Felkington Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Felkington near Duddo, south-south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, that worked the Bulman Main seam at about nineteen fathoms for the Scremerston companies and employed between thirty-seven and forty-eight people until it closed in 1906.

History

Felkington Colliery, also known as the New Pit, lay at Felkington near Duddo, about six miles south-south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It succeeded Felkington Old Pit nearby, where coal mining is recorded from 1823 to 1841. A plan of the Felkington and Shoreswood workings in the Cooper Eye seam is dated 1874, and on 20 April 1874 Thomas Mason, a 68-year-old shifter, was killed by an explosion of gunpowder when he went back to a shot before it had fired.

The Scremerston and Shoreswood Coal Company worked the colliery in the 1880s, and in 1885 in particular, and the Scremerston Coal Company Ltd in the 1890s. George Sutheren was manager in 1882 and 1883 and William Brown from 1888 to 1896, with George Mercel as under-manager. By 1900 the manager was J. E. Carr, with Robert Rolfe as under-manager; the Coals Archive names John Evelyn Carr as the man in charge in 1905 and lists him among the owners in the 1900s. In the 1880s the coal was sold at the pit as landsale; later returns give household coal.

The shaft went down through some 54 feet of freestone to the Blackhill seam, then through tills, thin limestones and the Diamond seam to the Bulman Main seam at 109 feet, a seam of just over five feet made up of roof, splint, ground and smithy coals. The colliery employed 48 people in 1894, 39 of them underground, 41 in 1900 and 45 in 1902. It was one of the larger pits in the north of the county, though small beside the great collieries of the south. James Tait, a hewer hurt in May 1899, died of his injuries in March 1901. In 1905 the Bulman seam, of the Limestone Coal group, was being worked by 37 people, and the colliery was abandoned in 1906.

Geology

Coal measures of the Limestone Coal group: the shaft passed through freestone, tills and thin limestones, with the Blackhill seam at about 56 feet, the Diamond seam at about 73 feet and the Bulman Main seam, a little over five feet thick, at 109 feet. The Cooper Eye seam was worked in the Felkington and Shoreswood workings.

Workings

A shaft to the Bulman Main seam at about 19 fathoms; earlier workings in the Cooper Eye seam.

Closure

The Bulman seam was abandoned in 1906.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed.

Related mines

• Duddo Colliery — Both collieries were worked by the Scremerston and Shoreswood Coal Company.
• Scremerston Colliery — Both were worked by the Scremerston Coal Company Ltd in the 1890s.

Recorded claims

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

• Felkington Colliery worked the Bulman Main seam, reached at 109 feet (about 19 fathoms). ^1,2,3
• The Scremerston and Shoreswood Coal Company worked Felkington in the 1880s and the Scremerston Coal Company Ltd in the 1890s. ^1,3
• Felkington Colliery employed 48 people in 1894, 39 of them below ground. ¹
• Felkington Colliery was abandoned in 1906. ^1,3,4
• Felkington Old Pit, worked from 1823 to 1841, was succeeded by the New Pit. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Felkington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Felkington Colliery: strata sunk through to the Bulman Main seam — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Felkington Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21876558: Felkington, unnamed seam, 1906 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) Felkington Old Pit — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026