Adventure Pit

Overview

A Londonderry pit at West Rainton sunk in 1816-17 as part of Rainton Colliery, abandoned in 1896, reopened in 1911 and worked by the Rainton Colliery Company and the National Coal Board until July 1978.

History

The Adventure Pit was one of the pits of Rainton Colliery at West Rainton, about four miles north-east of Durham. It was sunk for the Londonderry family between 9 January 1816 and 6 July 1817, from a surface about 206 feet above sea level, passing the Five Quarter at 87 feet, the Main Coal, Maudlin and Low Main (284 feet) and Brass Thill to the Hutton at 363 feet. Two men were killed in a cage accident on 9 May 1843.

With the Alexandrina and Meadow pits it made up the Marquess of Londonderry's Rainton Colliery, which in 1894 employed 1,185 men and boys and sold Londonderry Wallsend, Pittington Wallsend and Londonderry Primrose household coals and Hartley steam coal. R. Laverick managed the Adventure from 1882 to 1896, when its Five Quarter, High Main and Low Main were abandoned as unprofitable on 31 December.

The pit was reopened in 1911 by Messrs Cooks and worked from 1914 by the Rainton Colliery Company, with T. C. Cook as manager from 1915 to 1950; it employed 259 in 1925 and 389 in 1940, its peak. The National Coal Board took it over in 1947 and worked the Five Quarter, then the Low Main, Main and Yard, with about a hundred men in the 1970s. Twenty-three deaths are recorded there. It closed on 21 July 1978.

Geology

The 1816-17 sinking passed the Five Quarter (87 feet), Main Coal, Maudlin, Low Main (284 feet), Brass Thill and Hutton (363 feet) seams.

Workings

A single shaft of 1816-17, one of the three raising pits of Rainton Colliery; later the Five Quarter, Main, Maudlin, Low Main and Yard seams.

Closure

Abandoned in 1896 as unprofitable, reopened in 1911, and closed by the National Coal Board on 21 July 1978.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Rainton Meadows Colliery — With the Meadows Pit, one of the three raising pits of the Marquess of Londonderry's Rainton Colliery in 1894.
• Rainton Plain Pit — Londonderry's Rainton pits, worked together as Rainton Colliery.

Recorded claims

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

• Sunk between 9 January 1816 and 6 July 1817, reaching the Hutton seam at 363 feet. ^1,2
• Rainton Colliery's Adventure, Alexandrina and Meadow pits employed 1,185 men and boys in 1894. ^1,3
• The Five Quarter, High Main and Low Main were abandoned as unprofitable on 31 December 1896. ⁴
• Reopened in 1911. ¹
• Employed 389 people in 1940, its peak. ^1,3
• T. C. Cook was manager from 1915 to 1950. ⁵
• Closed on 21 July 1978. ^6,1,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Adventure Pit — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Account of Strata sunk in the Adventure Pit, at Rainton Colliery, 9 January 1816 to 6 July 1817 (An Account of the strata of Northumberland & Durham as proved by Borings & Sinkings) — North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers, via the Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) West Rainton — Wikipedia
4. (primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines: Adventure Pit — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) Adventure Pit: Colliery Management (prior to 1970) — Durham Mining Museum
6. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 9 October 2026 · Last researched: 9 October 2026