Brasside Colliery

Overview

A small colliery at Brasside, north-east of Durham, worked by the Earl of Durham in the Hutton with neighbouring Frankland until 1883, and revived in the Low Main by the Brasside Colliery Company until 1925.

History

Brasside Colliery lay at Brasside, about three miles north-east of Durham in Framwellgate Moor parish, one of four collieries in the area with Frankland, Dryburn and Framwellgate. The Earl of Durham owned it in the 1850s, and coal was being blasted there by 1849, when a man died of injuries from a shot. In May 1867 a pumping shaft was sunk from the surface, about 125 feet above sea level, to the Hutton seam, which it reached at 194 feet 3 inches.

The Hutton was worked together with neighbouring Frankland, and the Frankland and Brasside Hutton workings were abandoned on 4 January 1883; T. Crawford was agent and T. Dawson manager in 1882.

The colliery was revived in the 1920s by the Brasside Colliery Company. In 1923 it employed 30 people, 26 underground, working the Low Main for steam coal, with T. Hindson as agent and G. Hindson as manager; 33 were employed in 1924. The Low Main was abandoned on 31 January 1925. Several deaths are recorded there between 1849 and 1879, most of them among the coal waggons.

Geology

The 1867 pumping shaft passed through clays, shales and sandstones with several thin coals to the Hutton seam, 4 feet 6 inches thick at 194 feet 3 inches. The Low Main was worked in the 1920s.

Workings

A pumping shaft sunk in 1867 to the Hutton, whose workings joined those of Frankland Colliery; in the 1920s the Low Main.

Closure

The Hutton was abandoned on 4 January 1883 and the Low Main on 31 January 1925.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Frankland Colliery — The Earl of Durham's neighbouring collieries, whose Hutton workings were abandoned together in 1883.

Recorded claims

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

• One of four collieries in the Framwellgate Moor area, with Frankland, Dryburn and Framwellgate. ¹
• A pumping shaft was sunk in May 1867 to the Hutton seam, reached at 194 feet 3 inches. ^2,3
• The Frankland and Brasside Hutton workings were abandoned on 4 January 1883. ^4,5
• Employed 30 people in 1923, 26 underground, working the Low Main for steam coal. ²
• T. Hindson was agent and G. Hindson manager in 1923. ⁶
• The Low Main was abandoned on 31 January 1925. ^4,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Framwellgate Moor (County Durham), local history (D6797) — Keys to the Past (Durham and Northumberland HER)
2. (primary) Brasside Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Account of Strata sunk through in Pumping Shaft, Brasside Colliery, May 1867 (An Account of the strata of Northumberland & Durham as proved by Borings & Sinkings, Vol. A-B, 1878, no. 0289) — North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers, via the Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines: Brasside Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) Frankland and Brasside Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan 1446A, Hutton, 1883) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
6. (primary) Brasside Colliery: Colliery Management (prior to 1970) — Durham Mining Museum
7. (primary) Brasside Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan 8133, Low Main, 1925) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

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