Gordon House Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Cockfield in south-west Durham, worked by the Hedleys from the 1860s and given a new winning to the Brockwell in 1893 by the North Bitchburn Coal Company; it employed more than 800 in 1921 and closed on 17 February 1962.

History

Gordon House Colliery, at Cockfield, fourteen and a half miles south-west of Durham, was worked from 1863. W. Hedley and Co. held it in the 1860s and W. H. Hedley and Co. into the 1880s, and it stood idle from 1882 to 1888. Its Hall Pit was sunk right upon the Doghole Dyke; south of the Wigglesworth Dyke the seams are thrown down 40 fathoms. In 1893 the Gordon House new winning, the Mostyn Pit, was sunk to the Brockwell for the North Bitchburn Coal Company, which held the colliery until nationalisation; the museum dates the colliery from that winning. The Mostyn Pit stood high above the Haggerleases branch railway, and its screens were built on the lower ground beside the line.

In 1894 the district's pits worked the Hutton, Yard, Five Quarter and Main Coal, the lowest 30 to 40 fathoms down, with the Five Quarter about five feet thick. Gordon House employed 287 in 1894, 797 in 1910 and 844 in 1921, by then also in the Brockwell, Harvey and Hutton. It was closed temporarily from 6 September 1930, and in the 1940s its returns were made together with Randolph Colliery, about 475 men in all.

The National Coal Board took it over in 1947, and it closed on 17 February 1962. The museum's list of those killed holds 19 names.

Geology

Durham coalfield, south-west: the Hutton, Yard, Five Quarter (about 5 ft), Main Coal, Harvey and Brockwell, cut by the Doghole and Wigglesworth dykes.

Workings

The Hall Pit, sunk on the Doghole Dyke, and the Mostyn Pit, the new winning of 1893 to the Brockwell.

Closure

Closed on 17 February 1962 under the National Coal Board.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Randolph Colliery, Evenwood — The two North Bitchburn collieries made their employment returns together in the 1940s.

Recorded claims

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

• Worked from 1863. ¹
• The Gordon House new winning was sunk to the Brockwell in 1893 for the North Bitchburn Coal Company. ²
• W. Hedley and Co. held the colliery in the 1860s. ^2,1
• The colliery employed 844 in 1921. ²
• Closed on 17 February 1962. ²
• The Mostyn Pit was sunk to 531 ft 11 in, below the Harvey seam. ³
• The Mostyn Pit, later regarded as Gordon House Colliery, stood above the Haggerleases branch, with its screens on the lower land near the line. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gordon House - Buddlepit Mine Database — Buddlepit Mine Database
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Gordon House Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Gordon House Colliery Mostyn Pit shaft details — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) The Auckland Coalfield (The Gaunless Valley in World War 1) — The Fallen Servicemen of South West County Durham

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