Forrestburn Colliery

Overview

A small colliery on the Forest Burn north of Bushygap, in the parishes of Ray and Hesleyhurst, whose Foxton Hill Pit was sunk through two limestones to the Shilbottle seam at about 320 feet; it was last worked by four men and abandoned in 1923.

History

Forrestburn Colliery, also written Forest Burn, lay beside the Forest Burn north of Bushygap, about twelve and a half miles south-south-west of Alnwick, in the parishes of Ray and Hesleyhurst. It is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of the 1860s, and plans of its earlier workings and old shafts, in an unnamed seam, were closed in 1871. The North East Heritage Library gives 1875 as its opening.

Its Foxton Hill Pit started about 465 feet above sea level. The section published in 1885 records 84 feet of freestone, the Eight-Yard limestone, the Brinkburn ironstone shale and the Six-Yard limestone before the Shilbottle seam, two and a half feet thick, at 319 feet. The North East Heritage Library records that coal was mined to a depth of 23 fathoms.

In the 1910s it belonged to the Kirkheaton Colliery Company Ltd and in the 1920s to Northumberland Quarries Ltd. It stood idle in 1921, was not worked for coal in 1922, when the owners returned sandstone, and in 1923 four men raised household coal from the Shilbottle seam before it was abandoned on 18 August 1923.

Geology

The Shilbottle seam, about 2 ft 6 in thick, beneath the Eight-Yard and Six-Yard limestones and the Brinkburn ironstone shale.

Workings

The Foxton Hill Pit, and older shafts whose plans were closed in 1871.

Closure

Standing in 1921 and not worked for coal in 1922; the Shilbottle seam was abandoned on 18 August 1923.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed.

What's uncertain

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

• Coal was mined at Forrestburn to a depth of 23 fathoms. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• At Foxton Hill Pit the Shilbottle seam, 2 feet 6 inches thick, lay at 319 feet, below the Eight-Yard and Six-Yard limestones. ¹
• Coal was mined at Forrestburn to a depth of 23 fathoms. (uncertain) ²
• Forrestburn belonged to the Kirkheaton Colliery Company Ltd in the 1910s and to Northumberland Quarries Ltd in the 1920s. ^3,2
• Forrestburn was not worked for coal in 1922, when its owners returned sandstone. ³
• The Shilbottle seam at Forrestburn was abandoned on 18 August 1923. ^4,5
• Plans of Forest Burn's older workings and shafts, in an unnamed seam, date from 1871. ^4,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Forestburn Colliery: account of the strata at Foxton Hill Pit — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Forrestburn Colliery (Foxton Hill Pit) — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
3. (primary) Forrestburn Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Forrestburn Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21902781: Forest Burn, Shilbottle seam, abandoned 18 August 1923 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21877658: Forest Burn / Foxtone Row, unnamed seam, 1871 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 22 October 2026 · Last researched: 22 October 2026