Elemore Colliery Banner and Museum

The lodge banner of Elemore Colliery at Easington Lane and the people who keep it. The village commissioned a new Elemore lodge banner, which it parades to Hetton-le-Hole on the way to the Durham Miners' Gala, and in 2012 the Elemore Colliery Banner Group opened a museum of mining memorabilia in the village.

The mining history in this record

Elemore Colliery was begun by the Hetton Coal Company at Easington Lane in 1825, drew its first coal in 1833 and worked until 1974. Like every Durham lodge it marched behind its banner at the Durham Miners' Gala: a Durham Advertiser photograph of the 1951 Gala shows Lawrence Dutton of Easington Lane, the village's 'Mr Universe', leading in the Elemore Colliery banner to the amusement of the crowd. When Sherburn Hill colliery closed in August 1965, its 1953 banner was passed to Elemore Lodge; that banner is reported to be kept at Hetton-le-Hole Methodist Church.

Legacy today

Easington Lane commissioned a new banner for the Elemore lodge, which is paraded through the village to Hetton-le-Hole before the journey to Durham for the Gala, usually on the second Saturday in July. In November 2012 the Sunderland Echo reported that members of the Elemore Colliery Banner Group had opened a museum packed with mining memorabilia at the Easington Lane Community Access Point, and that donations were flooding in. The former Miners' Welfare Hall, now a community centre, houses a museum to the memory of Elemore Colliery, coal mining and the mining community of Easington Lane.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Easington Lane commissioned a new banner for the Elemore colliery lodge, paraded through the village to Hetton-le-Hole before the journey to the Durham Miners' Gala. (contemporary account) ¹
• In 2012 members of the Elemore Colliery Banner Group opened a museum of mining memorabilia at the Easington Lane Community Access Point. (contemporary account) ^2,3
• The former Miners' Welfare Hall, now a community centre, houses a museum dedicated to Elemore Colliery and the mining community of Easington Lane. (contemporary account) ¹
• At the Durham Miners' Gala of 21 July 1951 Lawrence Dutton of Easington Lane led in the Elemore Colliery banner. (documented fact) ⁴
• Sherburn Hill's 1953 banner was transferred to Elemore Lodge after that colliery closed in August 1965. (documented fact) ⁵

Mines

• Elemore Colliery — County Durham
  The lodge banner of Elemore Colliery's workforce, carried to the Durham Gala, and the village museum of the colliery opened by the Elemore Colliery Banner Group (Co-Curate; Durham Mining Museum).

Sources

1. (secondary) Easington Lane — Co-Curate (Newcastle University)
2. (secondary) Elemore Colliery (1827 - 1974) — Co-Curate, Newcastle University
3. (secondary) Mining for memories (Sunderland Echo, 30 November 2012) — Co-Curate (Newcastle University)
4. (secondary) Durham Big Meeting / Miners' Gala (archive photograph) — Co-Curate (Newcastle University)
5. (primary) Roy Lambeth's Durham Miners Gala Banner Photographs — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026