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Home | The History of Mining in Durham & Northumberland

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The History of Mining in Durham & Northumberland

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mining history resources

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Other links are in the Library resource guides.

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) - Engineering history
ASME encourages public understanding of mechanical engineering, fosters the preservation of this heritage, and helps engineers become more involved in all aspects of history. The site has biographies and descriptions of important engineering artefacts.

Bal Maidens & Mining Women
Explores the many different roles which women and girls have undertaken at mines around the world. Particular emphasis on Devon and Cornwall.
British Geological Survey
BGS provides expert services and impartial advice in all areas of geoscience to government, industry, academia and the public. Services include OpenGeoscience providing a wide range of freely available geoscience information that allows viewing of maps and downloading of data, scans, photos and other information. This includes non-coal mining plans.
Coal Authority
The Coal Authority manages the effects of past coal mining, including subsidence damage claims which are not the responsibility of licensed coal mine operators. It deals with mine water pollution and other mining legacy. The Coal Authority interactive map viewer shows selected coal mining information, for example, finding out if a property is affected by coal mining or checking for coal and mine entries on or near the surface.

Coal Mining in Britain
The story of British coal mining, told through BBC radio and TV broadcasts from the last 70 years and a gallery of images from the 1930s.

Coalfield Web Materials
Provides a unique insight into the social, political and cultural life of the South Wales Coalfield during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Coalmining History Resource Centre
Mines location maps; National database of mining deaths in Great Britain; disaster lists and reports; 1842 Royal Commission reports; poems; miscellaneous publications; photographs - people, banners, collieries, etc.
[This is an archived copy of the website as it is no longer maintained.]

Collieries in Northumberland and Durham
A list on the GENUKI geneaology site.

Durham Mining Museum
This website covers mining in Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland and the ironstone mines of North Yorkshire. There is a small physical museum in Spennymoor. Main content: lists of mines and managers; maps; company information; statistical data; employment records; members of the mining engineering institutes; minerals; disaster reports; names of people in disasters; memorials; photographs; posters; coal industry bibliography; family history guide; links to other sources.

Institution of Mechanical Engineers - archives and artefacts.
Guides to the history of the Institution and of mechanical engineering .

Engineering timelines
The website links the engineering works in the UK that surround us today with the past out of which they were born.

Heroes of mine (Mines rescue)
Rescue teams, disasters, gallantry awards.

Laxey Mines Research Group
Information on mining history on the Isle of Man

Mining History Association (MHA)
Organization of individuals interested in the history of mining and metallurgy, based in the USA.

Mining History Network
Professor Roger Burt's mining history collection, including the Mining History discussion list and bibliographies. Hosted by Exeter University.

National Association of Mining History Organisations
Namho was formed in 1979 to act as the national body for mining history in the UK and Ireland. There are now over 70 member organisations, including societies, museums and companies. The list of members links to their websites.

National Mining Memorabilia Association
For collectors of memorabilia - lamps, badges, tallies, etc - but with many links on mining history in general.

North Staffs Miners
"The price paid in death and injury by the miners of North Staffs in winning the coal from the bowels of the earth for the benefit of the Nation should never be forgotten."

Northern Mine Research Society
The Society is dedicated to the preservation and recording of mining history. The website includes journals lists and information including a bibliography. It publishes the British Mining series of research papers.

Northumberland & Durham Family History Society
Best site for starting to research your family's mining links in the North East.

Panel for Historical Engineering Works (PHEW)
The panel identifies historical engineering works that are worthy of recording, promoting, and in some cases, preserving for posterity. It helps to organise groups of civil engineers in the regions who are interested in the history of their profession, and publishes a quarterly newsletter, regional guides and leaflets on the subject.

Scottish Mining Website
Collieries, accidents, housing, leisure, health and disease, etc.

Slate Industry of North and Mid Wales
General introduction to the Welsh slate industry.

Trevithick Society
The Society aims to encourage an interest in the industrial archaeology of Cornwall through lectures, outings and other meetings and by publishing the results of individual research through its website, journal and other publications. It encourages the preservation of engine houses and other industrial buildings of worth as a significant part of Cornwall's heritage.

Welsh Coal Mines
Collieries, including accidents, poems, forum

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Other links are in the Library resource guides. American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) - Engineering history ASME encourages public understanding of mechanical engineering, fosters the preservation of this heritage, and helps engineers become more involved in all aspects of history. The site has biographies and descriptions of important engineering artefacts.

