Bewicke Main Colliery

Overview

A Perkins family colliery near Kibblesworth, south of Gateshead, opened in 1862 and worked in the Hutton and Low Main seams, with about 300 men and boys, by the owners of Team Colliery and the Birtley Iron Company, until its last seams were abandoned in 1932.

History

Bewicke Main Colliery lay near Kibblesworth, about five miles south of Newcastle, and was one of the collieries of the Perkins family, who gave their name to nearby Perkinsville. It opened in 1862 under Hunt, Perkins and Co., and its upcast shaft was sunk to the Hutton seam, 228 feet down, in February 1868. On 29 December 1869 a boiler explosion killed the weighman George Irwin and the engineman George Ranson.

E. M. Perkins and Partners held it in the 1880s and Charles Perkins and Partners in the 1890s, when it was worked with Team Colliery and employed about 300 men and boys, working only the Hutton, at about 36 fathoms, and the Low Main for 300 tons a day. It raised gas and steam coal, with fireclay in the 1880s; between 226 and 360 were employed from 1894 to 1921, when the Six Quarter was also being worked. The Birtley Iron Company owned it by the 1910s and Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd in the 1920s.

The colliery was temporarily closed in June 1925. The Six Quarter seam was abandoned on 26 January 1931, and the Low Main and Hutton on 6 May 1932, when the colliery closed. Its site is now a caravan park.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Hutton (reached at 228 feet in the upcast shaft; about 36 fathoms in the 1890s), Low Main and Six Quarter seams, with fireclay.

Workings

The colliery shaft and an upcast shaft sunk in 1867-68 to the Hutton seam.

Closure

Temporarily closed in June 1925; the Six Quarter was abandoned in January 1931 and the Low Main and Hutton on 6 May 1932.

What remains

The colliery site is now a caravan park.

Redevelopment

Caravan park.

Related mines

• Ouston Colliery — Held by the same succession of owners: E. M. Perkins and Partners, Charles Perkins and Partners, the Birtley Iron Company and Pelaw Main Collieries.
• Team Colliery — Both worked by Charles Perkins and Partners in the 1890s, and later by the Birtley Iron Company and Pelaw Main Collieries.

Recorded claims

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

• Bewicke Main Colliery, near Birtley, opened in 1862 and closed in 1932, when the Low Main and Hutton seams were abandoned on 6 May. ¹
• Bewicke Main, near Kibblesworth, was one of the collieries owned by the Perkins family, after whom Perkinsville is named. ^2,1
• The colliery was held by Hunt, Perkins and Co. in the 1860s, E. M. Perkins and Partners in the 1880s, Charles Perkins and Partners in the 1890s, the Birtley Iron Company in the 1910s and Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd in the 1920s. ¹
• In 1894 Bewicke Main, worked by the same company as Team Colliery, was about 36 fathoms to the Hutton seam, employed about 300 men and boys and raised 300 tons a day from the Hutton and Low Main. ¹
• The upcast shaft reached the Hutton seam at 228 feet. ³
• On 29 December 1869 a boiler explosion at the colliery killed George Irwin, 36, weighman, and George Ranson, 18, engineman. ¹
• A Bewicke Main and Mill plan of the Main seam is recorded as abandoned in 1915, and the Hutton and Low Main plans in 1932. ^4,5

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Bewicke Main Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Beanish, Urpeth, Ouston and Pelton — England's North East
3. (primary) Bewicke Main Colliery: section of strata sunk through at the upcast shaft, 1868 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bewicke Main, Hutton, abandoned 1932 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bewicke Main / Mill, Main, abandoned 1915 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026