Charlaw Colliery

Overview

An old colliery on the edge of Charlaw woods at Sacriston, County Durham, leased in 1733, reopened with a new shaft in the 1830s alongside Sacriston Colliery, and worked with it by Elliot, Hunter and Co. and then the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company into the 1930s.

History

Charlaw Colliery, on the edge of the Charlaw woods at Sacriston, four miles north-west of Durham, is one of the oldest workings in the district: in 1733 it was leased to Ralph Ferry for twenty-one years. It was one of several tiny mines in the area and had closed by the 1820s. When Sacriston Colliery was sunk from 1833 the old Charlaw colliery was reopened and a new shaft sunk; the viewer John Buddle had considered working the two as one mine in 1835, and a new waggonway from Charlaw through Sacriston to Daisy Hill and the Waldridge line was finished in 1839, the year Charlaw is said to have opened as a larger enterprise.

Output is returned from 1855. The Witton Pit was sunk to the Hutton in 1859 and on to the Busty in 1872. Elliot, Hunter and Co. held the colliery in the 1860s, and in 1891 Hunter and Elliott were working the Low Main at 50 fathoms, the Hutton at 60 and the Busty at about 100, with the Charlaw pit raising some 500 tons a day with 300 hands. The Main Coal was abandoned in May 1881 and the Five Quarter in 1884, and the Sacriston waggonway was extended in 1890-92 to serve a new shaft at Charlaw.

In the twentieth century the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company worked it for gas and manufacturing coal, with 410 employed in 1900 and 558 in 1921; in 1927 its returns included the Sacriston Busty and came to 1,120. A Shield Row Drift was worked with it from 1929, and its returns still showed 980 employed in 1935. New housing in the north of Sacriston was later built next to the colliery.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Low Main (2 to 3 ft at 50 fathoms), Hutton (2 ft 6 in at 60 fathoms) and Busty (4 to 5 ft at about 100 fathoms) in 1891; later the Brass Thill, Brockwell, Shield Row and Victoria; the Main Coal and Five Quarter were abandoned in 1881 and 1884.

Workings

The Charlaw pit and the Witton Pit (sunk to the Hutton 1859, to the Busty 1872), a new shaft of about 1890-92, and the Shield Row Drift from 1929; coal went by the Sacriston waggonway to the Waldridge line.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Housing in the north of Sacriston adjoins the colliery site.

Related mines

• Kimblesworth Colliery — Both held by the Charlaw and Sacriston company and worked by Hunter and Elliott.
• Nettlesworth Colliery — Both worked by the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company.
• Sacriston Colliery — Worked together as the Charlaw and Sacriston collieries by Elliot and Hunter and then the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company, on one waggonway.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1733 Charlaw Colliery, on the edge of the wood, was leased to Ralph Ferry for twenty-one years. ¹
• Charlaw mine opened in 1839 as a larger enterprise, alongside a new colliery further north below Segerston Heugh. ^2,1
• The old colliery at Charlaw, closed in the 1820s, was reopened and a new shaft sunk when Sacriston Colliery was begun in 1833. ³
• In 1891 the Charlaw pit raised about 500 tons a day with 300 hands, working the Low Main at 50 fathoms, the Hutton at 60 and the Busty at about 100. ⁴
• The Witton Pit of Charlaw Colliery was sunk to the Hutton seam in 1859 and from the Hutton to the Busty in 1872. ⁴
• In 1927 the colliery's returns, including the Sacriston Busty, came to 1,120 employed; it still employed 980 in 1935. ⁴
• The Main Coal at Charlaw was abandoned in May 1881 and the Five Quarter seam in 1884. ^4,5

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) The Birth of Sacriston (Segga) — County Durham, Village Past & Present
2. (secondary) Sacriston and Daisy Hill Settlement Character Study — Durham County Council
3. (secondary) Waldridge (Exploring the Waldridge Waggonway, parts one to four) — historyman1794
4. (primary) Charlaw Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Charlaw, Five Quarter, abandoned 1884 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

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