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posters with qr codes.
the animation is that a person is walking and every checkpoint it's further in the future
first person

1: davy lamp invented
2: miners association 1840's
3:halls construction 1869 - 1872
4: river tyne
5:big Margret thatcher closing mines (witch)
6: walk into the common room

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Can we supply them with headphones?
are there going to be tablets around the hall?

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Journey of coal going from being mined to being sent off.

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Journey of coal going from being mined to being sent off.

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flying Scotsman

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In the 1840s the miners organised themselves on a national basis in the Miners Association of Great Britain and Ireland, but its headquarters were based at Newcastle from 1843. In 1848 successive depression in the coal industry weakened the union but it recovered in the later part of the century.

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Animations of how the machinery works and its evolution over time

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Animations of how the machinery works and its evolution over time

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The Institute is at the beginning of a major redevelopment process. See under "News" for the latest position. Our brochure is also available online here.

NEIMME Lectures will still take place whilst we are out of the building and full details can be found here.

The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers is often abbreviated to "the Mining Institute".

The Mining Institute owns one of the finest buildings in Newcastle, Neville Hall, a Victorian building built at the time when high-Gothic architecture was coming into fashion. The outside of the building is known to hundreds of thousands of people, it is next to the Central Station, but few people realise what is inside. Neville Hall houses the memorial to the Institute's first President, Nicholas Wood, an outstanding Victorian Library resplendent filled with superb stonework, redolent with exquisite carved stone, wood and paintings with a beautifully decorated ceiling, a vast glass roof and filled with furniture designed for the library in 1872. Below the Library is the Edwardian Lecture Theatre, modeled on the Royal Institution in London and constructed in deep red Cuban Mahogany.

What lies within the walls is centuries of history relating to the Great North Coalfield, full of tales of engineering excellence, man's efforts to wrest resources from the earth's crust and the perils that brought. The Library is of importance globally, the finest and largest coal mining library in the world and perhaps the best place to study the early Industrial Revolution which began with the use of coal as a fuel in the Great Northern Coalfield 600 years ago.

Our website

You'll find lots of information on this website and we'll be adding loads more information over the next few months including learning resources, loads more information about events, details of how you can help us by volunteering, sponsoring the restoration of some of our valuable and rare books or learning about our rich history. Please read through these pages, but if you can't find what you seek, then please ring or call in and see us!

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The Institute is at the beginning of a major redevelopment process. See under "News" for the latest position. Our brochure is also available online here. NEIMME Lectures will still take place whilst we are out of the building and full details can be found here.

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History tour by Nicholas Wood (animated)

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History tour by Nicholas Wood (animated)

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following a young lad through his life growing up in a mining community.

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Timeline but instead of a timeline its railroad tracks 

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Timeline but instead of a timeline its railroad tracks 

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Shows Newcastle by the Tyne river. It will incrementally show Newcastle evolve through the ages without the camera moving. On the way, there could be commentary about the current state of Newcastle (relating to mining and mechanical engineering) of the time

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animated series (short)

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real life story board
qr codes to bring it to life on your phone from the poster.

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Easy to get to grips with. Something simple so that anyone can experience it

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they want the stories ti be brought to life

everyone can learn about it

Needs to be interactive/ needs to catch the peoples attention

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For further information on specific industries such as the chemical industry, iron industry shipbuilding, rural industries or the pioneering developments of electricity in the region see the nineteenth century section or other appropriate periods.

MEDIEVAL MINING

The collieries that once dominated many parts of North East England have now gone and the pit heaps have been reclaimed and naturalised into the landscape, but there is no doubting the important influence that coal mining has had upon shaping the modern character of North East England.

Coal is mentioned in the records of County Durham as early as the 12th century, when the Boldon Book (1183) mentions a coal miner at Escomb. It states that the coal miner provided coal for the iron-work of the ploughs at nearby Coundon. The book also records that the smiths of Sedgefield and Bishopwearmouth were making use of local coal. But most of the early coal mines of the region, were along the banks of the Tyne where seams were shallow and easily mined. As early as the mid 1300s, mines were recorded at Cockfield, Coundon, Hett, Lanchester and Ferryhill, along with others further east at Lumley and Rainton. The Lumley mine was owned by the monks of Finchale Priory, near Durham and consisted of a drift mine, with recesses for candles to light the mine.

SEA COAL

Strangely, all coal was often referred to in the Medieval period as 'sea coal, even if found miles inland. For example, in 1298 there is a record of 'sea coal' mined at Hett, near Spennymoor, even though Hett is more than 10 miles from the coast. The term Sea-coal may have been used because coal arrived at other ports such as London by sea - more often than not as a shipment from Newcastle. However, a more likely explanation is that sea-coal was originally found in a washed-up form on the beaches of the North-East and other parts of the country.

