Dunn’s ‘History of Viewers’ (1813).
Mining continued into the nineteenth century.
Ouston Colliery
A waggonway was constructed in c1740 from John
Hedworth’s colliery at Ouston to the River Wear.
In the mid 1700s, Sir R Milbank had Ouston Colliery. W.
Hepple was the head viewer and J Walker was the
underviewer.
An engine was constructed in 1769.
Urpeth Colliery
There are records of mining around Urpeth in 1510. The
1530s marked the beginning of an acute market crisis
lasting until the early 1540s.
In 1737 the colliery was owned by a Mr Newton. By 1767
mining rights were owned by Colonel Bewick who leased
them to the Grand Allies. By the end of the century they
were let to William Peareth.
Twizell Colliery
In 1736 the viewer William Newton bought the Twizell
estate. The colliery opened in 1739. By 1759 Newton had
laid a waggonway to the colliery. Newton was declared
bankrupt in 1775 and the estate and the right to use the
waggonway were bought by John Bowes, nephew of
George Bowes.
In 1792 the colliery was worked by George Johnson and
partners, who were granted a 31 year lease.
Greencroft Colliery
We know that the colliery was in existence in 1739
because a government Inquiry in May of that year heard
evidence from Thomas Stokoe, viewer at Tanfield colliery,
that the coals at Greencroft were inferior to those at
Tanfield.
Pelton Colliery
In c1700 Pelton colliery was worked by John Hedworth of
Harraton, who owned much of the north bank of the
Wear as well as Pelton Colliery.
He constructed a waggonway from the colliery to two
staiths at Fatfield on the Wear.
Beamish Colliery
In 1658, land at Pockerley Moor was sold by William
Blakiston to George Sheppardson of South Shields for
£3,000, to include its collieries and coal mines. This is
believed to be the first reference to mining at Beamish.
In 1762 Morton Davison (of Beamish Hall) set up a new
colliery at Beamish. William Brown built a water wheel
engine using water from the higher levels to drive pumps
to drain the lower seams.
At first coal was shipped from the Tyne using the Grand
Allies’ Tanfield Way. Davison, however, wanted to free his
ties with the Grand Allies and decided to build a
waggonway to the River Wear. Engineering work on the
River Wear in 1759 had made it possible for vessels on the
Wear to take larger loads. The waggonway was built by
William Brown and Christopher Bedlington and opened in
1768. Davison attempted to prevent the Grand Allies from
using this waggonway. Litigation ensued and the court
ruled that the Grand Allies had limited rights to use it.
Davison died in 1774 and was succeeded by his relative,
Sir John Eden. In 1799 Eden extended the Beamish Way
west towards Stanley.
Mining at Beamish continued in the 19th and 20th
centuries.
Pelton Common Colliery
Pits on Pelton Common were sunk in 1754/5.
A pit owned by Mrs Jennison and partners was set on fire
during a strike by pitmen early in the morning of 18
September 1765.
Mining continued into the 19th century.
Stanley Colliery
Lord Widdrington granted a lease of the colliery to the
Grand Allies in 1754. In 1759, they built a waggonway to
Beamish South Moor with a view to transporting the coal
along the Beamish Way to the River Wear. Davison, who
owned Beamish Colliery, Beamish South Moor Colliery and
the Beamish Waggonway, barred the Grand Allies from
crossing his land and from using the new Waggonway. He
complained that the Grand Allies had paid no wayleave for
the new way and had used his Beamish South Moor
drainage system to drain the Stanley Colliery. In 1764, the
Grand Allies took Davison to court, relying on an
agreement signed by his father in 1727, relating to Kip Hill,
that they could have access over each other’s land and
waggonways. Davison failed to achieve his objective and
the court imposed a compromise, allowing the Grand
Allies limited rights over the Beamish Way for their
Stanley collieries.
In 1774, Thomas Eyre inherited Lord Widdrington’s Estate
and Sir John Eden inherited Morton Davison’s. In 1779 the
new owners agreed that the Causey branch of the
Tanfield Way should close and all coal produced around
Stanley and Beamish was to be taken to the Wear. Coal
production ceased in 1792, but the Grand Allies
continued to pay a dead rent until 1817. Gibson’s map of
1787 shows that the waggonway from Twizell had been
extended to Stanley.
Deanery Moor Colliery
It is believed that this colliery, near Waldridge Fell, was
served by a branch of the Beamish Waggonway built in
1779.
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The Industry before 1800
Prior to the 14th Century coal was used largely to support
an agricultural society in the production of lime.
By the early 17th Century, coal was being mined on
Tyneside on an industrial scale.
London was the principal market for Tyneside coal. It was
taken from the mines over land to the banks of the Tyne
and transported to London by sea.
Leading Newcastle Merchants (Hostmen) had a near
monopoly on the production and trade of coal shipped
from the Tyne.
By 1700 the coal near the Tyne had been exploited and
production moved to the south. The cost of producing the
coal and transporting it to the Tyne was such that only
the wealthy could afford to be involved. The Hostmen
retained their powers, but were relegated to the role of
intermediaries called fitters and they had no interest in
restricting supply. Leading coal producers sought to
control supply by forming cartels, the most successful of
which was the Grand Alliance in 1726.
The first steam pump was invented in 1712 by Thomas
Newcomen but uptake in the North East was slow. In 1769
James Watt patented an improved steam pump and by the
1770s all but the shallowest and smallest collieries raised
water from pits using steam pumps. Steam engines were
also used for winding, enabling ever larger quantities of
coal to be brought to the surface. By 1760 it is known that
some pits were around 200 metres deep, although
shallow pits no more than 6 or 7 metres deep were also
being worked.
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The Wooden Waggonways
Waggonways were railways, initially using wooden rails,
linking collieries with riverside wharves known as staiths.
Coal would be carried on them in large waggons
(chaldrons). Each waggon would be under the control of
one man with a horse. The gradients would be mitigated
as much as possible by the use of cuttings and
embankments (batteries). Streams would be crossed by
either wooden trestles (or later by stone bridges) or by
culverting the stream and building a battery over it. There
was no standard gauge applicable to all ways, but on
Tyneside it was invariably between 4 and 5 feet. If the
gauge had been narrower the load would have been
uneconomical; any wider it would have been too heavy for
one horse to pull.
A picture of a Tyneside waggon was published in the
General Magazine in 1764 with a description. ‘The
waggon-man is enticing the horse forward with hay in his
hand. The hay is kept in a hay poke at the rear of the
waggon. The top of the fore part of the waggon projects
further out than the bottom. The greatest part of the
loading is on the fore wheels which are considerably
larger then the hind. The brake is known as the convoy. It
is used to regulate the motion of the waggon down the
sides of hills (called by the waggon men, runs). The
waggon man takes the end of the convoy out of the loop
and lets it down onto the wheel and placing himself
astride the end he presses more or less according to the
declivity of the run. When the waggon arrives at the
staiths he lets down his bottom board which has hinges on
one side and a hasp on the other. The coals run down an
opening in the waggon way under the waggon.’
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Waggonways built 1621-1659
The purple waggonways were built in the first half of the
17th century.
The Whickham Grand Lease Way was probably the first to
be built in 1621.
A Wagggonway between Blaydon and Winlaton followed ,
probably in 1632.
The Stella Grand Lease Way was built in the 1640s by
Robert Sanderson.
Gateshead Windmill Hills Way, was probably built by
William Riddell in c 1647 and Gateshead Head Way was
built by James Liddell around 1650.
Follow the link to a page on the Trust’s web site for more
information on these waggonways. The web page has links
to the Tyne and Wear HER.
Link to
Web page
Waggonways built 1660-1698
These are marked blue on the map.
The Crawcrook way was certainly in existence in 1663 and
may have been built earlier..
The Chopwell way operated from c1661.
The Hollinside way was built in 1692 by Alderman White
to serve collieries in Whickham. Western Way I adopted
the route of the Hollinside between Clockburn Lonnen
and Swalwell.
The route of the Riding Field Way is uncertain. It probably
operated between 1684 and 1745.
TheTeam Way built around 1670 served Liddell’s Team
Valley collieries.
The Bensham Way built by William Riddell c 1670 served
collieries in Low Fell.
The Felling Way was built by Robert Brandling c1676.
Follow the link to a page on the Trust’s web site for more
information on these waggonways. The web page has links
to the Tyne and Wear HER.
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Web page
Waggonways built 1699-1723
These are the brown waggonways.
East Winlaton way, built c 1701, served collieries near
Winlaton Mill.
The Northbanks way (1699-1723) served Montague and
Baker’s Northbanks colliery.
The Burdon Moor extension of the Northbanks Way was
built in 1722, a year before the main way’s closure. On the
opening of the Tanfield way, it became a branch of that
waggonway.
Western Way I (1712-1732) served collieries around
Burnopfield and Byermoor and potentially the collieries
around Dipton and Pontop. Those in favour of restricting
supply battled to close this waggonway and finally
succeeded.
Western way II was built to circumvent the Fawdon Field
which was the main battleground of those seeking to
close the Western Way.
Follow the link to a page on the Trust’s web site for more
information on these waggonways. The web page has links
to the Tyne and Wear HER.
Link to
Web page
Waggonways built 1724-1801
These are the red waggonways.
Risemoor (1737-1820) was an extension of the Crawcrook
way built to exploit the pits to the south of Prudhoe.
The Garesfield Way 1801 served the Earl of Bute’s colliery
near High Spen.
The Lands Way was built by Albert Silvertop in 1728. It
closed c1797.
Blaydon Shibdon Way (1749-1798) was a short
waggonway.
The Tanfield Way 1724 was built by George Liddell to
connect to the Burdon Moor branch of the Northbanks
Way. Extensions were built to enable the coalfields at
Causey, Beckley Tanfield, South Moor, Kiphill and Beamish
to be won.
Western Way III (1728-1800) was built by Lady Jane
Clavering to enable the western alliance to transport coal
from pits between Pontop and Burnopfield to the Tyne.
The other ways on the map are at Birtley Fell, Heworth,
Friar’s Goose and waggonways built to take coal to the
River Wear.
Follow the link to a page on the Trust’s web site for more
information on these waggonways. The web page has links
to the Tyne and Wear HER.
Iveston Colliery
According to local historian F.J.Wade, a pit was sunk at
Iveston village in 1611. It passed into the possession of Sir
James Clavering and later to Sir George Clavering, who
was working it in 1748.
Labourn’s Fell
A map surveyed on 21 October 1721 by Thomas Simpson
shows a branch of the Chopwell Way ending at Labourn’s
Fell, an outlier of John Clavering’s Chopwell estate.
Cowclose colliery
Parts of the course of the Cowclose way are visible on the
ground and are shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6″
map. A Bishop’s wayleave of £10 18s 9d was paid in 1690
(more than Chopwell’s). Bennett, Clavering and Rounding
(‘A Fighting Trade’) were unable to find any other
reference to the original waggonway or the colliery.
In c1730, Richard Ridley extended the way to his Vane
colliery.
Beamish South Moor Colliery
Morton Davison’s Beamish South Moor had been leased
to the Grand Allies (Bowes) in the 1750s with a
waggonway linking it with the Tanfield Way’s Causey
branch. The colliery comprised over 13 scattered pits.
In 1766 Davison resumed working the colliery himself. An
engine had been installed and Davison prepared to move
the output of this colliery, and that of his nearby Beamish
Colliery, to staiths on the Wear. His relationship with the
Grand Allies deteriorated when the nearby Stanley
Colliery owned by Lord Widdrington was leased to the
Grand Allies and they built a waggonway from it to
Beamish South Moor, with a view to using the Beamish
Waggonway for their coal. The Grand Allies contended
that an agreement signed by Davison’s father in 1727 had
given them the right to cross his land and use his
waggonway. The case went to court and the Grand Allies
were given limited use of the Beamish Waggonway for
their coal.
DMM
Beamish Colliery
This colliery was opened in 1762 by Morton Davison of
Beamish Hall. Davison died in 1774 and his estate passed
to Sir John Eden Bt, son of Davison’s sister Mary, the
widow of Sir Robert Eden Bt. Sir John died in 1812 and
control of the Colliery passed to John Morton Davison. He
died in 1841.
In 1847 the colliery was leased to James Joicey who from
1838 had run the mining company, James Joicey & Co
(incorporated in 1866).
In c1912 the many pits of the colliery were rationalised
into three pits (Mary, Second Pit/ Park drift and East
Stanley). The East Stanley colliery was sold to the
Derwent Coal Company in 1930. It closed in 1937.
The Mary Pit and 2nd Pit transferred to the National Coal
Board on 1 January 1947. The Second Pit closed in 1962
and Mary Pit closed in March 1966.
DMM
Addison Colliery
The colliery, served by the Newcastle Carlisle railway, was
sunk in 1864 by Stella Coal Company. Coal also came from
the Kitty and Atkinson Drifts. By 1908 the owners were the
Stella Coal Company Limited. It was taken over by the
National Coal Board on 1 January 1947.
