Crow Trees Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Quarrington Hill, south-east of Durham, opened by William Hedley, the Wylam railway pioneer, whose 'Crowtrees' Wallsend' was first shipped from Stockton by the Clarence Railway in 1834. It won the Five Quarter in 1837, passed to Robson and Jackson and J. Morrison and Co., and had been laid in by 1894.

History

Crow Trees Colliery lay at Quarrington Hill, in the township of Cassop-cum-Quarrington south-east of Durham. William Hedley, the Wylam railway pioneer, took a royalty on the Crowtrees site in 1824, and the colliery was worked by William Hedley and Sons in the 1830s. Its coal went out by the Clarence Railway: on 16 January 1834 the first cargo of 'Crowtrees' Wallsend' was shipped at the Clarence Railway's staiths at Stockton for London. That year Hedley obtained running powers to work his own trains of Crowtrees coal to Stockton, but Robert Surtees, the county historian, whose house at Mainsforth they passed, won an injunction against the noisy locomotives, and until 1839 the traffic had to be hauled by horses. On 22 April 1837 the Five Quarter seam was won, opening about 1,600 acres of the West Hetton coalfield. Ralph Ward Jackson later built a winding engine on Beacon Hill to lift coal trucks out of the Crowtrees area onto his Hartlepool railway.

Robson and Jackson worked the colliery in the 1850s and J. Morrison and Co. in the 1860s. On 18 December 1850 the middle one of the three boilers serving the winding engine burst while the engine was stopped for repairs to a steam valve, killing Thomas Graydon, who was working in the boiler and was thrown 150 yards, and John Smith (see Disasters, below); another boiler explosion, at the pumping engine, killed the fireman William Barry in April 1856. Plans of its Middleton Main and Five Quarter workings were abandoned in 1855 and 1856, and of Crow Trees and Heugh Hall in 1877. By 1894 the collieries of the township, Heugh Hall, Bowburn and Crow Trees, had been laid in, and many of the cottages had fallen into ruin.

Geology

Durham coalfield beneath the Magnesian Limestone: the Main (Middleton Main), Five Quarter, Harvey and Low Main seams.

Workings

The Vale Pit and others, linked by the Crowtrees railway to the Clarence Railway at Coxhoe and later by Ward Jackson's incline over Beacon Hill.

Closure

Laid in before 1894; plans of its Main and Five Quarter workings with Heugh Hall's were abandoned in 1877.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Coxhoe Colliery — Neighbouring collieries on the Clarence Railway at Coxhoe: William Hedley worked both, and both were held by J. Morrison and Co. in the 1860s.

Disasters & major incidents

• Crow Trees Colliery boiler explosion, 1850
  18 December 1850 · Machinery · 2 fatalities
  On 18 December 1850 the middle boiler of Crow Trees Colliery's winding engine gave way during a repair, blowing one man who was working in it 150 yards and killing a second beside the boilers.

What's uncertain

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

• The first cargo went aboard the brig Etherley. (disputed) ²
• The first cargo went aboard the brig Elizabeth. (disputed) ³
• Crowtrees Colliery near Quarrington Hill was opened in 1825 by William Hedley. (uncertain) ⁸

Recorded claims

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

• William Hedley took a royalty on the Crowtrees site in 1824, and in 1834 obtained running powers over the Clarence Railway to run his own trains of Crowtrees coal to Stockton. ^1,2
• The first cargo of coal from Crow Trees was shipped at the Clarence Railway staiths at Stockton for London on 16 January 1834. ^3,2
• The first cargo went aboard the brig Etherley. (disputed) ²
• The first cargo went aboard the brig Elizabeth. (disputed) ³
• Robert Surtees obtained an injunction against the locomotives, and until 1839 all traffic had to be hauled by horses. ¹
• On 22 April 1837 the Five Quarter seam was won at Crow Trees, laying open about 1,600 acres of the West Hetton coalfield belonging to W. Hedley and Sons. ²
• On 18 December 1850 a boiler explosion at Crow Trees Colliery killed two men. ^3,4
• Plans of Crow Trees workings in the Middleton Main are dated 1855, and of Crow Trees and Heugh Hall in the Five Quarter 1877. ^5,6
• A sinking at Crow Trees Colliery, from a surface about 475 feet above sea level, passed through clay, metal stone and whin girdles to a three-foot coal at about 65 to 69 feet. ⁷
• Crowtrees Colliery near Quarrington Hill was opened in 1825 by William Hedley. (uncertain) ⁸

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) A brief history of local coal mining (Don Wilcock and Stavros Young) — Bowburn Local History
2. (primary) Crow Trees Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Local Records; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events, vol. 3 (T. Fordyce, 1867) — Internet Archive
4. (primary) Colliery Accident 1850: Crowtrees, 18 December 1850 — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Crow Trees, Middleton Main, abandoned 1855 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Crow Trees and Heugh Hall, Five Quarter, abandoned 1877 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
7. (primary) Crow Trees Colliery: section of strata — Durham Mining Museum
8. (secondary) Cassop, Quarrington, Kelloe, Coxhoe, Cornforth — England's North East

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