Along the Durham coast, coal lay deep underground, but in Northumberland, where the coal measures outcropped along the coast, coastal erosion would have caused much coal to be washed ashore naturally. The 'Sea Coal' now washed ashore and occasionally collected on the Durham and south Northumberland coast may be a waste remnant from coastal colliery activity in more recent times. In the earliest times coal washed ashore was the most familiar kind, so when it was later found inland, it was still given the name 'sea coal'. However the Victoria County History of Durham (1907) suggests that by as early as 1313, the original meaning of sea-coal was forgotten and that it had come to mean 'sea-borne coal'.

NEWCASTLE COAL

In the late thirteenth century Newcastle was regarded as the leading English port for exporting leather. It benefited from a plentiful supply of local local livestock in the Northumberland countryside, which of course provided the leather hides. However, it was around this time that the border wars began to ravage this very countryside and destroyed the town's trade, but fortunately for Newcastle, coal was closer at hand. The exposed coal outcrops along the banks of the River Tyne, were of particular importance, as the river provided a means of transportation.

The Tyne quickly developed into the major river for exporting coal to London. By the 13th century coal mining was well established along the Tyne, most notably at Whickham and at nearby Winlaton, where the mine was owned by Lord De Nevill, a Baron of the bishopric. In 1291, 80 quarters of coal were sent to Corfe Castle in Dorset from Newcastle and coal was being shipped to London from here at least as early as 1305. Royalty was one major customer of Newcastle coal and there is a record of the purchase of 576 chaldrons of coal from the Winlaton mine by Henry III, in the thirteenth century, for his castle at Windsor.

Although Newcastle's defensive walls were falling into decay, they were enough to protect the town's coal trade from Scottish raids. By 1334 Newcastle was the fourth wealthiest town in England after London, Bristol and York and the eleventh largest in 1372 with 2,637 tax payers. Recorded coal mines supplying coal to Newcastle in medieval times existed at Elswick, Winlaton, Heworth and the Town Moor. By 1378 Newcastle shipped 15,000 tons of coal per year and exported coal to many parts of Europe as well as importing iron ore from Sweden.

In 1452 trades included the Keelmen who ferried the coal to collier ships in the centre of the Tyne. The phrase 'Coals to Newcastle' meaning an unnecessary pursuit was first recorded in 1538. Newcastle was the most important port in the region and this was demonstrated by the establishment of the Society of Masters and Mariners of Newcastle at Trinity House in 1492. Their jurisdiction covered every single port and creek from Whitby to Holy Island. Shipping and shipbuilding were also important at Newcastle and the town was building ships from at least 1296, the year in which a galley was completed for King Edward's fleet.

Such was this town's early importance, that it would even begin to rival London in its wealth, as Timothy Eden's History of Durham notes;

"the burgesses of Newcastle waxed fat and proud, believing themselves to be citizens not only of the richest town in the North but soon of the richest in England. They laughed and snapped their fingers at London herself. 'Our staiths their mortgaged streets will soon divide' "

By 1547 Newcastle's population was around 10,000 and a group of powerful merchants called the Hostmen had taken control of the mines and coal export. By 1615, 200 ships carried coal to London and another 200 supplied coal to other parts of the country. Newcastle had a virtual monopoly on exporting coal with considerable control over rival ports like Sunderland.

Newcastle lost its control over rival North Eastern ports after the Civil War of the 1640s. During this period, Newcastle took a firm Royalist stance and banned the export of coal to London whilst at Sunderland, where there was some parliamentarian support, coal continued to be exported. With Parliaments victory, Sunderland's future was assured, as was the future of rival Tyneside ports. However it is likely that such a monopoly would have been crushed by the Parliamentarians regardless of Sunderland's stance.

NEWCASTLE AND THE MONASTIC PORTS

Durham's Prince Bishops owned rights to the mining of both coal and lead within their realm, but from 1303 the bishop granted lesser landowners the right to mine. The monks of Durham Cathedral exploited coal from at least the 14th century and in the 1350s they owned or leased mines at Lumley, Rainton and Ferryhill. It is the Durham monks who are recorded as the first in the region to mine coal beneath the level of free drainage. This took place at Moorhouse near Rainton, to the north east of Durham City, where the monks, based at Finchale, provided a water pump for the mine.