Whellan’s 1894 Directory
“Addison is situated on the western boundary of this
township, and is worked by two shafts, sunk in 1864, to a
depth of 45 fathoms. The seams met here are the
Townley, 4 feet 2 inches, 14 fathoms deep; Stone Coal, 3
feet 1 inch, 26 fathoms; Lower Five Quarter, 3 feet 9
inches, at a depth of 31 fathoms; and the Brockwell, 3 feet
10 inches, at a depth of 45 fathoms. This pit is ventilated
by a 16-feet Guibal fan. At this colliery there are 180
beehive coke-ovens, and the daily output of coal amounts
to 450 tons.”
Addison Pit was the first colliery in the world to have
underground telephone. Experiments using Professor
Graham Bell’s telephone were carried out in 1877. It was
connected to Hedgefield House in which John B. Simpson,
one of the colliery directors, lived from 1864 to 1894.
The pit closed in 1963.
DMM
Bagnall Colliery
The colliery, sometimes known as Axwell Colliery, situated
on Woodhouse Lane Whickham was sunk by Mr Siddoway
Bagnall of Winlaton in 1872. A second pit was sunk in
1873. The Colliery was open by 1875. It appears that the
venture was unsuccessful. In early 1887, the colliery was
transferred from J.S Bagnall and Co to G.H Snowball. On
31 December 1887 Hannington & Co Ltd took over
Snowball’s business and immediately closed the colliery,
merging the royalty with Axwell Park.
DMM
Axwell Park Colliery
The Engine Pit was sunk in 1839 and the colliery probably
opened in 1841, reportedly as a small landsale business.
By the 1880s it was owned by Mrs Mary Hannington
(incorporated in 1890s as Hannington & Co. Ltd). The
colliery absorbed the royalties of Bagnall’s colliery and
Whickhambanks colliery. It was served by the
Derwent Valley Railway.
Whellan’s 1894 Directory
“There are being wrought (at the colliery) the Stone coal,
20 inches thick, with the same thickness of good fireclay.
This seam is about 32 fathoms deep at Whickham, but
comes to clay at Swalwell. Ten fathoms lower, the Five
Quarter is met, 2 feet 3 inches thick. This colliery was
flooded out soon after sinking, and was re-opened in
1889, and is now worked by Messrs. Hannington & Co.
The coals are drawn through a drift to Swalwell, the
average output being about 360 tons per day, giving
employment to 250 men and boys.”
Priestman & Co became the owners on 14 December
1903. The Colliery vested in the National Coal Board on 1
January 1947. It closed in August 1954.
DMM
Andrews House Colliery
The colliery was sunk by the Northern Mining Coal
Company in 1840 and was abandoned in 1848 on the
bankruptcy of that company. It was taken over by John
Bowes and Partners in 1852. (John Bowes and Partners Ltd
from the 1890s)
Whellan’s 1894 Directory
“Andrews House Colliery, situated about one mile south of
Marley Hill, was commenced in 1843. Here the Main coal
is only worked, giving employment to 170 men and boys.
The output averages 340 tons per day. ”
The Colliery closed in December 1920.
DMM
Blaydon Main Colliery
The Blaydon Main colliery was reopened in 1828 by G.H
Ramsay and Co (in the 1880s known as GH Ramsay &
Son). It operated at three sites: Blaydon Bank (Content
Pit); Shibdon (Garden, Speculation and Hazard Pits) and
Blaydon Burn (Milner Pit). It was acquired by Stella Coal
Co. in c1883.
The Content pit on Blaydon Bank closed between 1856
and 1894.
Whellan’s 1894 Directory
“The Blaydon Main colliery, worked by the Stella Coal
Company, is within this parish [Stella], but within the
township of Winlaton, and at present working the
Brockwell seam, 2 feet 10 inches, at a depth of 46
fathoms. The Hodge, or cannel seam, is being wrought at
the Milner pit, Blaydon Burn, and is 3 feet 2 inches,
including 22 inches of cannel coal, the depth being 14
fathoms. At the Blaydon Burn there are 400 men and boys
employed, including the coke ovens at Derwenthaugh.
The output is about 100,000 tons per year, principally
shipped at Tyne Dock.”
The Milner pit closed in 1901.
The colliery was sold to Priestman Collieries Ltd in 1909
and finally closed in 1921.
DMM
Blaydon Burn Colliery
Joseph Cowen and his brother in law started a fire brick
operation at Blaydon Burn in c1819. In the 1840s, the
company opened pits in Blaydon Burn, principally to serve
the brick works (Bessie, Mary Paddock and Whistling Bird
pits). There was a report on 10 May 1850 that “at the
Main pit, a few days ago, Edward Towns got out of the
cage and was walking along the flats when his foot slipped
and he fell a depth of eleven fathoms; he was much
bruised and one of his arms fractured”.
By 1854 the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway ran a short
branch to Cowen’s pits.
A map of 1861 shows Edward Pit and Cowen’s Pit.
By 1896 only the Mary and Bessie (also known as Betsy)
pits were open at Blaydon Burn. The 1951 OS map shows
an aerial ropeway from the Bessie drift to the brickworks.
On 1 January 1899 Priestman Collieries Ltd was formed
when the owners of Blaydon Burn, Lilley and Victoria
Garesfield Collieries amalgamated with the owners of
Chester Moor and Waldridge Collieries. The colliery, which
vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January 1947,
closed in November 1956, along with the railway link.
DMM
Blackburn Fell Drift
In 1936 John Bowes & Partners drove a new drift to the
Brass Thrill seam on Blackburn Fell. The mine opened the
following year. It vested in the National Coal Board on 1
January 1947.
The rail link to the drift (the Bowes Railway) ceased in
1970. In April 1973, the drift merged with Marley Hill
Colliery and the surface buildings were then closed.
DMM
Burnopfield (Hobson) Colliery
The Hobson Pit was sunk c1780 but appears to have been
short lived.
It was acquired by John Berkley in c1842, who reopened it
and sunk shafts to the Brockwell seam. Berkley went
bankrupt in November 1849 and the colliery was acquired
by John Bowes and Partners (later John Bowes and
Partners Ltd).
On 11 January 1850 the following advert was published,
offering a £50 reward:
” On the evening of Thursday, January 3, some evil-
disposed persons did foolishly place upon each of the
boiler fires at Burnopfield Colliery, a cask, containing gun
powder, which, by exploding, caused serious damage to
the property and the suspension of the works of the
colliery.”
In 1854 the Bowes Railway was extended from Marley Hill
to Dipton via this colliery.
The colliery transferred to the National Coal Board on 1
January 1947. It closed in August 1968.
DMM
Bryans Leap (Barcus Close) Colliery
The colliery was known as Bryans Leap until 1949 when it
was renamed Barcus Close.
It was opened in 1920 by the Barcus Close Coal Co.Ltd. It
closed periodically in the 1930s and 1940s. The National
Coal Board opened the colliery in the 1950s and it finally
closed in April 1966.
DMM
South Garesfield Colliery
This colliery , sometimes known as Friarside or North Lintz
opened in 1865. There were a series of Drift mines:
Towneley, Water Level, Busty and Beaumont. They started
off as low production landsale sites.
The Derwent Valley (Blaydon to Consett) Railway opened
in 1867 and served the colliery.
The colliery closed in 1875 and was re-opened in 1887 by
the South Garesfield Colliery Co. Ltd. By 1891 it had taken
over the Lintz royalty.
In 1929, 5 miners were awarded the Edward Medal (Four
bronze and one silver) for their part in the rescue of a
deputy who had been injured and five other would be
rescuers who had been overcome by carbon monoxide
gas. Unfortunately three of the gassed men were dead.
The colliery vested in the National Coal Board on 1
January 1947. It closed in 1960.
DMM
Lintz Colliery
In 1855 the colliery was worked by McLean & Prior. It was
a fairly small pit with coke ovens and brick kilns on site.
Originally it was served by a railway link from from the
North Eastern Railway’s Tanfield Branch with a stationary
engine to haul the waggons up from the colliery. The line
originally passed beneath the Pontop & Jarrow (Bowes)
Railway by a short tunnel. By 1867 a link had been made
between Lintz and the Pontop and Jarrow and traffic came
onto that line in about 1867. In 1870 negotiations for the
sale of the colliery to Palmers’ Shipbuilding & Iron Co Ltd
(located in Jarrow) fell through and the coal was diverted
back to the North Eastern Railway. Subsequently a self
acting incline was built from the colliery down the slope of
the Derwent Valley to the North Eastern Railway’s
Derwent Valley line which it joined near Lintz Green
station.
Whellan (1894) reports that the colliery closed in 1885
and was reopened by John Shield in 1889. By the turn of
the century it was taken over by the South Garesfield
Colliery Co Ltd who opened up the Esther Pit and the
railway was extended to it. The colliery finally closed in
March 1929.
DMM
South Medomsley (Pontop Hall) Colliery
This colliery was in the area of Windsor and Simpson’s
18th century Pontop colliery. A drift had been opened by
D Baker and Co in 1861, locally known as High Stables, and
a branch of the Pontop and South Shields railway was built
to the colliery in that year.
The Anne Pit was sunk in 1864 and the colliery became
known as South Medomsley. It was acquired by Thomas
Vaughan & Co in c1871. The venture failed and the colliery
closed in 1878. By 1896 it was owned by the South
Medomsley Colliery Co. Ltd. In 1904 leases of the Surtees
and Lily pits were acquired. The Mary Pit closed in 1911.
In 1934 there was an explosion, killing three and injuring 2
men. The explosion had been caused by the flame of a
miner’s candle. As a result of the explosion, safety lamps
were introduced throughout the mine.
New drifts were opened between 1938 and 1944: others
were closed. The colliery vested in the National Coal Board
on 1 January 1947. In 1961 the colliery merged with the
Eden colliery and the shaft at South Medomsley was
closed on 26 October 1962. The combined South
Medomsley/Eden collieries closed in 1980.
DMM
Dipton Collieries
The Dipton Delight colliery was originally sunk in 1842 to
work the shallow Main Coal seam. It was acquired by
John Bowes & Partners in 1853 who sunk a second shaft
to deeper seams. The pit was served by the Pontop &
Jarrow Railway from 1854. In 1919 a further shaft was
sunk to work the Busty seam. In 1913 a new pit was
opened 300 yards north of the Delight pit by John Bowes
& Partners Ltd and both were referred to as Dipton
Colliery. They closed in 1940.
The Lily colliery was sunk in 1868 by R. Dickinson, fitter of
the South Derwent Colliery. He opened a second shaft at
the Surtees Pit in 1883. The two pits were connected by a
tramway for which there were crippling wayleave charges.
The Lily Pit and the Surtees pit both closed in 1884.
DMM
Pontop Pike (Lanchester Common) Colliery
Windsor & Simpson’s 18th century colliery had started life
when Pontop Pike was part of the manorial waste known
as Lanchester Common. An Inclosure award in 1781
resulted in field boundaries being created, but by then
there were many pits on the former manorial waste and
these continued to be exploited. At the start of the 19th
century one the largest of the pits was Hive with a shaft
340 ft deep taking coal from the lower seams. Coal was
still being taken by wooden waggonways to the Tyne,
although by now coal was being diverted near
Burnopfield over Tanfield Moor to the Tanfield way and
led to Dunston.
In 1828 the Marquis of Bute (one of Lady Windsor’s heirs
by marriage) argued with his landlord over rent and closed
the colliery. There were reports that most of the old
workings had flooded, limiting the opportunity to re-open
them.
The deeper seams at Pontop Pike and neighbouring land
were worked by John Bowes and Partners at the Delight
pit from 1853 and the coal taken to the Tyne on the
Bowes railway.
DMM
Pontop Colliery
This was the South Pit of Windsor & Simpson’s 18th
Century Pontop Pike Colliery.
The lease of the colliery had been inherited by the
Marquis of Bute, an heir of Lady Windsor by marriage.
Bute had been in dispute with the Head landlord over the
rent and closed the colliery in 1828. In 1834 Bute
transferred the lease to the Stanhope and Tyne Railway
Co. In 1839 the Harelaw Pit (at this location) was sunk to
the Hutton Seam.
In 1850 the Railway company sold the colliery to John
Bowes and Partners (later John Bowes & Partners Ltd)
who mined it until November 1924
DMM
South Derwent Colliery
The colliery was the site of earlier coal mines: the Stewart
Pit, which was working in 1835 and the Cresswell or
Bankfoot pit which had been sunk c1800.
The South Derwent Colliery comprised a new Cresswell
pit, opened c1854 and the Willie Pit opened in 1872. The
colliery was at first operated by Bainbridge, Kissop & Co.
and in the 1880s by R. Dickinson & Partners. With the
decline of that company in around 1891, it was taken over
by South Derwent Coal Co. Ltd .
According to Whellan (1894), “During more recent years,
advanced systems of working and improved appliances
have been adopted at these collieries, especially for
underground haulage, known as the endless rope system,
and by the invention and adoption of the haulage clips by
Messrs, Rutherford & Thompson, which are now so
generally in use, very great economy has been effected in
the leading of the coal underground.”
