Bomarsund Colliery

Overview

A mid-Northumberland colliery, officially Bedlington 'F' Pit, sunk in 1854 and named for that year's Crimean War battle at the fortress of Bomarsund; the pit village it created survives, its site now a business and nature park.

History

The Bomarsund Pit -- officially F Pit -- was sunk in 1905 as part of the wider Bedlington Colliery group, whose other shafts (A/Engine Pit, Doctor Pit) dated back to the 1830s-50s. It took its name from the village that had already grown up beside it, itself named to mark the Royal Navy's capture of the fortress of Bomarsund, on the Åland Islands, during the Crimean War in August 1854 -- the pit itself was sunk half a century after the battle it was named for. The group had passed from a mid-19th-century partnership (Davison, Easton, Anderson, Stodart, Bates and Henderson) to the Bedlington Coal Co. by the 1860s, incorporated as Bedlington Coal Co. Ltd by the 1890s, and to the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947. Bomarsund/F Pit closed on 23 October 1965. Officially designated Bedlington 'F' Pit, it was generally known locally simply as Bomarsund, and gave its name to the terraced housing built beside it for miners and their families, which grew into the present-day village. The pit was one of three major mid-Northumberland collieries, alongside Ashington and Choppington.

Geology

Coal of the Northumberland field; the seams worked are not recorded.

Workings

Nothing is recorded of the pit's own individual underground workings, beyond its position as one shaft ('F Pit') within the wider Bedlington Colliery concern.

Closure

Closed on 23 October 1965.

What remains

No colliery structures survive; the site is now home to Bomarsund Farm and Earth Balance, a business park promoting sustainable development, built around a small lake.

Related mines

• Bedlington 'A' Colliery — The F Pit of the same Bedlington Colliery and Bedlington Coal Co.
• Bedlington 'D' Colliery — The F Pit of the same Bedlington Colliery group, owned together by the Bedlington Coal Co. and then the NCB.
• West Sleekburn Colliery — Both Bedlington Coal Company collieries in the Bedlington group.

Recorded claims

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

• The pit was named Bomarsund to mark the August 1854 capture of the fortress of that name in the Åland Islands during the Crimean War, and was officially designated Bedlington 'F' Pit. ¹
• The former colliery site is now home to Bomarsund Farm and Earth Balance, a sustainable-development business park built around a small lake, alongside a former brewery site and a 1922 War Memorial Hall. ²
• Bomarsund was one of three major mid-Northumberland collieries, alongside Ashington and Choppington. ¹
• The Bomarsund Pit (officially F Pit) was sunk in 1905, half a century after the 1854 Crimean War battle it was named for; it was part of the wider Bedlington Colliery group, whose ownership passed from a mid-19th-century partnership to the Bedlington Coal Co. (Ltd from the 1890s) and then to the National Coal Board in 1947. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Bomarsund, Northumberland — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Bomarsund, Northumberland — Co-Curate (Newcastle University)
3. (primary) Bedlington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 31 August 2026