North of the Tyne, there was also heavy monastic involvement in the exploitation of coal where North Shields was firmly established as a port by Prior Germanus of Tynemouth Priory in 1225. North Shields was allowed to trade peacefully as a port until 1267 when Newcastle merchants attacked the inhabitants and seized a ship. Newcastle saw this rival port as a threat and by 1292 had enlisted the support of King Edward I. The king ordered the dismantling of the North Shields jetties. His support can be easily explained, since part of Newcastle's rich revenue belonged to him, whilst the North Shields revenue belonged entirely to the Priors.

In 1303 Edward III went further than his predecessor, banning markets, fairs and the unloading and loading of ships by the Tynemouth monks. The king also banned similar activity at South Shields by the Durham monks, although in the previous century Newcastle's merchants had successfully discouraged Durham from establishing major port facilities there. Port facilities were reintroduced at North Shields in 1390 with Royal permission, but trading in coal and other commodities remained illegal. By 1429 there were 14 fish quays and 200 houses at North Shields. The fishermen of the port ventured as far as Iceland in boats and cobles. Coal trading was not restored to North Shields until 1446 when Tynemouth Priory was given permission to ship coal without reference to Newcastle. But the ban was reintroduced once again in 1530 and once more restricted coal export to Newcastle.

TYNE AND WEAR COAL AND RAILWAYS

Coal mining activity continued to increase in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with mining concentrated around Tyneside and the Washington area of Wearside. Around 7,000 pitmen worked in the region in 1787, growing to 10,000 by 1810. Coal mines were opening in the region at places like Newbottle (1774), Lumley (1776) Washington F Pit (1777) and Penshaw (1791).

Seventeenth century Colliery railways were called 'Newcastle Roads' and enabled the coal mines to be opened slightly further away from the rivers Tyne and Wear, but they were still largely concentrated in North Durham. The railroads were suited to the hilly terrain of Tyne and Wear countryside, where the building of canals would have been impossible. The 'Newcastle Roads' were built first of wood and later of iron. They were the first railways in the world and were operated by horse drawn wagons called Chaldrons which were filled with coal. Some examples of Chaldron wagons can be seen at Beamish Museum in County Durham.

COAL ROADS TO STEAM RAILWAYS

With the birth of the Newcastle Roads, the North East of England can easily claim to be the cradle of railways, but coal mining in the region also drove on the development of steam locomotives and the great railway age of steam. The greatest railway pioneers William Hedley, Timothy Hackworth, Edward Pease and George and Robert Stephenson, were all from the North East and all actively involved with the railway developments of the region's coal mining industry.

The earliest steam engines used in the coalfield of North East England were of course not locomotives, but colliery winding engines, used in the process of bringing coal from the seams to the surface. Later, it was realised that such engines could be used to haul coal along the railway lines themselves. The first steam engines to be used on the railways, were still nevertheless stationary ones, situated upon inclines where they could haul coal wagons across hillsides, using strong wire ropes. A visitor to the region at the time described the work of the wire cables;

"Here and there you saw careering over the plain, long trains of coal wagons, without horses or attendants or any apparent cause of motion but their own mad agency. They seemed, indeed, rather driven or dragged by unseen demons."

The first steam powered incline in the region was at Washington Moor near Birtley to the north of Chester-le-Street. Today the Birtley area is the site of the Bowes Railway, the only surviving standard gauge rope-hauled railway in the world.

Locomotives or steam engines on wheels', were of course the natural progression from the stationary engines in the colliery areas. In 1822 Hetton colliery near Houghton le Spring, was one of the first to use locomotives. At that time the Hetton Colliery railway, was the largest in the world and was partly operated using stationary engines and partly by locomotives.

Hetton colliery railway and its locomotives were the creation of George Stephenson (1781-1848) and one of his locomotives that worked at the colliery, is now preserved at Beamish Museum. Stephenson's locomotives and railway at Hetton Colliery served as models for the ` Stockton and Darlington', the world's first public railway, which is yet another feature of County Durham's rich railway heritage. It is interesting to note that the gauge Stephenson chose for his railways (4'8 1/2'') is now the standard gauge for railways throughout the world.

GROWTH OF RIVAL COAL PORTS

Newcastle dominated the region's coal exporting trade for centuries and other ports on the Wear, Tees and other parts of the time only started to compete in a big way from the seventeenth century.