There is a record that these modern systems were not
without their dangers. In 1902, a boy caught his arm in the
endless rope. His arm was pulled out of its socket and the
boy died of shock. In 1914 a boiler fireman killed himself.
As a joke, he had intended to give another worker an
electric shock by connecting the pump-house handle to a
lighting switch, but in doing so he electrocuted himself.
The colliery closed in 1930.
DMM
East Pontop Colliery
Shown on the OS 1st Edition as the Moor Pit, the colliery
was reopened in the 1868 by E.M Bainbridge & Partners
and later operated by the East Pontop Coal & Coke Co Ltd.
Whellan’s 1894 Directory records:
“East Pontop Colliery, the property of the East Pontop Coal
Company Limited, was reopened in 1868, and is working
the following seams : Shield Row, 10 fathoms, 6 feet in
thickness ; the Brass Thill, 35 fathoms, 5 feet 8 inches,
separated from the Five Quarter by a band of 2 feet, 35
fathoms deep ; the Hutton, 65 fathoms, 7 feet 6 inches.
There are eighty coke ovens, in which the small coal is
converted into coke. The average output is 160,000 tons
per annum, giving employment to 250 men and boys.”
The Colliery closed in 1930
DMM
East Castle Colliery
The colliery was opened by Bainbridge Kissop & Co (later
Bainbridge & Co) in the 1860s.
Whellan’s 1894 Directory states:
“East Castle Colliery, situated about one mile south of
Dipton, was reopened in 1868, and is now worked by the
East Pontop Coal Company, Lim., working the Shield Row,
7½ fathoms, 6 feet thick ; the Brass Thill and Five Quarter,
at a depth of 30 fathoms, 5 feet 8 inches each, divided by
a 2 feet band of blue shale. There are also 74 coke ovens,
part of which only are in operation. The annual output
amounts to 100,000 tons, and gives employment to 163
men any boys.”
The colliery ceased production in 1915/16 and closed in
1917.
DMM
Bantling Castle Colliery
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway opened in 1834 to convey
limestone from quarries above Stanhope. The railway
company built lime kilns at East Castle to supplement the
output from their Consett kilns.
Little is known of the Bantling Castle Colliery other than it
probably supplied coal to the kilns. It is shown on the 1st
Edition Ordnance Survey map surveyed in 1857, but not
on the second Edition revised in 1895.
DMM
South Pontop Colliery
Known as the Lizzie Pit, Annfield Plain, the colliery was
opened in the 1860 by H. Ritson & Sons (later U.A.Ritson
& Sons Ltd)
Whellan (1894) records:
“South Pontop Colliery situated in Greencroft township, is
worked by Utrick A. Ritson, Esq. There are five seams :
Shield Row, 4 feet 8 inches, Five Quarter, 5 feet 6 inches ;
Brass Thill, 5 feet 6 inches ; Hutton, 7 feet 6 inches ; Low
Hutton, 2 feet thick, worked by two shafts of a depth of 60
fathoms. The annual output is about 100,000 tons,
employing 256 men and boys. The coal is chiefly used for
gas making.”
It closed in 1927
DMM
Eden Colliery
Originally owned by Edward Richardson, the colliery was
sunk in 1844 and sold to the Derwent Iron Company in the
1850s. It vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January
1947. A small amount of coal was produced for land sale,
but its main purpose was to supply the Consett steel
works.
The Colliery merged with South Medomsley Colliery in
1962. The shaft and buildings at the colliery closed in
October1967. Coal continued to be mined from the Main
Coal drift. This was closed in July 1980. At its peak in 1925,
the Colliery employed 1,172 men.
DMM
South Moor Colliery
The area had been worked in the 18th century by George
Silvertop and the Grand Allies.
The nineteenth century colliery comprised the Pea Pit
(c1838-late 1800s), Louisa Colliery (1883-1964), Quaking
House Pit (1855-1910), Morrison Pit (1869-1940), William
Pit (1818-1973) and Hedley Pit (1883-1973). The pits were
developed from about 1838 by a partnership headed by
William Bell of Sunderland and included James Morrison
and William Hedley. (South Moor Coal Co. Ltd from 1890s
– Holmside & Southmoor Collieries Ltd from 1940s and
National Coal Board from 1 January 1947).
For their part in the rescue of an injured miner at the
Hedley Pit in 1930 , 18 miners and a doctor were awarded
the Edward Medal, 2nd class. Shortly after the rescue, the
tunnel collapsed.
On 22 August 1947 an explosion in the Louisa Colliery
killed 22 men. Contraband cigarettes, matches and a
petrol lighter had been found by those investigating the
explosion. The Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines concluded
that it had been caused by a miner who had struck a
match for the purpose of lighting a cigarette. This had
caused a mild firedamp explosion which developed
additional force propagated by coal dust.
DMM
South Tanfield Colliery
This colliery, originally called Oxhill colliery, was opened in
1837 by Joseph Smith. In 1846, Smith defaulted on
payment of rent and the colliery materials were sold at an
auction held on the premises on28 September 1846.
They were bought by James Joicey who operated the pit
thereafter. Ownership transferred to James Joicey & Co
Ltd in the 1860s.
The colliery closed in 1914.
DMM
West Stanley Colliery
The colliery, locally known as the Burns Pit, was sunk by
Burn and Clarke in 1832 and was run by members of the
Burn family until it was acquired by the South Derwent
Coal Co Ltd in 1910. The pit closed in 1936.
There were three explosions at this pit. The first was on 2
November 1865 when 2 lives were lost. The second was
on 19 April 1882, killing 13 men and boys. The Inquiry
concluded that the explosion was caused by a sudden
release of gas under pressure close to where two miners
were working using a miner’s Clanny Lamp. It was
reported that the owner (Mr Burn) had intended to
replace the Clanny Lamps with Muesler Lamps, but there
had been resistance from the men who considered that
this lamp gave out insufficient light.
The third and most devastating explosion occurred on 16
February 1909, resulting in 168 fatalities. 26 men and
boys were rescued after 14 hours and 4 others some time
later. The cause of the explosion was the build up of
flammable gas propagated by coal dust. The Inquiry was
unable to find conclusive evidence of the cause of ignition,
but of all the theories put forward, the Inspectors
concluded that an electrical fault was the most likely initial
cause. The inquest jury found that no culpability attached
to anyone.
DMM
Redheugh Colliery
This Colliery operated between 1872 and closed on 28
May 1927. It was owned by John Fleming and John Milling
in the 1880s. From 1890 it was managed by Owners of
Redheugh Colliery, later incorporated as a limited liability
company.
On the 5th January, 1929, there was an explosion of gas,
or gas and coal dust, in the workings of the abandoned
mine. The Inspector of mines reported that some months
before the explosion and when dismantling one of the
shafts a piece of burning timber fell down the pit. Water
was allowed to run down the shaft for some days with the
object of extinguishing the fire. It was later assumed that
the fire had been put out as no smoke was observed
coming up either of the shafts. Investigations were made
but the cause of the explosion remained a mystery.
In August 1950 an eight-year-old boy was fatally injured in
an explosion at the yard of the disused colliery. Two of his
brothers and two other boys were injured, one being
detained in hospital. The explosion was believed to have
been caused by gas from the workings of the disused
colliery collecting in the sealed-off workings and airshafts.
The colliery had not been used for nearly 30 years.
DMM
Farnacres Colliery
A new colliery at Farnacres known as the Beams Wheels
Pit was sunk in 1840. Water from old workings inundated
the pit and five men were drowned in October 1840.
By 1842 the owners were advertising the sale of
household coal at the Half Moon Lane Coal Depot. The
resident viewer in 1842 was Mr W Bell. According to a
newspaper report of a court case claiming money for
goods sold and delivered between May 1840 and
November 1841, the then owners of the colliery were
Hugh Coulson, Hugh Panton, Thomas Brown and John
Forster. The case was heard in 1847 by which time they
were described as the former owners. The materials
belonging to the colliery were advertised for sale at
auction on 29 June 1846 under a seizure for non payment
of rent. It appears the colliery was in the ownership of
William Kirk in 1846.
In about 1849 John Bowes & Partners took ownership of
the colliery and worked it with the Norwood Colliery. On
18 April 1857 two men were killed by an explosion when
working with naked lights in an area they knew to be
affected by escaping gas.
In the 1880s it was owned by Edward Hogg and in the
1890s by Atherton & Snowdon.
The colliery had closed by 1896.
DMM
Swalwell (Garesfield) Colliery
Opened in 1887 by GH Ramsey, the colliery comprised the
Henry and Edith pits. In 1889 it was sold to the Swalwell
Garesfield Coal Co. (later, Dunston Garesfield Collieries
Ltd). It was served by a branch of the Newcastle to Carlisle
Railway’s Redheugh extension.
It closed in 1940. The site of the Henry Pit and adjacent
land, now part of the IKEA store, was used between 1945
and the late 1980s as a distribution centre for coal
extracted in the locality by opencast mining.
DMM
Dunston Colliery
The Dunston colliery was reopened by
John Bowes and Partners in 1873. It closed after a year
and remained closed for 15 years, reopening in 1890. It
was sold to the Swalwell Garesfield Co in 1899 (later,
Dunston Garesfield Collieries Ltd.)
It vested in the NCB on 1 January 1947 and closed in
December 1947.
DMM
Norwood Colliery
Mining had taken place at Norwood in the 18th century. A
new pit was opened c1840 and bought by
John Bowes & Partners in 1849. It was closed in 1875 and
reopened in 1899 with new owners, the Swalwell
Garesfield Company (later Dunston Garesfield Collieries
Ltd). Mining took place until 1931 when the colliery
closed.
DMM
Whickhambanks Colliery
The colliery features in the Home Office list of mines
from1854 onwards. The first owners were Southern &
Watson. On 18 November 1858 the colliery was
discovered to be on fire. Between 1867 and 1886 it was
owned by James Snowball. On 31 December 1887
Snowball’s business was taken over by Hannington & Co.
Ltd and by 1896 the colliery had been absorbed into
Hannington & Co Ltd.’s Axwell Park Colliery.
DMM
Watergate Colliery
This modern colliery was sunk by Priestman Collieries Ltd
in 1923. It vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January
1947 and was worked until 1964.
Coal was transported via the Tanfield Railway. A section of
this railway to the north of the colliery followed the route
of the Whickham Grand Lease Waggonway constructed
c1621. It is believed this waggonway closed in 1710. In
1723 the Tanfield Waggonway was constructed and this
was converted into a railway in the early nineteenth
century. This railway served the colliery until 1964.
Coal, therefore, was transported by rail over land to the
north of this colliery (including the crossing over
Whickham Highway) between 1621 and 1710 and
between 1723 and 1963, a total of around 330 years.
DMM
Marley Hill Colliery
Marley Hill colliery was situated on Bowes’ Gibside estate.
In 1815 the colliery was abandoned as uneconomical. The
Gibside Estate was inherited by John Bowes on the death
of his father in 1820. In 1839, Bowes formed the Marley
Hill Coal Co with his friend W. Hutt, his mother (Lady
Strathmore) and Nicholas Wood, an engineer. The
enterprise to reopen Marley Hill required huge amounts
of capital which Bowes struggled to raise. The Colliery
reopened in 1840. In 1842 Charles Palmer joined the firm.
He bought half of Bowes’ share in the company and in
1844 became its managing partner, changing the
company’s name to John Bowes and Partners in 1847. The
colliery with its 330 beehive coke ovens became a
significant producer of coke. The colliery was served by
two railways, the Tanfield Branch of the Brandling Junction
Railway and the Bowes Railway. From the 1950s there was
a 2.5 mile underground railway, linking the pit with the
Derwenthaugh coking plant at Winlaton Mill.
Marley Hill colliery vested in the National Coal Board in
1947. It closed in 1983, the last surviving colliery in the
West Durham coalfield.
DMM
Clockburn Drift
The Clockburn drift was opened in 1952 to bring coal from
Marley Hill Colliery (2.5 miles distant) to the
Derwenthaugh coking works. When the Bowes Railway
closed west of Kibblesworth in 1969, all of Marley Hill’s
coal was handled by the Clockburn Drift. The drift closed
with the closure of Marley Hill in 1983.
DMM
Snipes Dene Drift
It is believed that there were mines in the vicinity of
Gibside Hall from the seventeenth century. The drift in
Snipes Dene (the entrance to which has been preserved)
is shown on the OS Ist and 2nd editions. It provided coal
for the Hall and closed in 1884.
DMM
High Marley Hill Drift
This was a drift mine operated by the National Coal Board
between 1948 and 29 June 1963.
DMM
Crookbank and Byermoor Collieries
The Crookbank colliery is shown on the OS 1st edition. It
was won in 1845. The owners appear to have gone
bankrupt and an advert was published on 6 November
1847 for the sale of the colliery. It was said that it was
held under a 21 year lease of which three years had
expired. There were 16 coke ovens attached to the
colliery.
