Arnghyll Colliery

Overview

Drifts near Copley, County Durham, worked for coking coal by the Cargo Fleet Iron Company and later the Arnghyll and Cowley company, with up to 170 men in the 1920s, and by the Coal Board until May 1951.

History

Arnghyll Colliery lay near Copley, County Durham, and worked coking and manufacturing coal from its Busty and Cowley drifts. The Cargo Fleet Iron Company had it in the 1910s, working the Main Coal; its Brockwell, Five Quarter or Busty and Top Busty seams were abandoned in 1921. Reopened in the 1920s by the Arnghyll and Cowley Colliery Company, including the Cowley drift, it employed 170 people in 1925, working the Five Quarter and Marshall Green, but only 70 by 1929; it was temporarily closed in 1930 and again in 1933.

In the 1930s the West Pits Colliery Company, through Waller and Hind, worked it with 35 to 51 men in the Cowley seam, and the Main seam was abandoned in January 1931 and the Cowley in 1940. The National Coal Board worked the Cowley or Marshall Green and Busty or Five Quarter again from 1947, reporting it with the Duke of York Drift in 1948, and employed 96 there in 1950. Arnghyll closed on 5 May 1951, when its last seams were abandoned.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Main Coal, Five Quarter or Busty, Top Busty or Ballarat, Brockwell and Cowley or Marshall Green seams; coking coal.

Workings

The Busty Drift and Cowley Drift; reported with the Duke of York Drift in 1948.

Closure

Closed on 5 May 1951, when the Busty or Five Quarter and Cowley or Marshall Green seams were abandoned.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Waterfall Mine — Both owned by the Cargo Fleet Iron Company.

Recorded claims

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

• Arnghyll's owners were the Cargo Fleet Iron Co. in the 1910s, the Arnghyll and Cowley Colliery Co. in the 1920s and the West Pits Colliery Co. in the 1930s. ¹
• It employed 170 people in 1925, 70 in 1929, 36 in 1935 and 96 in 1950. ¹
• Arnghyll and Cowley, Copley, is listed from 1915 to May 1951. ²
• Arnghyll closed on 5 May 1951. ¹
• Arnghyll's Main seam was abandoned in 1931 and its Cowley or Marshall Green workings in 1951. ^3,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Arnghyll Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Arnghyll, Cowley or Marshall Green, abandoned 1951 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Arnghyll and Cowley, Main, abandoned 1931 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026