The ports of the Tees and Whitby for example, lay outside the coalfield, but were able to benefit from the coal trade. Whitby was the home to much shipping and a certain James Cook (later Captain Cook) worked on Whitby colliers shipping coal from the Tyne and Wear to London in 1746.Stockton hipped coal from at least 1622 and by 1795 had easily eclipsed Hartlepool and Yarm as a port. The flat terrain of the Tees vale prompted suggestions that a 'coal canal' might benefit Stockton and Darlington's trade and canals were surveyed in 1767, 1796 to bring coal to the ports of the Tees.

Neither canal was built and by 1810 the idea of building a railway was suggested instead. It was this that led to the Stockton and Darlington Railway of 1825. One important aspect of the Stockton and Darlington Railway was that it resulted in the opening of Middlesbrough Dock on May 12 1842 specifically for the shipment of coal and had actually brought about the birth of the town of Middlesbrough in 1830. However, in the long term iron became the lifeblood of this particular town.

Railways helped in the development of ports throughout the region. With the ever-growing network of colliery railroads, coal could be brought from all parts of the region's coalfield to expanding ports on the Tyne, Wear, Tees and the Northumberland and Durham coast. New docks opened at Sunderland from 1837 to 1868 and in the 1850s docks like the NER Tyne Dock at Jarrow (1859) were opening on the Tyne. Also linked with the railway network were the massive coal staithes at Dunston on Tyne, built by the NER from 1890 to 1893 and still in existence today. On the Durham coast, Seaham Harbour was developed as a coal port from 1831

HARTLEPOOL COAL

In the early 1830s Hartlepool was transformed from a fishing community with a silted harbour to a major coal port. Coal was supplied by Christopher Tenant's new Stockton and Hartlepool Railway. The railway was taken over by Stockton solicitor Ralph Ward Jackson in 1839 and his Victoria Dock of 1841 was soon shipping more coal than any northern port.

In the 1840s Hartlepool railways carried more coal than any other in the North East with 27 per cent of all coal shipped from the region passing along its tracks. Ralph Ward Jackson was frustrated by restrictions on business at Hartlepool's Victoria Dock and obtained an act in 1844 for the formation of Hartlepool West Harbour Dock Company. This dock was the first stage in the growth of West Hartlepool. By 1862 the two Hartlepools shipped merchandise to the value of more than three times as much as that of all North-East ports put together, beating Newcastle, North and South Shields, Sunderland, Stockton and Middlesbrough. Hartlepool was the fourth busiest port in the country behind Liverpool, London and Hull and overtook Hull for a time in the 1890s. By 1881, Old Hartlepool's population was 12,361 and newly born West Hartlepool had a population of 28,000

TRADE UNIONISM

During the period 1800-1900 coal mining rapidly expanded in the region and over 200 pits were sunk in County Durham alone. The coal ports of Tyne, Wear and Tees were developing into major urban regions and there were many new industries demanding coal. Mines got deeper and deeper and safety increasingly became an issue with many miners losing their lives in horrific colliery disasters. Businessmen made their fortune from the region's mines and were often unscrupulous or uncompromising over pay and conditions.

Coal owners usually owned the miners' homes and often evicted those who protested. The notorious 'Candymen', or Down and outs from dockside areas often helped with eviction. Many coal owners like the unpopular Marquess of Londonderry were aristocrats. Boys were of course employed in the mines and the Marquess was once said A boy of twelve should be learning his trade not wasting his time reading and writing.

With an ever-increasing workforce Coal miners were able to form into unions in order to fight for better pay and conditions. In 1830 the region's Coal Miners established a union under the guidance of Thomas Hepburn (whose grave may be seen at Heworth church near Gateshead) and the following year they negotiated a 10 per cent increase in wages and a reduction in working hours for boys. A mass meeting of Northumberland and Durham miners was held on Newcastle Town Moor that year and the following year the miners went on strike. It was a clear demonstration that coal owners would not have so much power to do as they pleased.

In the 1840s the miners organised themselves on a national basis in the Miners Association of Great Britain and Ireland, but its headquarters were based at Newcastle from 1843. In 1848 successive depression in the coal industry weakened the union but it recovered in the later part of the century. The Durham Miners' Union was formed on November 20, 1869 after a meeting of mine leaders at the Market Hotel in Durham's Market Place. Their first annual Gala was held in Durham City's Wharton Park on August 12 1871 but moved to the city's racecourse in 1873. Enormous crowds attended these galas and on July 3 1875 the LNER Railway Company withdrew all trains from Bishop Auckland, Lanchester and Newcastle to Durham. It claimed its railways could not cope with the huge quantity of passengers travelling to the gala, but the real reason may have been political.

