Byers Green Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Byers Green, between Willington and Spennymoor, sunk from 1840 to the Brockwell. Bolckow, Vaughan worked it from the 1860s with the Busty and Michael pits and 353 coke ovens; Dorman Long took it over in 1929 and it closed in 1931.

History

Sinking at Byers Green began in January 1840, from the surface to the Brockwell seam, and the colliery opened in 1841; it was drowned out for two or three years and re-opened in 1845. Its owners in turn were the Durham County Coal Company, Robson and Jackson in the 1850s, the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway Company from 1862 and its trustees from 1863, and from the 1860s Bolckow, Vaughan and Co. Ltd. In 1894 Bolckow, Vaughan were working the royalties from a pit sunk in 1877, with the Busty at 48 fathoms and the Brockwell at 76; when in full operation the two seams yielded 640 tons a day and employed 600 men and boys, and most of the coal was made into coke in 353 ovens. The Brockwell was worked out by 1892.

The colliery had two pits, the Busty and the Michael, and employed 755 in 1883 and 865 in 1905; the Busty Pit worked the Beaumont, Busty and Harvey and the Michael the Low Main. Byers Green grew around it from a farming village, with terraces for the pitmen such as Harrison, Henry and Dodd's Terraces, chapels, schools, shops and a brick and tile works. Work fell away in the 1920s, the Busty Pit standing in 1926, and on 1 November 1929 Dorman, Long and Co. took the colliery over; 404 worked there in 1930. It closed in June 1931, and its remaining seams were abandoned on 31 October 1932. Two deputies were killed together by a fall of stone in April 1867 (see Disasters, below), and two sinkers fell from a cradle down the shaft in January 1873.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Busty at 48 fathoms (4 feet, with a band of inches to feet), the Brockwell at 76 fathoms (3 feet 10 inches), the Beaumont, Harvey and Low Main; the abandonment of 1932 also names the Five Quarter, High Main, Hutton and Main.

Workings

The Busty and Michael pits; a drift in the Low Main by 1921; 353 coke ovens (1894).

Closure

Closed in June 1931; the remaining seams were abandoned on 31 October 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Byers Green Colliery roof fall, 1867
  5 April 1867 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  On 5 April 1867 two deputies at Bolckow, Vaughan and Co.'s Byers Green Colliery, near Bishop Auckland, were replacing timber at the top of an inclined plane when stone fell from the roof and killed them both: Charles Naisbett, 50, and William Turnbull, 24.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking began in January 1840 and the colliery opened in 1841; it was drowned out for two or three years and re-opened in 1845. ^1,2
• In 1894 the Busty and Brockwell seams yielded 640 tons a day with 600 men and boys, most of it coked in 353 ovens. ¹
• Byers Green grew from a farming village after the colliery opened, with terraced houses for the pit workers. ^1,3
• Dorman, Long and Co. took the colliery over on 1 November 1929. ¹
• The colliery closed in June 1931. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Byers Green Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Byers Green Colliery shaft details — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Settlement Character Study: Byers Green — Durham County Council

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026