East Howle Colliery

Overview

A colliery in the valley below Ferryhill, sunk in 1872-73 to the Brockwell, which the Carlton Iron Company ran with electric lighting, signals and pumping and 200 beehive coke ovens. It employed over 1,000 around 1900 and closed in 1905 when its seams were exhausted.

History

East Howle Colliery was sunk in 1872-73 to the Brockwell seam, about 486 feet down, in the valley below Ferryhill through which the railway runs to Spennymoor, one of the deeper and larger collieries opened around Ferryhill after the railways came. It is recorded under the East Howle Coal and Fire Brick Company, then the North of England Industrial Iron and Coal Company in the 1870s and the Carlton Iron Company from the 1880s. East Howle grew up as a purely colliery village, half a mile north of Ferryhill.

In 1894 the Carlton Iron Company had a most complete modern plant, using electric light extensively, electric signals and an electric pump. There were three shafts: the Catherine, 80 fathoms deep, for the Brockwell and Busty; the Marion, 40 fathoms, for the Harvey; and a third, also of 80 fathoms, for ventilation, drawn by a double-inlet Capell fan. Two hundred beehive coke ovens, most with travelling steel belts to draw the coke, stood at the pit, and the royalties covered over 2,000 acres. The workforce rose from 701 in 1883 to 1,108 in 1902. The coal ran out: the Brockwell was largely exhausted by 1897 and the Harvey by 1902, the pits closed in March 1905 with only 48 men left, and the remaining seams were abandoned in 1906 as exhausted or unprofitable.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Harvey (2 to 4 feet with a band), the Busty (Top and Bottom, 2 feet to 3 feet 6 inches), the Brockwell (3 feet of clear coal and 2 feet with bands) and the Hutton.

Workings

The Catherine (80 fathoms) and Marion (40 fathoms) shafts and a ventilation shaft with a Capell fan; electric lighting, signals and pumping; 200 beehive coke ovens.

Closure

The pits closed in March 1905; the colliery is recorded as closed on 18 November 1905 and its seams were abandoned in 1906.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Mainsforth Colliery — Ferryhill collieries both owned by the Carlton Iron Company.

Recorded claims

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

• East Howle Colliery was sunk to the Brockwell in 1872-73. ^1,2,3,4
• In 1894 the colliery used electric lights, electric signals and an electric pump, and had 200 beehive coke ovens. ²
• The colliery employed 1,108 in 1902. ²
• The coal being exhausted, the pits closed in March 1905 and the seams were abandoned in 1906. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Local history of Ferryhill — Ferryhill Town Council
2. (primary) East Howle Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) East Howle Colliery shaft details — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Ferryhill (County Durham): local history — Keys to the Past (Durham and Northumberland HER)

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026