In December 1847 the colliery was bought by John Bowes
& Partners who sunk a new Byermoor colliery close by in
1858 as a replacement. It was opened in 1860. It vested in
the National Coal Board on 1 Jan 1947 and closed in
February 1968.
DMM
Stargate (Towneley Main) Colliery
Stargate Colliery was opened in 1803 by George Dunn &
Sons (of Stella Hall). The first self acting inclines
underground were constructed at this pit by James Hall.
There was an explosion on Tuesday 30 May 1826, when 38
men and boys (the youngest two aged 10) were killed. In
1828, continual rainfall flooded the mine drowning a man
and fourteen horses.
In 1832 a notice was published to the effect that the
annual bond had expired on 5 April and that the pitmen
were asking for wages ‘far above those of last year.’ The
owners were unwilling to meet the pitmen’s demands,
required them to quit their colliery houses and threatened
to eject those who did not comply. A notice also appeared
attempting to engage other workers.
In 1833 Dunn’s lease expired. The pit was closed until the
Stella Coal Co took over in 1840 (originally John Buddle AL
Potter and TY Hall – Dunn later admitted as a partner).
The Stargate pit closed 1845 and the Freehold pit closed
by 1860s. In 1871 the Stargate pit was deepened and
reopened.
The colliery vested in the NCB on 1 Jan 1947 and closed on
29 June 1963.
DMM
Emma (Towneley Main) Pit
This pit was opened by the Stella Coal Co. in 1845.
Whellan in 1894 reported that it had an output of 550
tons per day.
The pit vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January
1947.
It was served by a railway which closed in 1962/3.
Thereafter coal was transported by road.
The pit closed in April 1968.
DMM
Ryton Moor Colliery
The Glebe and Catherine pits were part of Crawford’s 18th
century colliery at Ryton Woodside, near Crawcrook,
which he called Ryton Moor. It is thought that the Glebe
pit may have closed c1854. On the OS 1st edition,
surveyed in 1858, the colliery is marked ‘Old Shaft.’ The
Catherine Pit was named after one of Crawford’s
daughters. It closed in 1856.
DMM
Greenside (Towneley Greenside) Colliery
The Greenside colliery was worked in the 18th century by
George Silvertop. It was transferred to the Dunn family at
the beginning of the 19th century. Between 1870s and
1890s it was owned by the Simpson family. There was an
explosion at the A pit in 1801 killing several pitmen. By
1854 the C pit (Folly Pit) was being worked. In the late
19th century, the colliery was was worked on a small scale
for land sale coal, employing a small workforce.
At the beginning of the 20th century the Stella Coal Co.
Ltd sunk a new shaft at the A pit to the Victoria seam and
a railway was built to it. The new colliery came into
production around 1907 with a workforce of over 600. In
its heyday in the 1920s the pit employed over 1,200 men.
The pit vested in the NCB on 1 January 1947.
The railway closed in 1962-3 and the colliery itself closed
on 23 July 1966.
DMM
Clara Vale Colliery
This Colliery, served by the Newcastle Carlisle Railway,
was opened in 1893 by the Stella Coal Co Ltd.
Whellan’s 1894 directory reads:
“Clara Vale is situated in the township of Crawcrook,
about a mile north of the Emma. It has been opened since
the latter part of 1893, the sinking having occupied two
years. Here two shafts, 68 fathoms deep, have been sunk
to the Brockwell, when a feeder of considerable extent
was met. Electric lighting has been adopted for the works
at bank, and a brick work is also in operation, the daily
output of coal being 300 tons, which will rapidly increase.”
Whellan was right. By the 1920s, more than 1,000 men
were working underground.
The colliery vested in the NCB on 1/1/1947. It closed in
February 1966.
DMM
West Wylam (Prudhoe Main) Colliery
The original James Pit was opened in 1844. It is shown on
the 1st edition OS map surveyed in 1857. There are
reports that the colliery had flooded in 1863 and that a
new engine was to be erected to pump the water out. It
was owned by Cookson & Co between 1873 and 1875, by
the Mickley Coal Co. between 1876 and 1898 and by
Mickley Coal Co. Ltd between 1899 and 1946. The early
colliery was served by a waggonway which later
connected to the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway.
The James pit was incorporated into a new larger colliery
opened in 1894 with a rail link to the Newcastle & Carlisle
Railway. The colliery vested in the National Coal Board on
1/1/1947.
This colliery became a management centre for Hedley
Park Colliery, Fell Drift , Durham Riding Drift , Mickley
Bank Colliery & Low Prudhoe Drift. Coal for instance was
brought to the surface at Hedley Park Colliery, taken by a
rope hauled narrow gauge tub-way to Durham Riding
where it was transported underground to West Wylam.
The pit was prone to flooding. It closed temporarily for
this reason in 1932. A submerged pump was installed in
1951. All workings in the colliery were flooded again in
1960, resulting in the permanent closure of the colliery on
26 May 1961.
DMM
Winlaton Colliery
A handbill published in 1801 for the sale of a share of the
‘extensive colliery called East and West Winlaton’
contained the following:
” Manufactories to a vast extent in the iron way are
carried on, and are supplied with large quantities of coal
from the colliery, which is now raising at an easy expense;
there is a fine bed of fire clay lying under the Brockwell
seam, in this lot.”
Bell’s map of 1861 showed a small land sale pit at
Winlaton. It also appears on the 1st edition of the OS
(surveyed in 1857), but not on the second edition.
DMM
Low Thornley Colliery
Bell’s map of 1861 showed a small land sale pit at Low
Thornley.
DMM
Hedley Park & Durham Riding Collieries
The colliery was opened in 1881. It was owned by Mickley
Coal Co.
From 1935 coal was brought to the surface from drifts at
Hedley Park, Fell Drift (in Hyons Wood) and Durham Riding
and taken above ground by a rope hauled narrow guage
tubway through Hyons Wood to Durham Riding Colliery.
The coal was taken down a shaft at Durham Riding then
taken 1.75 miles underground to West Wylam Colliery for
processing.
The colliery vested in the National Coal Board on 1
January 1947. It closed in 1951.
DMM
Victoria Garesfield Colliery
The Speculation Drift was opened by Thomas Ramsey,
trading as Victoria Garesfield Coal Co., in 1870.
A branch line of the Derwent Valley Railway between
Rowlands Gill and Victoria Garesfield was opened in 1871.
In 1872 the Hookergate drift was opened.
In c1880 ownership transferred to Priestman & Peile
(Peele?)
In c1902 Coronation Drift opened. It closed on 1 March
1934
Ashtree Drift opened in 1906.
In 1908 Priestman and Co incorporated as Priestman
Collieries Ltd
Rickless Travelling Drift opened in c1920.
In 1936 a miner died from the effects of spirochaetal
jaundice caused by the presence of rats in the colliery.
Several men at the colliery had been taken ill with the
virus. On 28 Aug 1936 his widow was awarded £600
compensation at Newcastle County Court against
Priestman Collieries Ltd.
The colliery vested in the National Coal Board on 1 Jan
1947.
It closed on 13 July 1962
DMM
Lilley Drift (including Alice and Barlowfield Drifts)
The Main road through the Derwent Valley between
Blaydon and Shotley Bridge was built as a turnpike in
1833. The 1st edition of the OS map, surveyed in 1857,
shows only a toll house for the turnpike and a Public
House at Rowlands Gill . The Derwent Valley Railway was
built in 1867 and a large cutting was created to take the
railway under the turnpike. The clay recovered from this
excavation led Joseph Cowen, (who already had a
brickworks at Blaydon Burn) to open a sister brickworks at
Rowlands Gill and in the late 1870s, he opened the Lilley
Drift mine which was served by the Railway. Cowen died
in 1900 and ownership transferred to Priestman Collieries
(later Priestman Collieries Ltd.). Alice drift closed in 1939.
Lilley colliery transferred to the NCB in 1947. It closed in
1957. The brickworks continued until 1976.
DMM
Garesfield Colliery (Thornley and High Spen)
The first Garesfield colliery opened by the Marquess of
Bute in 1801 was at High Thornley (east of High Spen.)
That pit closed in 1837.
The Bute pit at High Spen was opened in 1837 (still named
Garesfield Colliery) and the old Garesfield waggonway was
extended to it.
In 1889 the colliery was sold to the Consett Iron Company
together with the small firebrick works for £140,000.
Output at the brickworks was increased for the
construction of the company’s new colliery at Chopwell.
The colliery comprised relatively shallow pits and a series
of drift mines. For most of its twentieth century life, the
colliery employed over 1,000 men.
The colliery vested in the NCB on 1 Jan 1947. It closed in
July 1960.
DMM
Chopwell Colliery and Whittonstall Drift
The area to the north of Chopwell had been mined since
the 16th century. Towards the end of the 18th century
John Silvertop developed his Whitefield colliery and
mining continued into the mid 19th century.
In 1892 the Consett Iron Company built a new colliery at
Chopwell and the railway serving Garesfield High Spen
Colliery was extended through Chopwell Woods to the
new pit in 1899.
In 1907 the Consett Iron Company opened a drift mine 2
miles to the west of Whittonstall village, connected to
Chopwell initially by an electrically worked narrow gauge
surface railway, but later converted to cable haulage.
Chopwell no. 3 pit was sunk in 1909.
At the height of production in 1925, Chopwell colliery
employed 2,235 men
Whittonstall Drift was closed between 1915 and 1919
because of a shortage of manpower caused by World War
I. It closed again in 1940 and reopened in 1953.
Ownership of the colliery transferred to the National Coal
Board on 1 January 1947. In 1957 the National Coal Bard
operated Whittonstall Drifts and Chopwell as separate
units.
Chopwell no.3 Pit closed in 1959; Chopwell no 1 pit closed
in 1960 and in 1966 coal was mined for the last time at
Chopwell and Whittonstall.
DMM
East Towneley Drift
Opened in 1954 by the National Coal Board, this mine
merged with Chopwell Colliery in 1957. It closed in 1961.
DMM
Milkwellburn Colliery (Blackhall Mill)
This colliery was known as the Carr Pit, named after the
first owner. The colliery is not shown on the OS 1st edition
surveyed in 1859. It is shown on the OS second edition
revised in 1895. The embankments and cuttings of a
waggonway linking the colliery to the coke works at
Westwood colliery are shown on the OS second edition,
but not the rails. The bridge over the Derwent is marked
as a Footbridge, suggesting that by 1895 the colliery and
waggonway were no longer in use. The records of the
Durham Mining Museum reveal that the Milkwellburn
colliery was owned by the Consett Iron Co in 1875, 1882
and 1883, but no men were employed there. The colliery
is not shown on the Consett Iron Co’s list of mines dated
1885. The assumption is that the Consett Iron Co acquired
the mine and its stock of coal and constructed a
waggonway to transport the coal to the company’s coke
works at Westwood colliery. This appears to have taken
place between 1875 and 1882.
DMM
X
Ebchester (Main) Colliery
The Ebchester Main Colliery is shown on the OS 1st
Edition surveyed in 1857. It does not appear on the OS
second edition revised in 1895.
The Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury of 21 July 1861
reported that a cart man employed in taking coals from
Ebchester Colliery to Shotley Bridge Paper Mills had been
seriously injured when he had been run over by his cart.
This colliery is described in the Home Office List of Mines
as being worked by Consett Iron Co from 1866 to 1872
and by Consett Iron Co Ltd from 1874 to 1876.
DMM
Westwood Colliery
The Derwent Valley Railway, which opened for freight
traffic in June 1867, prompted the Consett Iron Co. Ltd to
open the Westwood colliery and coke ovens (which were
built adjacent to the railway line) in around 1871.
The colliery closed in 1941.
DMM
Hamsterley Colliery
The Hamsterley Colliery, which comprised a number of
drift mines, was opened in 1864 by H W Watson along the
route of the Derwent Valley railway. In 1894 it was run by
the Owners of Hamsterley Colliery. It was acquired by the
Hamsterley Colliery Limited c1910. It became vested in
the National Coal Board on 1 January 1947 and closed in
1968.
Coal mining was dangerous and as with nearly all collieries
there are records of fatalities caused by accidents. There is
also a record that in 1928 three ponies were electrocuted
underground when damage to the insulation on a coal
cutting machine resulted in a short circuit.
DMM
Tanfield Moor Colliery
The Willie pit was opened at White-le-Head in 1768 by the
Earl of Kerry. Nathaniel Clayton was appointed the
manager of the colliery in July 1800, by which time it
appears that it was owned by William Morton Pitt. By
1820 John Buddle had become the manager/head viewer
of the colliery.
In 1834 the Stanhope & Tyne Railway laid a branch line to
the colliery and started to ship coal to the Tyne. In 1840
shipment was transferred to the Brandling Junction
Railway’s Tanfield branch line.
