Chartershaugh Colliery

Overview

An early Wear-side colliery — also recorded as Chaytor's Haugh Colliery — opened by 1680 near Harraton, notable for an early water-balance winding engine installed in 1753 and for a severe 1778 explosion that killed 24 men. Drowned out by a great flood of the River Wear in 1771, it lay idle for over seventy years before reopening in 1845 and finally being abandoned in 1932.

History

Chartershaugh Colliery, also recorded historically as Chaytor's Haugh Colliery, worked the coal measures beside the River Wear near Harraton from at least 1680, under a succession of pits — Dolly Pit, Hedge Pit, Scrog(g) Pit, Stable End Pit and Charlotte Pit among them. Edward Smith held the colliery in the 1730s and is credited with introducing fire lamps there in 1732; by the 1780s it belonged to W. Peareth, Esq. In June 1753 the colliery was fitted with a striking piece of early mining technology: a water-balance winding engine, invented by Michael Menzies and secured by its own Act of Parliament, which drew coal to the surface using the descending weight of a water-filled bucket rather than horse power, lifting a corf of over 600lb from a pit 50 fathoms deep in two minutes. The colliery was already known for its gas: an explosion on 11 August 1756 killed four men, blowing a coal corf clear up an 80-fathom shaft and discolouring the ground for some distance around; a second and far more serious explosion, on 8 December 1778, killed 24 men. On 17 November 1771, a great flood on the River Wear inundated the collieries at Chartershaugh, North Biddick and Low Lambton together, drowning upwards of thirty horses underground and destroying the colliery fire engines; Chartershaugh lay idle for over seventy years afterwards. It was finally reopened in 1845, and continued working — latterly the Main, Maudlin, Low Main and Hutton seams — until those seams were abandoned on 27 February 1932.

Workings

Multiple shafts over its long working life — Dolly Pit, Hedge Pit, Scrog(g) Pit, Stable End Pit and Charlotte Pit — reaching around 80 fathoms; latterly worked the Main, Maudlin, Low Main and Hutton seams.

Closure

Idle for over seventy years after the 1771 Wear flood before reopening in 1845; its remaining seams were formally abandoned on 27 February 1932.

What remains

No structures are known to survive; the site lies within what is now the Fatfield/Harraton area beside the River Wear, long since redeveloped.

None known to survive.

Disasters & major incidents

• Chartershaugh Colliery Explosion, 1778
  8 December 1778 · Explosion
  A firedamp explosion at Chartershaugh Colliery on 8 December 1778 killed 24 men, one of the deadliest recorded Durham coalfield disasters of the eighteenth century.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery, also recorded as Chaytor's Haugh Colliery, was working by 1680. ¹
• In June 1753 the colliery installed a water-balance winding engine invented by Michael Menzies, drawing coal using the descending weight of a water-filled bucket rather than horse power — a corf of over 600lb was raised from 50 fathoms in two minutes. ¹
• An explosion on 11 August 1756 killed four men, blowing a coal corf clear up an 80-fathom shaft. ¹
• A great flood on the River Wear on 17 November 1771 inundated Chartershaugh, North Biddick and Low Lambton collieries together, drowning upwards of thirty horses; Chartershaugh lay idle for over seventy years afterwards. ^1,2
• The colliery reopened in 1845 and continued working until its remaining seams were abandoned on 27 February 1932. ^1,2

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum — Chaytor's Haugh Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Fatfield and Riverside — Collieries (Chartershaugh) — Fatfield and Riverside local history site

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