Gatherick Colliery

Overview

A small north Northumberland colliery at Gatherick, near Barmoor, known from the later 17th century; a shaft sunk in 1819 reached the Bulman or Main Coal at 122 feet, and Johnson and Carr worked it until 1865.

History

Gatherick Colliery lay at Gatherick, near Barmoor in the north of Northumberland, one of a number of small collieries there that supplied fuel to their immediate neighbourhood. A colliery is known to have existed at Gatherick in the later 17th century.

On 15 September 1819 a shaft was sunk at Gatherick through sandstone to the Black Hill or Scremerston Main Coal, found in a bad state at 77 feet, and on through limestone and clays to the Bulman or Main Coal at 122 feet 6 inches. The last colliery there was sunk to the Cowper Eye seam before 1839, and plans of the Cowper Eye and Black Hill seams at Etal and Gatherick are dated 1839. It returned coal in the Mineral Statistics of 1855, 1860 and 1865, and it worked until 1865, when it was in the hands of the local partnership of Johnson and Carr.

Geology

The 1819 section passed through nine feet of soil and clay and about 60 feet of sandstone (freestone) to the Black Hill or Scremerston Main Coal, 5 feet 9 inches thick and in a bad state, at 77 feet, then through sandstone, thin limestones and clays (tills) to the Bulman or Main Coal, 4 feet 5 inches thick, at 122 feet 6 inches. The colliery also worked the Cowper Eye seam.

Workings

A shaft sunk in 1819 to the Bulman or Main Coal; later workings in the Cowper Eye and Black Hill seams.

Closure

Worked until 1865.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• A colliery is known to have existed at Gatherick in the later 17th century. ¹
• A shaft was sunk at Gatherick Colliery on 15 September 1819 to the Bulman or Main Coal seam at 122 feet 6 inches. ^2,3
• Gatherick Colliery worked until 1865, when it was operated by the local concern of Johnson and Carr. ¹
• Plans of the Cowper Eye and Black Hill seams at Etal and Gatherick are dated 1839. ⁴
• Gatherick Colliery is returned as producing coal in 1855, 1860 and 1865. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gatherick Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
2. (primary) Gatherick Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Gatherick Colliery: section of strata, 15 September 1819 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21876308: Etal/Gatherick/Greenlaw Walls/Slainsfield, Cowper Eye and Blackhill, abandoned 1839 — British Geological Survey

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