On 28 February 1836 William Morton Pitt, died and the
colliery was bought by John Berkely, a corn merchant, in
1841 for £16,500. It was again put up for sale in 1848 on
John Berkley’s bankruptcy. It appears to have been
acquired by John Bowes and Partners in 1849 and sold on
by them to James Joicey & Co in 1850. Whellan’s
Directory of 1890 recorded that the output, was 131,619
tons giving employment to 298 hands. The colliery
became vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January
1947. It closed in October 1948.
Miners from Tanfield Moor and Tanfield Lea played for
White-le-Head, the village famous in football legend as
giant-killers.
DMM
Mountsett Fell Drifts
The Mountsett Fell Drifts were opened in 1943 by
Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd. Ownership
transferred to the National Coal Board on 1 January 1947.
Mining ceased in 1948.
DMM
Tanfield Lea Colliery
The Colliery was sunk c1829 by the Marquess of Bute, the
Marquess of Hertford and Miss Simpson and was opened
in 1830. A second colliery was sunk in 1839.
The colliery was served by an extension of the Tanfield
Way. In 1834 there was a dispute between the owners of
Tanfield Moor and Tanfield Lea Collieries and Lord
Ravensworth, concerning the annual sum to be paid for
the use of the extension to the Tanfield Way. The matter
went to arbitration. In 1836 the Brandling Junction railway
agreed to upgrade the Tanfield Way to contemporary
standards.
In 1847 the Marquess of Bute the Marquess of Hertford
and Miss Simpson sold the colliery on the dissolution of
their partnership to James Joicey and Co.
This was a large colliery. In 1910 it employed over 1600
hands. It vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January
1947. The colliery closed on 25 August 1962.
DMM
East Tanfield Colliery
The colliery was opened by James Joicey in 1844 whose
company worked it until 1913.
The colliery was reopened by the East Tanfield Colliery Co
in 1919 and was worked until that company went into
liquidation on 28 January 1928.
It was taken over by the South Derwent Coal Co Ltd in
1929 and the colliery reopened in 1930. The colliery
vested in the National Coal Board on 1 January 1947 and
closed in 1965.
DMM
Medomsley Colliery
In 1833, the Stanhope & Tyne Railway acquired the
colliery and built a built a branch line to it. Coal was to be
used in the manufacture of lime. Surplus coal was to be
shipped from the Tyne. In 1834 the first coal was led from
Medomsley and shipped from South Shields via the newly
constructed railway. The company initially found it difficult
to recruit workers. There was little accommodation for
them and the wages on offer were deemed by the men to
be too low. In April 1837 the men went on strike and five
of them were imprisoned for 14 days for breach of their
bond. The wages were raised, those imprisoned released
and the men went back to work. The colliery was
expanded in 1839.
The Stanhope and Tyne Railway collapsed in 1841 and
Robert Stephenson (on behalf of the Railway Company)
negotiated with Mr E Richardson and another to take over
the colliery. Although the dates are uncertain, it is known
that the colliery was acquired by E Richardson & Co and
that it was later sold to the Consett Iron Co Ltd., probably
in the 1860s.
Tragically, in 1923 eight men were accidentally killed by
falling out of an ascending cage which had come out of
the mechanical lift guides.
The colliery vested in the National Coal Board on 1
January 1947. It closed in 1972.
DMM
Derwent Colliery
The colliery started working in 1839 when the land owner,
General Sir Martin Hunter and others let the coal
royalties. The Stanhope & Tyne Railway extended its
Medomsley branch to the pit in the same year. The pit was
acquired by Edward Richardson & Co in 1850. He sold it on
to the Consett Iron Company. A second shaft, the Hunter
Pit, was sunk in 1889. The colliery vested in the National
Coal Board on 1 January 1947 and closed in 1964.
DMM
Medomsley Cross Roads Colliery
The Colliery is shown on the 1st edition Ordnance
Survey(1859) and appears to be a drift mine. On the
Ordnance Survey 2nd edition(1895) it is shown as a coal
depot with a rail link to Medomsley colliery. On the
revised edition of the OS (1954) the rail link is no longer
there.
DMM
Pelton Fell and Newfield Collieries
Originally called Pelton Colliery, it was opened by
Kingscote & Co in 1835. Ownership had transferred to
James Reed and Partners by 1842. Reed died in 1848 and
the colliery was taken over by Swabey and Co. By 1866 it
was owned by William Calverly Curteis & Co., Mr W.J
Hutchinson being the managing partner. The colliery was
served by the Stanhope & Tyne Railway.
In January 1866, 5 teenagers were killed while riding in
tubs, contrary to instructions. In October 1866, 24 men
and boys were killed in the Busty seam by an explosion of
gas. The colliery was ventilated with 2 furnaces and a
Belgian Guibal fan. At the time of the blast, 160 men and
boys were working in the higher Hutton seam, but they
were not affected by the blast.
In 1873 it was acquired by Lord Dunsany and Partners,
who opened the Newfield Pit. Pelton Colliery was
renamed Pelton Fell and the Newfield pit was named
Pelton Colliery. In 1901 the Owners of Pelton Colliery Ltd
took over both collieries.
In 1910 the two collieries were employing 1,828 people.
Whellan’s 1894 directory records that the colliery village
was populous, the school having an average attendance of
900. The village had a Literary institute.
The owners went into liquidation in 1928 and the colliery
was sold by auction to Mid Durham Coal Co Ltd in 1929.
Newfield colliery closed in 1936. In 1947 Pelton Fell vested
in the National Coal Board. It closed in 1965.
DMM
Waldridge Colliery
The colliery was opened on August 1 1831 by George
Sowerby and Partners. The coals were transported on the
Stanhope & Tyne Railway to South Shields.
Whellan’s Directory of 1894 records that the colliery was
then being worked by Thiedemann & Wallis and that 320
men and boys were employed. A colliery school was
attended by about 300 children.
The pit was acquired c 1910 by Priestman Collieries Ltd. It
closed in April 1926.
DMM
Lumley Colliery
This is a colliery which straddled the edge of this map.
Mining had taken place for centuries and the origins of the
modern colliery go back to the 1770s. In the 1850s it was
worked by Stobart, Bell & Co and later by the Earl of
Durham, Lambton Collieries Ltd, Lambton & Hetton
Collieries, Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd and in
1947 it vested in the National Coal Board. By 1894 the 2nd
and 6th pits were being worked. Whellan records that the
colliery had been closed for many years and re-opened
about 30 years previously.
There were explosions at the colliery in 1708 (90), 1727
(60), 1797 (31), 1819 (13) and 1824 (14). The numbers in
brackets are the lives lost.
The pit closed on 22 January 1966.
DMM
West Pelton Colliery
(Alma, Handenhold and Twizell Burn)
The 18th century Alma pit was abandoned in 1802. It was
acquired by James Joicey and Co in c1858. It closed in
1921 and was reopened in 1942-3. The colliery vested in
the NCB on 1 January 1947. The Alma Pit closed in 1958.
The Handenhold pit closed in 1802. It was acquired by
Joicey with the Alma pit in c1858 and the two pits were
worked together. It was not worked between 1928 and
1932. It vested in the NCB in 1947 and closed in 1968.
Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd opened a second
Twizell Burn drift in 1930 which was managed as part of
the Alma pit at West Pelton. The drift vested in the NCB on
1 January 1947. Coal production ended in 1954.
DMM
South Pelaw Colliery
This colliery, on the line of the Stanhope & Tyne Railway
was opened in the 1840, probably by Hunt, Perkins & Co
(later Perkins & Co). The colliery closed in 1886. A new
colliery was sunk and opened in 1890 by the Owners of
South Pelaw Colliery. In the 1940s the owners were South
Pelaw Coal Co. Ltd. The pit vested in the NCB on 1 January
1947. It closed on 3 January 1964.
DMM
Twizell Colliery
In 1835 the coal field at Twizell was advertised to be let
and by 1844 James Joicey and Co had sunk a pit and
opened the mine. In 1847 the freeholder advertised the
royalty for sale and this was bought by the tenant, James
Joicey. The colliery was served by the Pontop and Shields
Railway. Adjacent to the colliery was an incline. Originally
the light waggons were drawn up the incline by the laden
waggons running down. However, when ironstone was
carried to Consett it was necessary to use locomotives to
push the ironstone waggons up the incline. In July 1851
there was an accident when a locomotive left the track,
overturned and buried two railmen beneath it. The cause
of the accident was never ascertained. The colliery closed
in 1938.
DMM
Craghead Colliery (aka Holmside) Colliery
The colliery was opened by William Hedley in 1839 and
later owned by members of his family (William Hedley &
Sons, Thomas Hedly & Bros, Thomas Hedley & Bos Ltd)
until 1925. Between 1925 and 1947 it was owned by
Holmside and South Moor Collieries Ltd (created on the
amalgamation of Thomas Hedley & Bros Ltd and South
Moor Collieries Ltd.) The colliery vested in the National
Coal Board in 1947. It closed in 1969. The colliery was
connected to the Stanhope & Tyne railway by a colliery
waggonway. In 1925, the colliery employed 2,730. Before
it closed in 1969, over 1,000 were employed. The colliery
had a fine brass band.
DMM
West Shieldrow Colliery, Stanley
The colliery was owned by R Dickinson & Co between
1878 and 1891. It transferred to the South Derwent Coal
Co Ltd in 1882. The company operated it until 1934.
DMM
Catch Pit, Kiphill, Stanley
This was part of the 18th century colliery. By the early
19th century it was being worked as part of Beamish
colliery.
DMM
X
Silvertop’s Pontop Colliery
This was an eighteenth century colliery. Buddle recorded
in 1792 that the lease had 8 or 9 years to go and doubted
whether it would be renewed. The colliery featured on a
map of 1812, but there is no other record of it.
DMM
Greencroft Tower Drift
There are records that this drift was open in the early 19th
century. It was reopened by the National Coal Board in
March 1954 and closed in July 1957.
DMM
Conside Colliery
Conside was owned by John Selby and leased to William
Wallace in 1833. Coal had not been worked there for
some time prior to 1833. The Stanhope & Tyne railway
had acquired it c 1834 for the purpose of burning lime.
Buddle carried out an inspection on behalf of the directors
of the S& T in 1836 and declared the coal to be neither
workable nor fit for any useful purpose. He recommended
that they close the colliery. The railway company gave the
owner a notice to quit the pit, which Selby disputed.
There is a record of an attempt to compromise when
Buddle offered a further 6 months’ rent in 1837. The S& T
collapsed in 1839 and it seems that by 1854 the colliery
was being worked by the Consett Iron Co. There are no
records of the colliery after 1855.
DMM
West Ellimore Colliery, Consett
Little is known of this colliery. It is shown on the OS 1st
edition surveyed in 1859 and marked West Ellimore Pit
(coal & clay). A report of a fatal accident at the pit on 7
October 1859 appeared in the Newcastle Courant. The pit
does not feature on the OS 2nd edition revised in 1895.
DMM
Crookhall Colliery, Consett
Crookhall colliery comprised a series of pits and drift
mines located to the south east of Consett. The pit head
was located at Delves Lane where there were two pits
(Lattter Day Saints and the Victory Pit, both open by
1849). The first edition of the OS shows a pit near
Stockerley House described on the OS 1st edition as
Crookhall Colliery. This pit had been sunk in the 1830s by
the Northern Mining Company, but had been abandoned
for some time owing to the poor quality of coal. In 1843
the manager of the Company, Benjamin Dodd, found a
new seam which prolonged the life of the pit. Stockerley
House pit is not recorded on the OS 2nd edition revised in
1895. The Consett Iron Company acquired the colliery in
c1858. A new pit at Carr House was sunk in 1870, but it is
not shown on the OS second edition revised in 1895. In
the 1920s a new Victory Pit was opened and drifts were
driven at Woodside Winnings and Humber Hill connected
to the Victory pit by rope worked railways. The colliery
vested in the National Coal Board in 1947 and closed in
1963.
DMM
Iveston Colliery
Opened in 1839 by Black, Ray & Co, the coal was to be
used by the Stanhope & Tyne Railway Company to burn
lime. By 1858 it was owned by the Consett Iron Co. In May
1863, a boiler at the colliery exploded , destroying the
engine house and a large chimney. Two men were injured,
but recovered. Forty pit ponies had to be brought to the
surface by windlass. No cause could be given to account
for the explosion. The colliery had been abandoned by
1894.
In 1929 the Consett Iron Co Ltd opened the Woodside
Winning coal drift (part of Crookhall Colliery) and this ran
into the workings of the Iveston Colliery.
DMM
Bogglehole (a.k.a. Boglehole) Drift
There was a pumping engine at Boglehole (aka
Bogglehole) in close proximity to the Stockerley House pit
of the Crookhall colliery. This is shown on the OS first
edition of 1859. The second edition revised in 1895
shows the engine and coal drifts to the east of the Engine.
It is understood that the drift was worked between the
late 1890s and 1939 and that more drifts at this location
were opened nearby in 1925. The Boglehole engine was
presumably built to drain local mines. From 1896 the
water was pumped to Consett for cooling at the Steel
Works.
