East Tanfield Colliery

Overview

A colliery near Tantobie, sunk by James Joicey in 1844 at the end of the Tanfield waggonway; stopped and reopened in the First World War, it employed nearly 900 in 1940 and closed on 9 January 1965, the last colliery on the line.

History

East Tanfield Colliery was sunk from the surface to the Busty seam in 1844 by James Joicey, near Tantobie and six and a half miles south-west of Newcastle. A borehole put down from the Busty Bank seam proved the Brockwell in 1859. By 1894, when James Joicey and Co. Ltd held the Tanfield royalties, the colliery had two shafts: the Busty, 64 fathoms deep, working the Busty Bank, Hutton and Main Coal, and the Brockwell, 78 fathoms. Together they raised 170,772 tons a year with 390 men and boys, and the colliery had 224 coke ovens and a large firebrick works.

Employment stood at 495 in 1894 and 729 in 1905. The Beaumont, Brockwell, Busty, Hutton, Main Coal and Tilley seams were abandoned in 1914 and the colliery is recorded as reopened in 1915; the East Tanfield Colliery Co. Ltd owned it from 1917. Only 152 worked there in 1921 and 107 in 1925. The South Derwent Coal Co. Ltd took it over in 1929, and the workforce rose again to 780 in 1935 and 899 in 1940.

The National Coal Board took the colliery over in 1947. It produced coking, manufacturing and steam coal, in its last years from the Brockwell, Busty, Three Quarter and Tilley seams, and still employed 510 in 1964. It closed on 9 January 1965, and the plans of its last workings were deposited as abandoned on 27 April 1965.

The colliery lay at the southern end of the Tanfield waggonway, whose section from Causey to East Tanfield was built in 1839. The line closed when its last colliery, East Tanfield, stopped production, a date Wikipedia gives as 1964. The heritage Tanfield Railway has since reopened it as far as East Tanfield. The museum's list of those killed at the colliery holds 41 names, most of them hewers and drivers killed by falls of stone; Edward Bridge was killed by an explosion in April 1947.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Busty Bank (5 to 6 ft), Hutton (7 ft) and Main Coal (3 ft 6 in) from the Busty shaft at 64 fathoms, and the Brockwell (4 ft 6 in to 5 ft) at 78 fathoms; the Beaumont, Five Quarter, Three Quarter, Tilley and Victoria seams were worked in the twentieth century.

Workings

Two shafts by 1894, the Busty (64 fathoms) and the Brockwell (78 fathoms), with the Engine Pit; 224 coke ovens and a firebrick works.

Closure

Closed on 9 January 1965 under the National Coal Board.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

The heritage Tanfield Railway runs to East Tanfield.

Related mines

• Tanfield Moor Colliery — Both were served by the Tanfield waggonway and its later Tanfield branch, which ran from Tanfield Moor down past East Tanfield towards the Tyne.

Culture

• Tommy Armstrong, the Pitman's Poet (Music)
  Armstrong worked at East Tanfield Colliery as a young man, by his brother's account from late 1866 for several years; the Tanfield Railway's tea room on the colliery site carries his name.

What's uncertain

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

• Ceased production in 1964. (disputed) ⁵

Recorded claims

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

• Sunk from the surface to the Busty seam in 1844. ^1,2
• In 1894 the Busty shaft was 64 fathoms deep and the Brockwell shaft 78 fathoms. ¹
• Raised 170,772 tons a year with 390 men and boys around 1894, with 224 coke ovens. ¹
• Owned by James Joicey from 1844, the East Tanfield Colliery Co. Ltd from 1917, the South Derwent Coal Co. Ltd from 1929 and the National Coal Board from 1947. ^1,2,3
• Closed on 9 January 1965. ^1,4
• Ceased production in 1964. (disputed) ⁵
• The last colliery on the Tanfield waggonway; the line closed when it stopped. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: East Tanfield Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Wikipedia: Tanfield, County Durham — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) Co-Curate: Tanfield — Newcastle University (Co-Curate)
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: East Tanfield, Brockwell 'S' seam, abandoned 27 April 1965 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) Wikipedia: Tanfield Railway — Wikipedia

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