MINING DISASTERS METHODS AND SAFETY

Medieval mines were usually drift mines or shallow bell pits. The bell pits were dug down from the surface and then out into the coal seam in the shape of a bell. Coal and miners were hoisted up and down in the manner of a bucket in a well. Mine roofs only collapsed if the 'colliers' burrowed too far outwards. This may be what caused deaths in coal mines at Whickham and Thrislington in 1329, although even in the earliest times, the danger of gas explosion or flooding was high.

From 1580 the deeper mines around Tyneside used horse driven engines or 'gin-gans' to pump out water. Standing 'Fire Engines' of the type developed by Newcommen in 1712 appeared in the region around 1715 at Byker, Washington Fell and Oxclose Collieries. Scotsman James Watt made improvements to this kind of engine in 1769.

Engines could also be used for the purposes of raising coal and in 1753 Michael Menzies of Chartershaugh Colliery near Washington invented one such machine, called a 'Menzie' . As mines got deeper, safety became a problem and in 1662 a petition was handed to parliament by 2,000 pitmen regarding mine ventilation, since colliery gas was claiming many victims. Records for the seventeenth century are scant but in the eighteenth century mine deaths included 69 at Fatfield near Washington in 1708, 80 at Bensham near Gateshead in 1743, 39 at Fatfield in 1767, 23 at Chartershaugh in 1773, and 30 at Picktree near Chester-le-Street in 1794. Pit ponies used underground from 1750 were often victims. Roof safety was also a problem and pillars supporting roofs were first recorded in the region at Chartershaugh Colliery in 1738.

There were around 30 major colliery disasters in Durham and Northumberland in the period 1800-1899 claiming the lives of more than 1,500 men and boys. Gas explosions were the major danger, although some incidents were caused by collapsing mines. The six worst disasters of the period in terms of numbers killed were;- 204 killed at Hartley near Blyth in 1862, 164 at Seaham in 1880 (plus 181 pit ponies), 102 at Wallsend in 1833, 95 at Haswell in 1841, 92 at Felling in 1812, 76 at Burradon in 1860 and 74 at Trimdon in 1882.

Colliery disasters highlighted the need for improvements in safety and as mines got deeper safety became more of an issue. The major danger was from gas explosions caused by naked flames on miner's lamps. In 1815 Humphry Davy and George Stephenson developed the Miners' Safety lamp. This reduced the danger of explosion and enabled coal owners to explore ever-deeper mines. The cage, for the movement of miners underground was introduced to collieries for safety reasons in 1834 and in 1862 an act of Parliament made it compulsory for every colliery to have two shafts for the purposes of safety. For further safety John Dalglish, General Manager of Earl Vane's Durham collieries in 1867 organised a system of voluntary inspection of pits by his workmen. This system was made compulsory by an Act of parliament in 1887.

LIST OF MAJOR NORTH EAST COLLIERY DISASTERS 1708-1951

1708 - 69 DIE AT FATFIELD

1743 - 80 DIE AT BENSHAM

1767 - 39 DIE AT FATFIELD

1773 - 23 DIE AT CHARTERSHAUGH

1794 - 30 DIE AT PICKTREE

1805 - 38 DIE IN OXCLOSE COLLIERY, WASHINGTON

1805 - 35 DIE AT HEBBURN COLLIERY

1812 - 92 DIE AT FELLING PIT (May 25)

1813 - 32 DIE AT FATFIELD HALL PIT

1815 - 57 DIE IN NEWBOTTLE COLLIERY, FENCEHOUSES

1815 - 38 DIE IN ROW PIT DISASTER, HARRATON, WASHINGTON

1815 - 40 MEN AND 30 BOYS HEATON COLLIERY FLOOD

1817 - 27 DIE IN WEST RAINTON PIT

1819 - 35 MEN DIE AT SHERIFF HILL PIT

1821 - 52 MEN DIE AT WALLSEND COLLIERY DISASTER

1823 - 59 DIE AT PLAIN PIT, RAINTON (November 3)

1826 - 34 DIE AT JARROW COLLIERY

1833 - 47 DIE AT SPRINGFIELD COLLIERY

1835 - 102 DIE AT WALLSEND PIT (June 18th )

1841 - 32 DIE AT WILLINGTON

1844 - 95 DIE AT HASWELL (September 28th)

1845 - 39 DIE AT JARROW COLLIERY

1849 - 31 DIE AT HEBBURN

1855 - 28 DIE AT ELEMORE NEAR HETTON(December 2)