DMM
Greencroft Colliery
The colliery was opened in 1840 and was owned by the
Northern Mining Coal Co who held a 31 year lease from
23 November 1839. The mine closed in 1845.
In 1854 John Bowes & Partners bought the mine and
worked it until 1860.
DMM
Brooms Drift
This is a drift mine which appears to have been open
between 1851 and 1883.
It was owned by the Consett Iron Company.
DMM
Blackhill Colliery
a.k.a. Tin Mill Colliery, Consett Colliery,
Mount Pleasant Colliery
The Colliery and the adjacent Tin Works belonged to the
Shotley Bridge Iron Company which went into liquidation
in 1866. The assets of the company including this colliery
were acquired by the Consett Iron Co. The colliery closed
in 1910. The colliery was idle during the miners’ strike of
1910 and does not appear to have re-opened.
DMM
Kibblesworth Colliery
The 19th century colliery was opened in 1842 by George
Southern (manager and viewer of the colliery) and
partners, who extended the Springwell railway to it. The
colliery was acquired by John Bowes and Partners in 1851.
In 1855 a boiler at the pit exploded, killing the boiler man
and injuring others. In 1856 another boiler exploded, this
time killing two men.
Whellan’s directory (1894) records that the proprietors
had sponsored the building of a Mechanics’ Institute,
containing a reading room, and library of about 300
volumes; a Primitive Methodist Chapel to seat 260
persons; a Wesleyan Chapel; a Colliery School, to
accommodate 193 children and that Nether Hall, the
former residence of the Greenwell family, was then let in
tenements, part of which was converted into the post
office, the rest occupied by miners.
A new shaft was sunk in 1935. The colliery vested in the
National Coal Board on 1 January 1947. It closed in 1974.
DMM
Ravensworth Castle Colliery
There are references to an early nineteenth century pit
near Ravensworth Castle.
DMM
Ravensworth Team Valley Collieries
The Team Colliery (aka Ravensworth Betty, Ravensworth
Ann & Eighton collieries) and Allerdean (aka Ravensworth
Shop colliery) were owned by Lord Ravensworth. His
family (the Liddells) had mined a multitude of small pits in
the Team valley throughout the early 18th century and
many of these are shown on the 1st and 2nd editions OS
maps.
By 1854 Allerdean was let to Barkass & Co and between
1866 and 1868 to Smith Crowther and Co. In 1869 William
Wharton Burdon, whose family had mined the Team
Colliery since 1797, acquired a lease of Allerdean and
from this time the two collieries were jointly owned and
managed. From 1893 they were worked by Charles
Perkins and Partners (later EM Perkins & Partners), the
owners of Birtley Iron Company and in the 1920s they
were acquired by Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd. In 1947 they
were vested in the National Coal Board.
Ravensworth Shop closed in 1962. Ravensworth Park Drift
was opened by Pelaw Main Collieries in 1940. In 1968 the
drift was extended to the Ravensworth Ann Colliery and
renamed Ravensworth Ann. Kibblesworth and
Ravensworth Ann collieries merged underground in 1973
and mining ceased a year later.
DMM
Causey Mill Drift
Causey Mill Drift was worked by the National Coal Board
between 1949 and January 1955. It employed 43 men
working the Huttton and Low Main seams.
DMM
Urpeth (including Bewicke Main) Colliery
The early nineteenth century colliery belonged to William
Peareth. He died in 1810 and at that time the colliery was
let to Harrison & Co. Buddle recorded that it had been let
for 40 years from 12/5/1803. Harrison, Cooke and Co were
declared bankrupt in 1811 and the colliery was sold at
public auction to a new partnership led by Benjamin
Thompson. By 1854 the colliery was owned by Hunt,
Perkins and Co, the owners of Ouston (Pelaw Main)
Colliery and Birtley Iron Company, which sourced its coal
from Ouston and later Urpeth Collieries. In 1920 Urpeth
and Ouston collieries were acquired by Pelaw Main
Collieries Ltd which modernised and reorganised them
and vastly increased production of coal. They were
transferred to the National Coal Board in 1947. Urpeth
closed in March 1957.
DMM
Ouston (Pelaw Main) Colliery
The nineteenth century colliery and rebuilt waggonway
were opened in 1815 by Perkins, Thompson & Co. (later
known variously as Hunt, Perkins & Co, EM Perkins and
Partners and Charles Perkins & Partners). The Perkins
family owned the Birtley Iron Co which sourced its coal
from Ouston and later Urpeth Collieries. A second pit was
sunk in 1824. From 1920 to 1946 the colliery belonged to
Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd which through reorganisation
and modernisation improved the output of the collieries.
By 1930 there were 6 pits managed by the company
including Ouston and Urpeth collieries, with an aggregate
output of 1,300,000 tons p.a.
The colliery vested in the National Coal Board in January
1947. It closed in January 1959.
DMM
South Birtley Colliery
This was an 18th century colliery which was reopened in
1866. It was a small landsale pit operated sequentially by J
Elliott, Armitage, JF Swinburn, Allison & Cockburn, and
William Allison. It was abandoned in 1921. In 1951 it was
described as a small drift mine worked under licence from
the NCB by the Leafield Brick & Tile Company, employing
10 men underground and 3 on the surface. On 13 March
1951 the roof of the drift collapsed trapping 7 men and 2
ponies. They were rescued the next day.
DMM
Bradley Cottages Colliery
A drift opened in 1898 and closed in 1939
DMM
Blackhouse Colliery (Wash Houses Pit)
This colliery is shown on the 1st Edition OS map (1857).
On the 2nd edition (1895) it is marked as disused.
The colliery was re-opened in 1913 by the Birtley Iron
Company, owned by the Perkins family of Birtley Hall,
who had other mines in the vicinity.
In January 1914, Joseph Cook, passing the base of an old
shaft filled in with debris, noticed water bursting from it.
Anticipating the danger, instead of making his way to
safety, he went to search for two men to warn them, by
which time the debris from the old shaft had filled up the
road from floor to roof for a distance of 35 yards. The
three miners were rescued 22 hours later. For his bravery
Cook was awarded the Edward medal.
The colliery was closed between 1914 and 1920 when it
was acquired by Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd and re-opened.
It closed permanently in 1932.
DMM
Harraton Colliery
In the early 19th century the colliery was worked by
Messrs Wade & Hutton, Longridge & Co, Grimshaw &
Bonner, Messrs Warren & Lamb and William Stobart. By
1896 it was being worked by Lambton Collieries Ltd (later
Lambton & Hetton Collieries Ltd and even later by
Lambton Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd). It vested in the
NCB on 1 January 1947 and was closed by them on 29
May 1965.
There were explosions at the Row pit in 1808 killing at
least 4 and in 1817 when 38 were killed, including a five
year old boy and 10 members of the Hills family (father,
two sons and 7 grandsons). Instructions had been given to
use the newly invented Davy Lamp, but sadly candles
were used which caused the explosion.
The 1st edition of the OS map (1857) shows a waggonway
between the colliery and the Wear. On the 2nd edition OS
map (1895) the colliery is linked to the Pontop and South
Shields Railway.
DMM
Birtley Northside (Toft Moor) Colliery
This was an 18th century colliery. Some mining continued
into the 19th century. The 1st edition Ordnance Survey
(1857) suggests that the Whin Pit, Engine Pit and Lamb Pit
were still operational. The 2nd edition (1895) shows them
as disused.
DMM
Mount Moor (Black Fell – Springwell Vale) Colliery
This 18th century colliery which appears to have been
owned jointly by Lord Ravensworth, Mary Bowes and the
Earl of Bute, was working in the early 19th century. Six
men and boys (including three brothers) were killed in
1815 when the bucket chain slipped off the rope as they
were ascending the shaft. The Springwell Colliery Railway
opened in 1826 and took coal from the colliery to Jarrow.
The colliery was advertised for sale by auction in in 1833
at which time 10 years and 6 months remained unexpired
on Lord Ravensworth and Partners’ lease. Mount Moor
appears in the list of River Tyne Collieries in 1834 and
there are records of coal being led from the colliery from
1834 to 1838. The colliery was acquired by John Bowes
and Partners in 1850. The Newcastle and Tyne Mercury
reported on 23 May 1863 that a furnace man had
wandered into old workings and had become lost and
exhausted. He was rescued 5 days later. He said that he
drank the oil out of his lamp for subsistence and laid the
oily wick to his lips to keep them moist!
The colliery closed in 1931.
DMM
Stormont Main (King Pit) Colliery
This pit in Wrekenton appears to have been opened in
1828 to provide coal for the Birtley Iron Co. There was a
gas explosion on 12 July 1831, killing 3 men. By the early
1840s the pit was owned by J. Grace and Partners. On 7
April 1843, 27 men were suffocated at the mine by an
escape of gas. The mine had a single shaft and for the
purposes of ventilation this was divided by a wooden
brattice, fresh air going down one side and the circulated
air from the mine escaping through the other. The
following month a mass demonstration of pitmen took
place. A delegation of them lodged a petition before
Parliament complaining that the bratticing of a single shaft
was insufficient to provide adequate ventilation. They
requested Parliament to legislate that mines should have
at least two shafts. It was only after the New Hartley
(Northumberland) disaster in 1862, when 204 miners
were suffocated after a broken beam engine blocked a
single shaft, that single shaft mines were prohibited.
Stormont Main closed in 1847.
DMM
Springwell Colliery
Lord Ravensworth and Partners began to sink this colliery
in 1821. It was shipping coal by 1826 via a new railway to
a drop at Jarrow. In the 1850s the colliery was acquired by
John Bowes and Partners. It closed in 1932.
There were explosions at this colliery in 1833 (47
fatalities), 1837 (27 fatalities) and 1869 (5 fatalities).
DMM
Sheriff Hill (Ellison Main) Colliery
This colliery was opened in 1775 by the trustees of the
late Henry Ellison Esq. At that time the King Pit (Stormont
Main) was part of the Sheriff Hill Colliery. Between 1804
and 1810 John Buddle was the head viewer and part
owner of the colliery. There was an explosion killing 14 in
1815 and later that year a fire when the shaft brattice
caught fire, killing 5. There was a further explosion in 1819
when 2 men and 33 boys were killed
In 1830s the colliery was leased by Messrs Lamb &
Hutchinson. Views of the Collieries 1844 records:
‘The coals are drawn at two shafts by an engine of about
30 horses’ power, which raises three corves at once.
Another engine, of the same power, is employed in
pumping the water to a height of 30 fathoms from the
bottom, where it is discharged into a drift of about 1¼
mile in length, and is finally drawn out by an engine at the
Low Fell. The waggon-way from the Isabella Pit to the
Tyne is about 3 miles in length, and the waggons are
transmitted along it chiefly by means of inclined planes.’
In 1860 the colliery was leased by Messrs Gibson & Co
The colliery is shown as closed on the 2nd edition OS map
(1895). The colliery was on Old Durham Road Gateshead
and the site is now occupied by the Cardinal Hume School.
DMM
Upper Heworth Colliery
There were two collieries at Upper Heworth. They are
both shown on the OS 1st edition (1858), the colliery to
the north being described as Old Upper Heworth Colliery.
The old colliery was owned by Blackett and opened in
1750. There are records of the colliery being in operation
in the 1830s, but it does not appear to have survived for
much longer.
The OS 1st edition shows Upper Heworth Colliery to the
south with a rail connection and records suggest that it
was in operation in the 1840s. By 1850 it was worked by
J.B. Pearson & Co. At the beginning of the 20th century it
was owned by Heworth Coal Co (later Heworth Coal Co
Ltd). It vested in the National Coal Board in 1947 and
closed in 1963.
DMM
Felling (Brandling Main) Colliery
Brandling Main colliery was opened in the 18th century. In
1802 the land was owned by Charles Brandling of
Gosforth. The geology made it difficult to run the colliery
profitably and in 1811 the colliery closed. A new shaft, the
John Pit was sunk to the Low Main seam later that year. By
1828 the lessees of the pit were John Grace & Co. In 1854
it was worked by Carr, Potts & Co. In 1868 the lessees
were Sir George Elliott & Co. In 1883 it was acquired by
John Bowes & Partners.
There were a series of explosions at the pit: 28 May 1812
(92 killed) 24 December 1813 (9 men and 13 boys killed
and 21 injured) 23 October 1821 (6 killed) and 3 July 1847
(4 men 2 boys 18 horses and 2 ponies killed).
The 1812 disaster led to greater safety measures in coal
mines. In 1813 the Society for Preventing Accidents in
Coal Mines was established and in 1815 miners’ safety
lamps were invented by George Stephenson and Sir
Humphrey Davy
In 1911 John Booth was awarded the Edward Medal for
his attempts to rescue two men overcome by gas.
The pit closed in 1931.
DMM
Shipcote Colliery
The Shipcote colliery on Sunderland Road (adjacent to the
Aldi store) was opened in 1854 by John Bowes and
Partners. The Times on 10 January 1856 reported that the
mine had only been sunk a few months previously, and
that the coal was being worked principally for land sale.
