Framlington Colliery

Overview

A small Northumberland colliery at Longframlington, worked through three shafts — the Fanny, Howey and John pits — and returning coal from at least 1860. Through the 1880s its output is recorded simply as landsale: coal sold at the pit to local buyers rather than shipped. It later returned household coal, and passed through six owners in seventy years, among them South Shilbottle Collieries and, at the end, the Co-operative Wholesale Society. It closed on 31 December 1931.

History

Framlington, also known as Longframlington Colliery, was returning coal by 1860 under Messrs G. and W. Nicholson, and passed to the executors of George Nicholson in the 1880s and to Leach and Weeks in the 1890s. Through the 1880s the returns describe its output simply as landsale — coal sold at the colliery itself to local carts and customers, rather than sent away by rail or sea — and from 1894 as household coal. In the 1910s it belonged to South Shilbottle Collieries Ltd, the company that had opened Whittle Colliery a few miles north, and to the Long Framlington Coal Co. Ltd; by the 1930s it had passed to the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which also owned Shilbottle and Whittle. It closed on 31 December 1931.

Geology

The northern edge of the Northumberland coalfield around Longframlington, worked for household coal.

Workings

Three shafts: the Fanny Pit, the Howey Pit and the John Pit, the first and last a few hundred yards apart on either side of the village.

Closure

The colliery closed on 31 December 1931.

What remains

Longframlington is now a village with no working colliery; no present-day description of the site has been established from the sources read.

No colliery structure has been identified as surviving.

Related mines

• Shilbottle Colliery — Both ended up with the Co-operative Wholesale Society, the consumer co-operative federation that owned Shilbottle, Whittle and Framlington together in the years before nationalisation.
• Whittle Colliery — Held together twice over: South Shilbottle Collieries Ltd owned both in the 1910s — the National Archives holds a single report on the company covering Whittle Pit and Framlington Colliery — and the Co-operative Wholesale Society later held Framlington alongside Whittle and Shilbottle.

Nearby mines

• Whittle Colliery — 6.6 km NE
• Shilbottle Colliery — 10.7 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was worked through three shafts: the Fanny Pit, the Howey Pit and the John Pit. ¹
• Through the 1880s the colliery’s output is recorded in the returns simply as landsale, and from 1894 as household coal. ¹
• The colliery belonged to Messrs G. & W. Nicholson in the 1860s, the executors of George Nicholson in the 1880s, Leach & Weeks in the 1890s, South Shilbottle Collieries Ltd and the Long Framlington Coal Co. Ltd in the 1910s, and the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd in the 1930s. ¹
• The colliery closed on 31 December 1931. ¹
• The colliery was also known as Longframlington Colliery. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Framlington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Report on South Shilbottle Collieries Ltd (Whittle Pit, Framlington Colliery) — The National Archives

Record created: 8 September 2026 · Last researched: 8 September 2026