Cocken Colliery

Overview

One of the Lambton family’s Durham pits, on the high ground at Cocken above the wooded bend of the Wear opposite Finchale Priory, three and a half miles north-north-east of Durham. It was at work by the early 1840s, returned coal in the official lists from 1855 to 1873 and was still working for the Earl of Durham in 1880, and it was one of the two collieries — with Littletown — from which Lambton Collieries Ltd worked what remained of the Rainton royalty after the Londonderry pits there closed in 1896. It had gone by the end of the century.

History

Coal at Cocken belonged to the Lambtons of Lambton Castle, whose commercial working of the Wear valley coal began with the first of seven pits sunk at Bournmoor from 1783. In 1822 Lord Lambton bought Nesham’s waggonway and Newbottle Colliery and extended the waggonway south-westwards to join up with his other collieries at Cocken, Littletown and Sherburn — a move that gave him what the Hetton Company already had, independence from the middlemen who controlled the Wear. The colliery itself appears in the official output lists for 1855, 1860, 1865 and 1873, all for coal, and was returned to the Earl of Durham in the 1860s and again in the official list of collieries at work in 1880. Its upcast shaft was sunk from the surface to the Low Main seam in 1869. The men killed there whose names the mining museum has collected span 1842 to 1882 and give the flavour of the place: a quarryman crushed in 1844 while winning scalds on the pit heap to repair the roads; a twelve-year-old rolley driver run over in 1855 after going back to the furnace to roast potatoes; a sixteen-year-old putter crushed between a full tub and a prop in 1882 when the pony went on. The colliery outlasted the Londonderry pits at Rainton. When those closed in November 1896, the rest of the Rainton royalty was taken over by Lambton Collieries Ltd and worked from existing collieries at Cocken and Littletown. Cocken itself was disused by the 1890s, though its Hutton seam was not formally abandoned until 1934.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Durham coalfield, on the high ground above the Wear at Cocken. The Low Main was the seam the upcast shaft was carried down to in 1869, and the Hutton seam was formally abandoned in 1934, long after the colliery stopped work.

Workings

An upcast shaft, sunk from the surface to the Low Main seam in 1869, with a pit heap that was itself worked for scalds to repair the colliery roads. Underground haulage was by rolley and tub with pony drivers, and there was an incline; a furnace provided ventilation. The colliery was connected by waggonway to the Lambton railway network, and a brick field lay to the south of the site.

Closure

No closure date has been established. The colliery was still returned as at work in 1880 and was one of the two pits from which Lambton Collieries Ltd worked the remains of the Rainton royalty after 1896, but it was disused by the end of the 1890s. The Hutton seam was formally abandoned in 1934.

What remains

Nothing of the colliery is identifiable. The ground at Cocken is farmland and woodland above the wooded gorge of the Wear, with Finchale Priory on the far bank; Cocken Wood runs down to the river below the site.

None identified.

Nearby mines

• Chartershaugh Colliery — 6.1 km N
• Sacriston Colliery — 6.2 km W
• Harraton Colliery — 6.5 km N, Tyne and Wear
• Bearpark Colliery — 6.6 km SW
• Edmondsley Colliery — 6.9 km W

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was returned to the Earl of Durham in the 1860s and again in the official list of collieries at work in 1880. ^1,2
• In 1822 Lord Lambton bought Nesham’s waggonway and Newbottle Colliery and extended the waggonway south-westwards to join his other collieries at Cocken, Littletown and Sherburn. ³
• The upcast shaft at Cocken Colliery was sunk from the surface to the Low Main seam in 1869. ²
• After the last four Londonderry pits at Rainton closed in November 1896, the rest of the Rainton royalty was taken over by Lambton Collieries Ltd and worked from the existing collieries at Cocken and Littletown. ³
• Coal was returned from Cocken in the official output lists for 1855, 1860, 1865 and 1873. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre
2. (secondary) Cocken Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Colliery railways of County Durham — Durham Records Online
4. (secondary) Earl of Durham Collieries — Grace's Guide to British Industrial History

Record created: 6 September 2026 · Last researched: 6 September 2026