The drifts, it appeared, had been pushed too near to an
old flooded mine at Felling, and water rushed through into
the workings of the new mine, filling them and ascending
some feet up the shaft. Workmen were employed at the
time, but they had sufficient opportunity to escape, and
no lives were lost.
Following the inundation, a pocket of gas exploded,
injuring three men.
The pit closed in the 1880s.
DMM
Oakwellgate Colliery
The colliery was sunk in 1838 by Thomas Easton who
designed the Friars Goose pumping engine. It was open in
1842. The colliery was situated at the south end of
Oakwellgate. The site is now part of the East Gate road
system. There was a waggonway from the colliery to
staithes on the Tyne. These are visible on the OS 1st
edition, although they are not labelled. The colliery closed
in 1858 after it had been flooded.
DMM
Tyne Main Colliery
The OS 1st edition map (1857) shows pits labelled Tyne
Main Colliery at (1) Friar’s Goose, (2) the Old Fold and at
(3) a site in Gateshead close to Gateshead College. None
of them is shown on the OS second edition as working
collieries. The third pit was sunk in 1812 on the site of the
Old Gateshead Park Colliery. In 1823 a large pumping
engine was built at Friar’s Goose. A second engine was
constructed there in 1841.
DMM
Greymare Hill Area
Greymare Hill Colliery, which historically supplied coal for
use in lead mills, was reopened in c 1820 for land sale
coal. It was run by Parson & White (1827), John Milburn
(1828), Brown (1855), Thomas Robinson (1875), Mary Ann
Robinson (1889) and William Hall 1904. The Colliery was
abandoned in December 1904.
Church Hills drift was operated by Matthew Mitcheson
between 1938 and 1947. It was a very small concern with
6 or fewer men working underground.
There were a series of small early 19th century drift mines
to the north of Unthank worked by Parson & White and
John Dolphin. None of them is shown on the 1st edition
OS map of 1857 which suggests they were short lived.
Unthank colliery is shown on the 2nd edition OS map of
1895. The proprietor was John Drummond. The colliery
was operated by John Bell in 1906 and by his executors in
1914. It was transferred to Mary Robson who was the
owner when the colliery was abandoned in 1919. A
smaller drift at Unthank was opened in the 1930s. The
area was opencasted in the 1950s.
DMM
Hedley on the Hill area
There was a small land sale drift mine known as Hedley
Colliery or Hedley Bank Colliery to the west of the village .
There is a record of its being worked in 1727. During the
19th and 20th centuries it was operated by the Walker
family. After nationalisation in 1947, it operated as a
private licensed mine, closing in 1950.
Hedley Grange was a drift mine opened in the 1950s by W.
Batey and others. It closed in 1961.
Hedley Drift was a licensed drift mine at North Farm
operated by Walker Brothers between 1952 and 1967.
They operated another drift at Hedley Hill between 1968
and the early 1970s.
Ringing Pit is shown on the 1st Edition OS map (surveyed
1854) as an old coal pit.
DMM
Whittonstall Village
There are records of a working mine in Whittonstall village
in 1820. Its location is shown on the OS 1st edition map
(surveyed 1854) and it is thought to have closed around
that time.
Highfield Drift was operated by W & RW Stokoe between
1948 and 1953.
DMM
Mickley Collieries
Mickley Colliery opened in c1774. The 1st edition OS map
(1856) and the 2nd edition OS map (1895) show the
colliery linked by a tramway to Coke Ovens built adjacent
to the Newcastle Carlisle Railway. It was operated in the
mid 1850s by the Mickley Coal company, a partnership of
John & Isaac Cookson, William Cuthbert and Matthew
John Liddell who also owned Prudhoe and West Wylam
Collieries. Mickley Coal Co Ltd was formed in 1899. The
colliery closed around 1936.
West Mickley Colliery was opened in 1899 by the West
Mickley Coal Co. Ltd. It operated until 1924. In its heyday
in 1910, there were 541 employed at the colliery.
Mickley Bank was a small land sale drift mine owned by
the Bewick family of Cherryburn House from the late
1600s. It closed in 1936, reopening in 1946 and operating
under licence from the National Coal Board until It finally
closed in 1956.
Mickley Grange was operated by R J Bewick and brothers
between c1914 and 1932.
DMM
Stanley Burn (Prudhoe) Colliery
Opened by the National Coal Board in 1950, it operated
until 1965, employing more than 100 men underground.
DMM
X
Edgewell Colliery
John Johnson was the owner of the colliery which was
open in the 1870s/1880s. The colliery was associated
with the adjoining brick and tile works. It was owned by
Johnson & Murton from 1895 and by William Wilkinson
from 1899 to 1904. The coal was exhausted by 1904.
DMM
Prudhoe Colliery
In 1837 Christopher Blackett took a 21 year lease from the
Duke of Northumberland to create a new mine at the
Grand Lease West Colliery in Prudhoe. John Buddle
records that he inspected the shaft which was being sunk
in 1837. On 28 November 1837, the master sinker
drowned when the rope slipped off the roll. The colliery
was in production by 1839.
It was operated by M. Johnson between 1854 and 1865
and by John Johnson until 1870. William Isaac Cookson &
Co worked the mine between 1873 and 1875.
In 1880 it was owned by the Mickley Coal Co. The colliery,
which was served by the Newcastle Carlisle Railway,
closed in 1938.
DMM
Eltringham Colliery
There was a land sale colliery at Eltringham c1820. It was
owned by A.T. & E Humble in 1858. A new colliery was
sunk in 1884 by the Eltringham Colliery Company
adjacent to the Eltringham Brick & Tile Works with a link
to the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway. The colliery
transferred to West Mickley Coal Co in 1899. It closed in
1902.
A drift mine was opened at Eltringham in 1927 by Messrs
CR Forster and G Stoker trading as Eltringham Coal Co. It
was a small concern employing fewer than 20. After 1
January 1947 it operated as a private mine, licensed by
the National Coal Board. It closed in 1950.
DMM
Frenches Close Colliery
There were 19th century coal pits in the area of Frenches
Close. The 1st edition OS map (1858) shows the route of
an old waggonway, but mining appears to have ceased by
then.
DMM
X
Bradley Fell Colliery
Twentieth century Ordnance survey maps show the
existence of a disused drift mine. It does not appear on
19th Century Ordnance Survey maps.
Link to
Web page
The Industry in the 19th & 20th Centuries
Coal production in the North Eastern Coalfield rose from 7
million tons in 1830 to c54 million tons by 1913.
Those waggonways still in use were gradually improved
and by 1830 most were operated with a combination of
fixed engines, inclined planes and iron rails. By the 1830s
new mineral railways were being built, some of which
used steam locomotives.
The employment underground of women and children
under 10 was made illegal in 1842 and in 1872 the full
time employment of boys under 12 was prohibited,
limited working hours were introduced and it became a
requirement that children between 10 and 13 were to
receive half day schooling.
During the 19th Century, prospecting for coal became a
speciality. The specialists were known as viewers and most
of them were based in the North East. Boring techniques
improved slowly. Improved pumping machinery was
developed. Experiments were made with mechanical fans
and air pumps to ventilate pits as an alternative to furnace
ventilation. Lighting remained an issue. Miners’ safety
lamps were invented, but were unpopular with miners
because they produced less light than a naked candle and
did not eliminate the risk of explosion. Naked lights
remained the norm in large parts of the North East as late
as 1913. Electric lamps were slow to be introduced
because initially the batteries were heavy and had a short
life.
Link to
Web page
About this Map
Collieries are shown with coloured dots. The colour of the
dots refers to the source: red are from the 1st edition 6
inch OS maps (surveyed 1859); the pink from the 2nd
edition 6 inch OS maps (revised 1895); the green from the
2nd edition 25 inch OS maps (revised 1895); the blue from
the 1:25,000 OS maps published in 1954; the light blue
(Clockburn drift) from local knowledge and the orange
from data compiled by Dr M Eyre.
On hovering over a colliery, the cursor will change to an
arrow with a question mark. A left click of the mouse will
reveal a pop up box giving information of the colliery and
in many cases a link to the Durham Mining Museum’s web
site. The pop up box information is based on the research
of Dr M Eyre.
Those wooden waggonways which were probably still in
existence in 1801 can be turned on and off at the menu.
The routes of railways, most of which were mainly for
mineral traffic, are those shown on OS maps. These can be
turned off and on at the menu.
The settlements (brown) and industry (purple) are those
shown on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey maps (1859).
Settlements and industry in 2020 may be turned on and
off at the menu.
The roads are those on Greenwood’s map surveyed in
1818-19. A & B roads shown on OS twentieth century
maps can be turned on and off.
DMM
Dike Head Drift
This was a mine operated by George Hare & Sons between
1910 and 1940.
The Colliery Guardian reported in January 1932 that
improvements were being carried out at the colliery. It
started out as a drift, but after a few years the surface was
removed off the coal and the mine was worked as a coal
quarry. By 1932 the surface was 6 feet high and it had
been decided to timber the surface up, thereby restoring
it as a drift mine.
DMM
Tanfield Drift
This was a mine operated by George Hare & Sons between
1915 and 1930.
DMM
Rickless Travelling Drift
The stables and associated drift were opened c 1920 by
Priestman Collieries Ltd. The stables housed pit ponies
working in Victoria Garesfield Colliery, two miles to the
south. The drift was used only for ventilation and for
access by men and pit ponies. The building is still in use as
a stable. A replica has been built in the pit village in the
Beamish Open Air Museum.
DMM
John Bowes and Partners
John Bowes, son of John Bowes 10th Earl of Strathmore
and Kinghorne, was born in 1811 and died in 1885. His
great grandfather Sir George Bowes had been one of the
founders of the ‘Grand Alliance.’ John Bowes was an art
collector and racehorse owner and inherited his father’s
estate (but not his title) in 1820. He lived much of his life
in France. In 1839 he formed the Marley Hill Coal Co, and
sank a new Marley Hill Colliery known as the Lodge Pit.
He found it difficult to raise the capital and had to
negotiate considerable loans from the Northumberland
and District Bank. In 1844 a young Charles Palmer joined
the company where he displayed outstanding business
acumen. In 1846 Palmer bought half of Bowes’ share in
the company and became the managing director. In 1847
the company name changed to John Bowes and Partners.
Palmer expanded the company, which in its heyday owned
17 collieries, producing huge quantities of coal and coke.
He took a lease of a shipyard in 1851 at Jarrow, which was
the terminus of the Bowes Railway and formed Palmer
Brothers & Co shipbuilders in 1852. Charles and his
brother George developed the first iron screw collier,
named the John Bowes. This revolutionised the carriage of
coal by sea, shortening the duration of passages and
increasing the capacity of the colliers.
DMM
James Joicey & Co
James Joicey established the mining company, James
Joicey & Co in 1838 (incorporated in 1866). His nephew,
another James (later 1st Baron Joicey) aged 17 joined the
firm in 1863 as a clerk and rose to become Managing
Director in 1872. Joicey purchased Lord Durham’s
Lambton collieries in 1896 and the Hetton Collieries in
1911. He became the Chairman and Managing Director of
both James Joicey and Co Ltd and Lambton & Hetton
Collieries Ltd. In 1924, the two companies merged to form
Lambton, Hetton and Joicey Collieries Ltd, reputedly the
world’s largest coal mining company. Lord Joicey, often
referred to as ‘Old King Coal’, was one of the country’s
leading industrialists.
DMM
The Edward Medal
The Edward Medal was instituted by King Edward VII on
13 July 1907 to recognise acts of bravery of miners and
quarrymen who endangered their lives to rescue their
fellow workers.
The medal was divided into two grades: first class (silver)
and second class (bronze). The Edward Medal for miners
was awarded only 395 times (77 silver and 318 bronze).
The medal was discontinued in 1971, when surviving
recipients were invited to exchange their award for the
George Cross.
DMM
John Buddle (1772-1843)
John Buddle, as a colliery viewer, colliery manager, Lord
Londonderry’s agent and a part owner of several
collieries, became a major influence in the development
of the North East Coalfield. His reputation as an expert in
the planning, construction and management of coal mines
extended throughout the country. He was consulted by
coal owners in other coalfields and gave evidence to
Parliamentary committees. His reputation helped raise the
status of colliery viewers to men of eminence, holding a
distinguished position in society. He promoted the
adoption of safety measures in coal mines, particularly the
improvement of ventilation and the use of safety lamps.
He also played a major role in the improvement of port
facilities, such as the Port of Tyne and Seaham Harbour.
DMM
Lady Jane Clavering (died 1735)
Lady Jane Clavering, a formidable business woman, was
the widow of the 3rd Clavering Baronet who had died in
1714. Her son, Sir James Clavering had inherited the
Baronetcy at the age of 6. Lady Jane became the sole
guardian of her son and she managed the collieries she
had inherited, as well as those owned by the Baronetcy,
during her son’s minority. These were served by the
Western Way. The Coal Office, an early 18th century
cartel, led by William Coatsworth sought to restrict
production of coal, particularly those which the Western
Way served. Sir John Clavering died in 1726 at the age of
18 without heirs and the Baronetcy passed to his late
father’s younger brother, Sir Francis Clavering.