1860 - 76 DIE AT BURRADON DISASTER

1862 - 204 DIE HARTLEY COLLIERY COLLAPSE NEAR BLYTH

1866 - 24 DIE AT PELTON DISASTER

1880 - 164 MINERS AND 181 PIT PONIES DIE SEAHAM September 8

1882 - 74 DIE TRIMDON GRANGE DISASTER (February 16)

1882 - 35 DIE IN TUDHOE BLAST (April 18)

1886 - 28 DIE AT ELEMORE (December 1)

1896 - 20 DIE AT BRANCEPETH (April 13)

1899 - 6 DIE AT BRANDON PIT (August 15)

1906 - 24 DIE AT WINGATE (Oct 14)

1908 - 14 DIE AT WASHINGTON GLEBE DISASTER (Feb 20)

1909 - 168 DIE AT WEST STANLEY(February 16)

1942 - 13 DIE IN MURTON COLLIERY DISASTER (June 26)

1947 - 21 DIE AT LOUISA COLLIERY (August 22)

1951 - 81 DIE IN EASINGTON EXPLOSION (May 29)

COLLIER'S RANT

Records of mine disasters go back to Medieval times with reference to gas explosions in the North East mines as early as 1621. In earliest times, the miners associated danger in the pit with a great deal of suspicion often attributing it to the work of the devil (known as 'Auld Nick'). Hew was believed to lurk at the bottom of every pit. An old North Eastern miner's song 'The Collier's Rant ' with origins lost in time, confirms the superstition;

As me an' me marra were gannin' te' wark,
We met wi' the De'il it was i' the dark,
Aw up wi' me pick it being i' the neet,
Aw chopped off his horns, likewise his club-feet.

Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,
Foller them through me canny lad, oh !
Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,
Oh lad lye away me canny lad oh !

As me an' me marra were puttin' the tram,
The light it went oot, an' me marra went wrang,
Ye wad ha'e laughed had ye seen the gam,
T he Dei'l tyeuk me marra an' aw gat the tram.

Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,
Foller them through me canny lad, oh !
Foller the horses, Johnny me laddie,

Oh lad lye away me canny lad oh !

(The Collier's Rant - a marra is a workmate)

DEEP COASTAL PITS

East Durham Coal lay deep below the Magnesian Limestone escarpment which dominates the east of the county. Coal was first proved to exist here by the sinking of a pit at Haswell in 1811 but the first great deep pit in the region was sunk at Hetton in 1821. Sunk to a depth of over 1000ft, it became one of the most productive pits in the region as well as a focus for some of Stephenson's important locomotive developments. Monkwearmouth Colliery followed shortly afterwards and was shipping coal from 1835 with a seam 1,590 feet below the surface. Harton near South Shields became the deepest Tyne pit in 1841 (1,290 feet). Monkwearmouth, 1700 ft in 1846 was the deepest coal mine in the country. It would be these deeper coastal pits that would be the last to survive the colliery closures of the late twentieth century.

RISE AND FALL OF COAL MINING 1800-1990

Coal mining continued to grow throughout the later nineteenth and early twentieth century. The nineteenth century development of coal mining in Durham, brought about a tremendous increase in the population of the North East, as many previously rural villages, grew into small colliery towns almost overnight. This was particularly the case in County Durham, where villages seemed to spring up from virtually nowhere at all. In 1787 there were around 7000 colliers employed in the coal mines of North East England and by 1810 this number had only increased to 10,000. Just over a hundred years later, in 1919, there were 223,000 coal miners working in the region and 154,000 of these were in the county of Durham. It reached a peak in County Durham in 1923 when 170,000 miners were employed in the industry.

One obvious question is where did all this labour come from? They of course came from all parts of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, though in the main they originated from the local region, from existing areas of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield, but also from the dales and rural areas of Northumberland and Durham. Many of course originated from the larger towns of the region and even non-mining towns like Darlington would have made a major contribution to the increasing coal workforce. Coal mining employment in County Durham would eventually reach a a peak in 1923, when 170,000 miners were employed.

The two world wars helped to boost the need for coal in industry, but in the later half of the twentieth century colliery closures began to increase. One major event in the history of the mines was the nationalisation of the industry in 1947, when the coal mines, previously under the management of private concerns were brought under the control of the government. By the time of Nationalization, the number of miners in County Durham, had fallen to 108,000 and there were 127 collieries. Nationalization was not enough to save many pits from closure as many mines were worked of their coal or sometimes controversially declared 'uneconomic'. In the two decades from 1950-1970 around a hundred North East coal mines were closed often with shattering consequences for small mining communities which relied on coal mining for work.

