Byron Colliery

Overview

A short-lived Victorian colliery a quarter of a mile north-east of Edmondsley, County Durham, sunk in the late 1850s by the owners of Waldridge Colliery and worked until 1879, its coal drawn up a rope-hauled siding to the Sacriston waggonway.

History

Byron Colliery, sometimes called Byron Pit, stood near Deanacres, below Mount Pleasant Farm and about a quarter of a mile north-east of Edmondsley, five miles north-north-west of Durham. It was sunk by the owners of Waldridge Colliery, one of several new collieries opened beside the Waldridge and Sacriston waggonways between 1840 and 1859, with Edmondsley, Nettlesworth and Whitton. The Waldridge history puts the sinking in 1858; the Durham Mining Museum has it at work before 1857.

A short siding ran from the pit up to the Sacriston waggonway, and was apparently rope-hauled by a third cylinder on the Daisy Hill engine, which drew waggons over the hill and lowered them to Waldridge Fell; from there the coal went on by the Waldridge waggonway and the railway at Pelton to the Tyne. In the 1860s the colliery was held by Sowerby, Phillips and Co., and its output was returned in 1860, 1865 and 1873. Two men died there in 1866: Thomas Atkinson, a hewer, under a fall of stone in November, and Thomas Paxton, a 22-year-old labourer, crushed by a surface waggon in December. The pit was worked until 1879.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

A pit with a short rope-hauled siding to the Sacriston waggonway, below Mount Pleasant Farm.

Closure

Worked until 1879.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Chester South Moor Colliery — Both held by Sowerby, Phillips and Co. in the 1860s.
• Waldridge Colliery — Byron Colliery was sunk by the Waldridge owners in 1858.

What's uncertain

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

• Byron Colliery was sunk by the Waldridge owners in 1858 and worked until 1879. (disputed) ¹
• Byron Colliery, at Edmondsley, was at work before 1857, and in the 1860s was held by Sowerby, Phillips and Co. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Byron Colliery was sunk by the Waldridge owners in 1858 and worked until 1879. (disputed) ¹
• Byron Colliery, at Edmondsley, was at work before 1857, and in the 1860s was held by Sowerby, Phillips and Co. (disputed) ²
• Byron Pit was linked to the Sacriston waggonway by a short line below Mount Pleasant Farm, a quarter of a mile north-east of Edmondsley. ^3,1
• Coal output was returned for Byron Colliery in 1860, 1865 and 1873. ²
• Thomas Atkinson, a hewer, was killed by a fall of stone on 10 November 1866, and Thomas Paxton, a labourer of 22, was crushed by a surface waggon on 6 December 1866. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Waldridge (Exploring the Waldridge Waggonway, parts one to four) — historyman1794
2. (primary) Byron Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (observational) History — Edmondsley Parish Council — Edmondsley Parish Council

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026