Sir Francis had given a bond to William Coatsworth, to
whom he was indebted, that he would close the Western
Way over his lands in the event that he succeeded to the
Baronetcy. Coatsworth required performance of the bond,
effectively rendering worthless the collieries owned by Sir
Francis and those of Lady Jane.
The opening of the Tanfield Waggonway in 1723 led to the
formation of a new cartel known as the Grand Alliance.
The Grand Allies entered into negotiations with Lady Jane
seeking to take a share of her interests and limiting
production. The negotiations failed and Lady Jane in 1728
constructed a new waggonway from Burnopfield down
Busty Bank to the Derwent into which the southern
stretch of the Western Way could connect.
Lady Jane died in 1735, leaving her wealth to her
daughter, Lady Windsor.
DMM
William Coatsworth (Cotesworth) 1668? – 1726
Coatsworth began his career as an apprentice to a
Gateshead merchant. By 1700 he was a partner in the
business which traded as grocers, cloth merchants, tallow
chandlers and wine merchants. In 1703, he became the
agent for the Shotley Bridge Hollow Sword Company. He
was recruited by the Liddells of Ravensworth Castle to
administer the Coal Office and the Regulation, early
attempts to regulate the output of coal. He leased salt
pans in North Shields, eventually becoming the largest salt
manufacturer in the area. He also became an agent for
owners of lead mines and mills. By 1708 he was working
deposits of coal in Gateshead and Newcastle. In 1712 he
persuaded his brother-in-law to buy the Gateshead and
Whickham Grand Lease, which came up for renewal.
Coatsworth managed the new lease and was able to
regulate the amount of coal coming to the market from
the western collieries through the granting and or
withholding of wayleaves. This brought him into open and
violent confrontation with the Claverings of Axwell Park.
He promoted the partnership which became known as the
Grand Alliance. In 1719 he was appointed High Sheriff of
Northumberland. He died in 1726. The Ellison and Carr-
Ellison families were his descendants.
DMM
The Grand Allies
By the beginning of the 18th century the control of the
Tyne coal trade by the Hostmen of Newcastle upon Tyne
came to an end as the capital required to exploit coal
reserves soared beyond their means. Coal owners realised
that they would have to combine to secure control and
advantage. In 1726, Colonel George Liddell, Sidney
Wortley Montagu, Sir George Bowes, William Coatsworth
and Thomas Ord signed an agreement which came to be
known as the Grand Alliance. The effect of the agreement
was to pool wayleaves and waggonways (particularly the
Tanfield way); to deny their use to others and to share the
coal in many of the collieries. In addition to the pooling of
capital and resources, the aim of the Allies was to control
production in order to support the price of coal. This was
done by the payment of dead rents to coal owners in
order to keep their collieries out of production and by
closing the waggonways used by non members, notably
the Western Way used by the western alliance. By 1770
the Grand Allies dominated the Tyne coal trade, but this
waned as other coal owners were admitted and as the
market importance of the North East coalfield reduced.
DMM
The Hostmen
The Bishops of Durham were the Lords of the Manor of
large areas of land in the parishes of Gateshead and
Whickham and as such were able to control the
exploitation of coal there. In 1582 Queen Elizabeth I
forced the Bishop of Durham to grant to her a 99 year
lease of these manorial lands. The lease was eventually
transferred to Newcastle Corporation and mining leases
were granted to Newcastle merchants who were members
of the company of Hostmen and who traded in coal.
Queen Elizabeth I granted a Royal charter incorporating
the company and granting it exclusive rights to trade coal
on the Tyne in exchange for a one shilling tax on every
chaldron of coal shipped. The Hostmen operated as a
cartel controlling the production and indirectly the price
of coal.
DMM
Consett Iron Co Ltd
The Derwent Iron Co was formed in 1840 by a Shotley
Bridge business man, Jonathan Richardson and others to
make iron at Consett, using local ironstone, coal and lime.
The catalyst for the promotion of the company was the
opening of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway in 1834.
The Derwent Iron Co. was closed down by its bank and in
1857 the Derwent and Consett Iron Co was formed in an
attempt to rescue the venture. This also failed and in 1864
the Consett Iron Co Ltd was formed which successfully
acquired the assets of the business, including 18 blast-
furnaces, forges, mills, a significant real estate and coal
royalties. The local ironstone was quickly exhausted and a
network of railways converged on Consett to bring in
supplies of ore and to transport iron and steel produced at
the works. In 1947, the company’s coal mines were
nationalised and came under the control of the National
Coal Board. The company itself was nationalised in 1951,
became part of British Steel in 1967, and was renamed as
Consett Steel Works. At its peak in the 1960s, Consett
Steel Works provided jobs for 6,000. British Steel Consett
Works was closed on 12th September 1980, with the loss
of over 4,000 jobs.
DMM
The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway
Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, a company formed in
1825, began operating as a mineral line between Hexham
& Blaydon in 1834. Controversy raged over the route of
the eastern end of the line. The original proposal was to
construct a bridge over the Tyne and run the line to
Newcastle along the north bank. However, it was later
decided to follow the south bank, eventually connecting
with the Brandling Junction Railway’s steep incline to
Gateshead at Redheugh in 1839. The Brandling Junction
line continued to South Shields and later to Sunderland.
Prior to 1839 passengers from Carlisle were ferried to
Newcastle from Redheugh, but in that year a direct route
from Blaydon to Newcastle was opened via a bridge over
the Tyne at Scotswood.
The N&CR merged with the North Eastern Railway in
1862.
DMM
Stanhope and Tyne Railway (1834-1841)
Harrison and Barnard owned limestone quarries on the
moor above Stanhope. They proposed to make lime, using
limestone from their quarry and coal from a new colliery
at Medomsley, taking it on a new railway to South Shields
for export. They also hoped to negotiate the carriage of
coal from pits along the route of the railway. The company
was unincorporated and investors were personally liable
for all the debts of the company. The railway was not built
under the authority of an Act of Parliament: wayleaves
had to be negotiated for which high rents had to be paid.
The railway used rope haulage and inclined planes over
Waskerley moor, wagon lifts at Hownes Gill which
lowered and raised wagons one at a time up and down a
1 in 3 gradient. Horse power was used in places and
horses were carried in dandy carts. There were four self
acting inclines on the section between Leadgate and
Pelton. Locomotives built by Robert Stephenson were
used on the final stretch between Washington and South
Shields via Brockley Whins.
In 1839, the Stanhope lime works went into liquidation
and the section of line between Stanhope and Leadgate
(Pontop) closed. Investors (including Robert Stephenson)
faced ruin. In 1842, Stephenson formed an incorporated
company to absorb the eastern section of the line, which
was renamed the Pontop and South Shields Railway. The
newly created Derwent Iron Company purchased the
western section in 1842 to obtain limestone from
Stanhope and coal from Medomsley for their new iron
works at Consett.
DMM
Derwent Valley Railway
The North Eastern Railway, after successfully repelling two
attempts by the London and North Western Railway to
construct a line through the Derwent Valley, obtained an
Act of Parliament to construct a branch line from Blaydon
to Consett on 30 June 1862. The success of this line
depended on the fortunes of the Consett Iron Co which
was in severe financial crisis in 1862. These difficulties
were resolved in 1864 and work began on the line two
months later. The branch opened for freight on 18 June
1867 and for passengers on 2 December 1867. Coal traffic
came from Axwell Park (Swalwell), Rowlands Gill, Victoria
Garesfield, South Garesfield, Lintz, Hamsterley, Westwood
and Blackhill.
Passenger services ended in 1954 and the line closed for
freight traffic in 1963.
DMM
The Brandling Junction Railway
The first sections to open were a 1 in 23 incline between
Redheugh (connecting with the Newcastle and Carlisle
Redheugh branch) and Oakwellgate, Gateshead, powered
by a stationary engine, and a self acting inclined plane
down to the Quayside at Gateshead. In 1839, lines
between South Shields and Monkwearmouth
(Sunderland) and between Gateshead and a junction with
the Stanhope and Tyne railway near Brockley Whins were
opened.
In 1836 the BJR agreed to upgrade the Tanfield
waggonway in order to convey coal from the Marley Hill
and Tanfield areas to South Shields via the BJR’s Redheugh
branch and its main line. The railway operated with three
self acting inclines (Tanfield Moor, Sunniside and Lobley
Hill), three stationary engine inclines and three horse
worked inclines. The railway was taken over by George
Hudson in 1845 and it later became part of the North
Eastern Railway. In 1881 steam locomotives replaced all
but the self acting inclined planes.
The line closed in stages, the final section closing in 1964.
Sections of the Tanfield branch are now operated as a
heritage railway. The Tyne & Wear metro makes use of the
line between Felling and Sunderland.
DMM
The Bowes Railway
The first section of the railway between Springwell and
Jarrow was designed by George Stephenson and opened
in January 1826. It was 15 miles long. Each end was was
worked by locomotives and the six mile middle section
consisted of rope worked inclines.
In 1840 the railway was extended to Kibblesworth colliery
using two rope hauled inclines. John Bowes acquired the
Springwell railway in 1850 and opened a link between
Kibblesworth and Marley Hill in 1854. Bowes had already
opened a line connecting Dipton, Burnopfield (Hobson)
and Byermoor to Marley Hill, using a stationary engine at
Hobson Bank. The new railway from Dipton to Jarrow was
renamed the Pontop & Jarrow railway in Nov 1853 and in
1932 its name was changed to the Bowes Railway. In 1947
the Bowes railway became vested in the National Coal
Board. By 1968 all tracks west of Marley Hill had been
abandoned and in 1970 the tracks serving Marley Hill
closed. In 1955, the Pelaw Main Railway had been
incorporated with the Bowes Railway and the last section
of PMR track closed in April 1973.
DMM
The Garesfield and Chopwell Railway
This colliery railway started life as a branch of Western
Way III waggonway, serving collieries at Thornley and
Garesfield. In 1837 the line was extended up an inclined
plane to reach the Bute pit at High Spen. In 1891 the
mines, railway and the Derwenthaugh staiths were sold to
the Consett Iron Company. That company rebuilt the line
and extended it to their new colliery at Chopwell in 1899.
In 1913 the Derwenthaugh staiths were extended to
accommodate the extra traffic. In 1907 a narrow gauge
overhead electric line was built from Chopwell to
Whittonstall, the trains being hauled by a Siemens
locomotive. Rope haulage was introduced on part of the
line in 1913 and on the whole from 1923 in place of
electric haulage. The line between Wittonstall and
Chopwell closed in 1966. The colliery railway also served
the Derwenthaugh Coke works at Winlaton Mill which
were opened in 1929 and closed in 1986.
DMM
The Ten
The Ten (abbreviated to T) was a unit of volume. Originally
it referred to 10 waggonloads of coal. The capacity of a
waggon was expressed by reference to the number of
bolls (or boules) they contained. The boll was originally
the tub used for loading a keel and the weight of coal in a
boll was approximately 2.2 cwt (c112 kg). Although the
weight of the boll appears to have remained static, the
capacity of the waggons increased with time, as did the
number of waggons to the Ten. The variations in the
capacity of waggons and the number of waggons in a Ten
led to confusion, and for this reason virtually all leases and
wayleave agreements defined the number of bolls to the
waggon and the number of waggons to the ten. Thus a
wayleave for the Northbanks way in 1698 set an annual
rent of £630 plus 14 shillings (70p) per ten for the first 900
ten and 14 shillings (70p) per ten above 900. The size of a
waggon was set at 15 bolls to a waggon and the ten was
defined as 22 waggons. A year later the waggons were
enlarged to hold 18 bolls and in 1702 to hold 19 bolls.
DMM
Robert Stephenson 1803-1859
Robert Stephenson, the only son of George Stephenson,
was appointed engineer to a many railways built in
England and Wales during the 1830s and 1840s. He
designed railway bridges still in use today, including the
High Level bridge between Newcastle and Gateshead.
He was the managing partner of Robert Stephenson & Co,
Newcastle, the first locomotive works in the world. He
developed the Rocket locomotive with its revolutionary
multi-tubular boiler, providing the template for steam
locomotives built worldwide during the 19th and 20th
centuries.
He had an international reputation and acted as
consultant or chief engineer for railways built in Belgium,
Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Italy, and India.
Like his father, he declined a knighthood, although he
received honours from other countries. He is buried in
Westminster Abbey.
DMM
George Hudson 1800-1871
George Hudson, an English draper from York became
Chairman of the York and Midland Railway. He was a
prominent Tory Politician, Lord Mayor of York and later
M.P. for Sunderland. He gained control of several small rail
companies and by 1844 controlled more than 1,000 miles
of railway. Dubbed the Railway King, he established York
as a major rail hub and became a wealthy land owner.
He gained a reputation for irregular financial management
and in 1849 was forced to relinquish all of his
chairmanships. He was arrested and imprisoned in York
where he remained for three months. The former
millionaire died with possessions worth less than £200.