Bowden Close Colliery

Overview

A Pease colliery at Helmington Row, between Crook and Willington, opened in 1845, whose whole output went into coke; it employed 1,370 at its peak in 1923 and was discontinued in June 1930.

History

Bowden Close Colliery stood at Helmington Row, between Crook and Willington, seven miles south-west of Durham. Borings on the Willington estate near Bowden Close proved the Brockwell seam in 1839, and the colliery opened in 1845. It belonged to the Pease family throughout: Joseph Pease, Joseph Whitwell Pease and Joseph Pease and Co. in the 1850s, Joseph Pease and Partners in the 1860s and Pease and Partners Ltd from the 1880s.

All its output was made into coke, in 135 ovens in 1894, and it raised coking and manufacturing coal and fireclay. Employment grew from 234 in 1883 to about 400 in the 1890s, 952 in 1910 and a peak of 1,370 in 1923, working the Five Quarter, Main, Top Main, Yard, Harvey, Hutton, Ballarat and 'B' seams from the Norwich Pit. In 1894 Helmington Row was little more than a straggling row of cottages housing its miners, and Bowden Close was a colliery village entirely; the miners' institute there had a billiard room, a reading room and a library supplied by the Yorkshire Union.

The colliery was temporarily closed in 1924, reopened with 855 men in 1925, and was discontinued in June 1930, when 27 men remained; its seams were abandoned on 20 September 1933. Later plans of Brancepeth Colliery, Willington, include Bowden Close workings in the Three-Quarter or Tilley seam, abandoned in 1967. The museum's list of those killed holds 56 names. Bowden Close village is now almost wholly abandoned.

Geology

Durham coalfield, western side. The account of the shaft records coals at 163 ft 6 in, 188 ft, 190 ft 6 in, 228 ft, 282 ft and 342 ft, the lowest 3 ft 8 in thick; the seams worked were the Five Quarter, Main, Top Main, Yard, Harvey, Hutton, Ballarat and 'B' seam, with fireclay.

Workings

The Norwich Pit, with 135 coke ovens at the surface in 1894.

Closure

Temporarily closed in 1924, discontinued in June 1930, and its seams abandoned on 20 September 1933.

What remains

The colliery village of Bowden Close is almost wholly abandoned.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Brancepeth Colliery — Brancepeth Colliery's later plans include Bowden Close workings in the Three-Quarter or Tilley seam, abandoned in 1967.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery opened in 1845. ^1,2
• The Peases owned it throughout, as Pease and Partners Ltd from the 1880s. ²
• In 1894 all its output was converted into coke in 135 ovens. ²
• Employment peaked at 1,370 in 1923. ²
• The colliery was discontinued in June 1930. ^1,2
• The Five Quarter and other seams were abandoned in 1933. ^3,4
• Bowden Close is almost wholly abandoned. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) The North East 1920-1938 (England's North East) — England's North East (David Simpson)
2. (primary) Bowden Close Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Bowden Close Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bowden Close, Five Quarter, abandoned 1933 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) Helmington Row — Wikipedia

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