Broomhill Colliery

Overview

The large colliery behind Amble's coal trade, begun with the A Pit in 1849, which employed 1,819 people in 1915 and closed on 3 February 1961 under the National Coal Board.

History

Broomhill Colliery lay at Broomhill, two miles from Amble on the Northumberland coast. Its A Pit was begun in August 1849, the year the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway built the Amble branch to carry local coal to the harbour, and a New Pit followed on 5 December 1866. The returns name W. Barkus, Murray & Burdon as owners in the 1850s, Burdon & Co. in the 1860s, Henry Ritson and Sowerby & Andrews in the 1880s, the Broomhill Coal Co. Ltd in the 1890s and Broomhill Collieries Ltd in the 1900s, and the National Coal Board from 1947.

The colliery grew with the harbour. Hugh Andrews became a partner in 1871, and in the later 1870s took over its management; its output was reported to have more than doubled and its coal went to ports across Europe. The company secured the services of Professor J. H. Merivale of Durham College of Science, and daily output is said to have risen from 1,000 tons to 2,000. Andrews left in 1900, when Broomhill and Radcliffe collieries were bought by the company that became Broomhill Collieries Ltd. By March 1901 the colliery was working what the returns call its Togston workings. It returned fireclay as well as coal from 1883, and later clay.

Employment was 1,203 in 1894, 1,459 in 1905 and 1,819 in 1915, the peak in the returns, before a dip to 656 in 1921 and a recovery to 1,424 in 1925. It was 952 in 1935, 1,017 in 1950 and 710 at closure. Output was 230,000 tons in 1947. Seams worked included the Top, Queen, Main and Bottom, with the Beaumont, Givens, Albert, Radcliffe and Prince in the 1940s and 1950s.

The colliery closed on 3 February 1961. The Durham Mining Museum lists about eighty people killed there between 1854 and 1952, most singly, by falls of stone, tubs and machinery. On 11 March 1901 a fall of roof in the Togston workings buried the deputy George Murray, and men worked for twenty hours before his body was recovered. On 17 September 1916 the chargeman John Bradford Patton, 34, died of carbon monoxide at a brick wall holding back an old fire in the South Hadston area of the top seam; the coroner's jury found accidental poisoning.

Much of the later working lay in surface drifts. Former employees recall that the north-eastern workings were reached by the East Togston, Dawsons and Coldrife drifts, with coal hauled to the colliery by rope and tubway, and that the Prince and Albert seams, each under 24 inches, were entered by the Moorhouse drift near Radcliffe. The north side finished in 1959 and the south side in 1961.

Geology

The A Pit, from a surface about 80 ft above sea level, passed through clay and sand to the Top seam (6 ft thick, floor at 126 ft), the Main seam (5 ft 6 in, floor at 212 ft 4 in) and the Bottom seam (3 ft, floor at 270 ft); the original section was lost and its details between the seams are doubtful. The New Pit cut the Top seam (6 ft 2 in, floor at 113 ft) and the Bottom seam (2 ft 6 in, floor at 259 ft), with only coal pipes where the Main seam lay.

Workings

The returns list an A Pit sunk in August 1849, a New Pit (NU248008) sunk from 5 December 1866 and the Chevington Drift. Both shafts closed in 1961. In the 1940s the seams listed run to the Albert, Duke, Princess, Queen, Radcliffe, Beaumont and Givens; plans of the Main, Middle, Top, Duke and Princess seams worked between 1868 and 1881 are on the same abandonment plans as Togston and Radcliffe. Former employees describe the north-eastern workings as surface drifts, East Togston, Dawsons and Coldrife, with coal taken to the colliery by tubways and rope haulage, and the Prince and Albert seams entered by the Moorhouse drift; one recalls no underground connection between Broomhill and Hauxley.

Closure

The colliery was abandoned on 3 February 1961, the date on the abandonment plan for the Bottom (Hutton) seam. About 710 people were returned at closure. The north side finished in 1959 and the south side in 1961.

What remains

The 1950s concrete water tower, a large tank on stilts built by Green of Warkworth, stands on the old colliery site.

A concrete water tower on stilts remains on the site. Opencast mining had removed most other surface traces of the colliery and its neighbours by the early 1980s.

Redevelopment

Northumbrian Water sold the water tower at auction for 15,000 pounds as a possible house; it still stood derelict when last reported.

Related mines

• Hauxley Colliery — Broomhill Collieries Ltd sank Hauxley Colliery in 1926; both were part of the same company.
• Newburgh Colliery — Both were worked by the Broomhill company, which bought the Radcliffe Coal Co. and developed Newburgh Colliery from 1896.
• Togston Colliery — Broomhill was drawing timber in what it called its Togston workings by March 1901, and the two shared abandonment plans for the Main, Middle, Top, Duke and Princess seams.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Broomhill's north-eastern workings were reached by the East Togston, Dawsons and Coldrife surface drifts, and its Prince and Albert seams by the Moorhouse drift. (uncertain) ⁹
• The north side of the colliery finished in 1959 and the south side in 1961. (uncertain) ⁹

Recorded claims

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

• The A Pit's sinking began in August 1849 and the New Pit's on 5 December 1866. ¹
• The colliery closed on 3 February 1961, the date of the abandonment plan for the Bottom (Hutton) seam. ^1,2
• The owners were Burdon & Co. in the 1860s, the Broomhill Coal Co. Ltd in the 1890s and Broomhill Collieries Ltd in the 1900s, then the National Coal Board from 1947. ¹
• Employment was 1,203 in 1894 and 1,819 in 1915, and about 710 at closure in 1961. ¹
• The New Pit was sunk to 273 ft 6 in and the A Pit to 271 ft; a local history gives the colliery's depth as 45 fathoms. ^3,4,5
• Hugh Andrews became a partner in the company in 1871 and left in 1900, when Broomhill and Radcliffe collieries were bought by the company that became Broomhill Collieries Ltd. ^5,6
• Output in 1947 was 230,000 tons. ¹
• On 11 March 1901 a fall of roof in the Togston workings buried the deputy George Murray, whose body was recovered about twenty hours later. ⁷
• John Bradford Patton, a chargeman aged 34, died of carbon monoxide poisoning on 17 September 1916 near a brick wall holding back an old fire in the top seam. ⁷
• A concrete water tower on stilts, built in the 1950s by Green of Warkworth, stands on the colliery site. ⁸
• Broomhill's north-eastern workings were reached by the East Togston, Dawsons and Coldrife surface drifts, and its Prince and Albert seams by the Moorhouse drift. (uncertain) ⁹
• The north side of the colliery finished in 1959 and the south side in 1961. (uncertain) ⁹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Broomhill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) BGS mine plan: BROOMHILL (Bottom (Hutton L) seam, abandoned 3 February 1961) — British Geological Survey / Mine Remediation Authority
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Broomhill Colliery Shaft Details (A Pit) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Broomhill Colliery Shaft Details (New Pit) — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) The History of Amble and District (T. L. McAndrews) — Amble and District Local History
6. (secondary) The Broomhill / Amble Undersea Project (Dr Eric Wade) — Amble and District Local History
7. (secondary) The Amble and District Mining Memorial: Broomhill Colliery — Amble and District Local History
8. (observational) Broomhill Water Tower in Amble — Fabulous North
9. (observational) Broomhill Colliery - Coquet and Coast Forum (thread, page 1 of 3) — Coquet and Coast Forum

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 1 October 2026