The closures continued throughout the eighties and nineties, despite vehement protests from the miners and their unions and an often violent miners' strike. In 1994 the closure of the Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland saw the end of the last remaining colliery in the Durham coalfield. It site is today marked by Sunderland football club's Stadium of Light.

Despite the fact that there are no collieries in the region today, many towns and villages still betray their nineteenth century mining origins. One feature associated with the colliery areas that has now disappeared -which many will be glad to see the back of -are the pit waste heaps that once scarred the often attractive rural countryside of the region. These have now been removed or landscaped out of recognition, the exception is of course the recreated pit heap, in the colliery area of Beamish Museum, near Stanley in County Durham Of course the collieries may have gone, but the former mining areas still retain their own individuality and identity and there is still often a strong community spirit associated with colliery districts although perhaps not to the same extent as in the days of mining. Even the place names of towns and villages in these areas seem to have an individuality all of their own. Thus we have Tantobie, Quaking Houses, Perkinsville, Stony Heap, Toronto, Philadelphia, Quebec, Deaf Hill, Pity Me and No Place. Back to top of page

For a list of colliery closures see the sections on the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s in the Twentieth Century section of this website

LEAD MINING

THE MOST IMPORTANT LEAD FIELD IN THE WORLD

The North East region was once as famous for the ining of lead as it was for its coal. Although the Romans had mined lead in the upland dales, it wasn't until 1750 that it became vital to the local economy and for the next century the North Penine field, comprising Teesdale, Weardale, South Tynedale and the Derwent valley, was the most important lead producing area in the country. Lead mining was also carried out in Swaledale and Arkengarthdale in neighbouring North Yorkshire.

The Blacketts, a Tyneside coal-owning family, leased land in Weardale from the Bishop of Durham in the late 1680s and developed mines like Burtree Pasture in Weardale, Coalcleugh in the West Allen, and the Allenheads Mine. Later, the company owned smelting mills at places like Dirt Pot and Rookhope. The London Lead Company extensively mined in the Derwent Valley, Weardale and Teesdale in the 18th Century and built houses, schools and libraries for its workers. It was the first company to introduce the five day week. From 1880 Middleton in Teesdale was its northern headquarters. The company folded in 1905.

Growing towns and the industrial revolution had stimulated the demand for lead for use in roofing, piping, casting, building materials, lead shot, paint-bases and glazing. Lead works began to open on Tyneside with Newcastle the main point of export from the Durham dales, though Stockton was often used for Swaledale lead.

The earliest methods of extracting lead were simple bell pits or by Hushing, an open cast technique, which involved damming streams and then releasing the water to remove vast quantities of peat and soil from suspected layers of lead. By the late 18th Century the preferred method was to dig stone-lined shafts called Levels into the hillsides along a vein. The lead was hauled from the mines along wooden rails (later iron) by horses. The lead ore was stripped of its waste products outside the mines, often by boys, and then washed and crushed before transportation to a smelting mill where the lead would be produced in the form of ingots along with any silver.

In the mid 19th Century Rookhope Chimney was a smelting mill with a two mile long horizontal tunnel which eventually led to a vertical chimney. The chimney directed fumes away from the workers and also allowed the formation of lead and silver deposits which were scraped off and collected by lead workers. Today the chimney is one of the most noted landmarks in Weardale.

In the late 18th and early 19th Century hydraulic machinery was extensively used in mines. Weardale's Killhope Mine (opened 1860) saw the introduction of a 30ft diameter wheel in 1878 by Blackett's. It hauled tubs of ore to the crushing mill while other wheels worked the crushing machines, jiggers, buddles and separators. The mine is now a lead mining museum.

By the 1850s, Britain's best lead ore had been removed and there was cheap competition from the United States, Germany and Spain. Many Northern miners began to seek work abroad, notably in the United States. Some mines continued until the 1930s; others reopened during World War One but lead mining had virtually died out by the start of the 20th Century.

In addition to lead, products like Witherites, Barytes and Flurospar which were once discarded as a waste product of lead mining have acquired commercial uses in the 20th Century and waste tips have been quarried for the minerals in the dales. Silver mining had been another important industry in the region's dales. Allenheads, between Stanhope and Alston, was once home to the largest silver mine in the world. It closed in 1896.

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For further information on specific industries such as the chemical industry, iron industry shipbuilding, rural industries or the pioneering developments of electricity in the region see the nineteenth century section or other appropriate periods.

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To bring our heritage stories to life in the building, upon reopening, focusing on interpretation in the Wood Memorial Hall.
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