Adelaide Colliery

Overview

A Pease family colliery in St Andrew Auckland township near Bishop Auckland, opened in 1830, whose Jane Pit was sunk through eight seams to the Brockwell at over a thousand feet; it raised coking coal for nearly a century and closed in 1924.

History

Adelaide Colliery lay in St Andrew Auckland township, near Bishop Auckland, ten miles south-south-west of Durham. It was opened in 1830 and is listed in 1843 as Adelaide Wallsend. It belonged to the Pease family's firms through most of its life: Joseph Pease and Co. in the 1850s, Joseph Pease and Partners in the 1860s, and J. W. Pease and Partners and then Pease and Partners Ltd from the 1880s. William Coulson's account of the sinking of its Jane Pit, from a surface 410 feet above sea level, records the Yard at about 126 feet, the Main Coal, nearly seven feet thick, at about 317, the Low Main at about 483, the Hutton at about 564, the Harvey at about 756, the Busty Bank at about 901, and the Brockwell, five feet thick, at about 1,024 feet.

Four men were killed on 30 September 1863 when the cages came out of their guides in the shaft, and four stone workers on 16 August 1866 when a shot fired firedamp in the Harvey seam. The Brockwell was worked out and abandoned in October 1889, and the Harvey, Low Main, Busty and Hutton in April 1895. In 1894 Whellan's directory found the colliery working the Busty, 2 ft 6 in, at 150 fathoms and the Harvey, 3 ft 6 in, at 126 fathoms, with 139 coke ovens, an output of 150,000 tons and about 520 men; the Deanery Colliery, formerly worked with it, had been laid in some twenty years before.

In the 1900s the West Durham Wallsend Coal Company held it, working the Hutton and Low Main and later the Five Quarter, Three Quarter, Harvey and Busty for coking and manufacturing coal, with about 400 to 440 men in 1905, 1910 and 1921. Pease and Partners had it again in the 1920s, and it closed in July 1924 working the Busty and Harvey. Its seven seams were formally abandoned on 11 October 1932.

Geology

Durham coalfield, south-west: at the Jane Pit the Yard (2 ft 4 in) at about 126 ft, Five Quarter about 203 ft, Main Coal (6 ft 10 in) about 317 ft, Low Main about 483 ft, Hutton about 564 ft, Harvey (4 ft 1 in) about 756 ft, Busty Bank about 901 ft and Brockwell (5 ft) about 1,024 ft.

Workings

The Jane and Engine pits, with 139 coke ovens in 1894; plans also cover Coppy Crook workings.

Closure

The Brockwell was worked out in 1889 and four seams abandoned in 1895; the colliery closed in July 1924 and its seven seams were abandoned on 11 October 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Adelaide Colliery opened in 1830. ^1,2
• Joseph Pease and Co. and the Pease partnerships owned the colliery from the 1850s; the West Durham Wallsend Coal Co. held it in the 1900s and Pease and Partners again in the 1920s. ^1,2
• The Jane Pit reached the Brockwell seam, five feet thick, at about 1,024 feet. ³
• In 1894 it had 139 coke ovens, raised 150,000 tons a year and employed about 520. ¹
• The Brockwell seam was worked out and abandoned in October 1889. ^4,5
• The colliery closed in July 1924. ¹
• The colliery closed between 1924 and 1929. ²
• Its seven seams were abandoned on 11 October 1932. ^4,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Adelaide Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Durham Collieries: Adelaide Colliery (Auckland St. Andrew) — Durham County Record Office
3. (primary) Adelaide Colliery: strata in sinking the Jane Pit — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Adelaide Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Adelaide / Jane, Brockwell seam — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Adelaide, Busty seam — British Geological Survey

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026