Burdon Main Colliery

Overview

Bells, Robson and Co.'s colliery at Chirton, on the western edge of North Shields, begun in 1811 on the site of older workings and also called Collingwood Main. It worked the Low Main seam out beneath the Tyne, and explosions killed eight in 1813 and eleven in 1835.

History

Burdon Main, also known as Collingwood Main, was the easternmost colliery on the north bank of the Tyne, in the township of Chirton. Messrs Bells, Robson and Co. began it in 1811, though coal had been worked there in the previous century: when one of the old shafts was opened in 1814 the skeleton of a man was found 30 fathoms down. The colliery had seven pits, the A, Chance, Chirton, Engine, Hopewell, Old and West Chirton; the A Pit was sunk from 2 November 1829 and reached coal on 8 July 1830.

By 1844 the High Main, at about 50 fathoms, and the Bensham were worked out, and the Low Main, about five feet thick and of excellent quality, was the only seam worked: 110 fathoms down at the West Chirton Pit and 120 at the A Pit, with workings running beneath the Tyne to about low-water mark. The Old and Hopewell pits were the upcasts, one with a furnace burning a chaldron of coal a day, and the mine was said to be clean enough to need lamps hardly at all. A 30-horsepower engine drew the coal, which went to the spouts at North Shields by a railway, mostly an inclined plane. George Johnson was the senior viewer, as he was at Willington.

Candles were used throughout. An explosion on 17 July 1813 killed eight, among them the viewer Hope, and on 19 November 1835 a trap door left open by a ten-year-old trapper let gas gather that fired at the deputy's candle and killed eleven. In the 1850s the owner is recorded as Hope; the colliery was working in 1854 and coal is recorded from it in 1855 and 1860.

Geology

Northumberland Coal Measures under glacial clay: the High Main at about 50 fathoms, the Metal Coal, the Yard Coal (seven feet but foul in its upper part), the Bensham, a scarcely discernible Five Quarter, and the Low Main, about five feet thick, at 110-120 fathoms.

Workings

Seven pits (A, Chance, Chirton, Engine, Hopewell, Old and West Chirton); coal drawn at the A and West Chirton pits by a 30-horsepower engine, the Old and Hopewell pits upcasts with a furnace; Low Main workings beneath the Tyne to low-water mark; an inclined-plane railway to the spouts at North Shields.

Closure

Coal is recorded from the colliery in 1855 and 1860; a plan of the High Main at Burdon Main and Percy Main was deposited as abandoned in 1841.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bigge Pit, Willington — George Johnson was senior viewer for Burdon Main and Willington collieries.

Disasters & major incidents

• Collingwood Main Colliery explosion, 1813
  17 July 1813 · Explosion · 8 fatalities
  On 17 July 1813 gas fired at the candles of an overman, deputies and others who had gone down Collingwood Main Colliery at Chirton, North Shields, to save timber and iron from a creep. Eight were killed and two badly injured. The creep had blocked the ventilation.
• Burdon Main Colliery explosion, 1835
  19 November 1835 · Explosion · 11 fatalities
  On the afternoon of 19 November 1835 gas fired at the candle of the deputy James Campbell in the Low Main seam of Burdon Main Colliery, North Shields, killing eleven, three men and eight boys. A trap door had been left open by a ten-year-old trapper, Joseph Arkley, who was among the dead.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was commenced in 1811 by Messrs Bells, Robson and Co. ^1,2
• On opening one of the old shafts in 1814 the skeleton of a man was found 30 fathoms down. ^1,2
• The Low Main seam was worked beneath the Tyne to about low-water mark. ^1,3,2
• The A Pit was sunk from 2 November 1829 and reached coal on 8 July 1830. ⁴
• George Johnson was senior viewer for Burdon Main and Willington collieries. ^5,2
• Explosions killed eight on 17 July 1813 and eleven on 19 November 1835. ^3,5,2
• A plan of the High Main at Burdon Main and Percy Main was deposited as abandoned in 1841. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Burdon Main Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Burdon Main Colliery (Collingwood Main) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
3. (secondary) Collingwood Main Colliery Explosion - Chirton - 1813 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Burdon Main Colliery: shaft sections (Chirton and A pits) — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Burdon Main Colliery Explosion - Burdon - 1835 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) Burdon Main and Percy Main: High Main abandonment plan, 1841 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026