Greencroft Tower Colliery

Overview

A colliery on the Greencroft estate at Annfield Plain, County Durham, begun with two shafts to the Hutton seam in 1840 and closed by the National Coal Board as a drift in July 1957.

History

Greencroft Tower Colliery lay at Annfield Plain in north-west Durham, on the Greencroft estate. Boring for coal from the surface was in progress on the estate in 1838, and in 1840 two shafts were sunk to the Hutton seam.

Two other Greencroft workings are recorded close by and may be the same enterprise under other names. The Durham Mining Museum lists a Greencroft Colliery under a mile to the west, whose sinking John Bowes & Co. (Bowes, Hutt, Wood and Charles M. Palmer) began on 4 March 1840 and which was working in 1854. The county Historic Environment Record has a small colliery called Greencroft Pit, in use from the early nineteenth century, with a waggonway running north-east to Annfield Plain.

In its last years the colliery was a drift mine. It passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 as Greencroft Tower Drift and closed in July 1957; the abandonment plans of its workings in the Shield Row or High Main seam are dated that year.

Geology

The shafts of 1840 were sunk to the Hutton seam; the last workings were in the Shield Row or High Main seam.

Workings

Two shafts sunk to the Hutton seam in 1840; in its final period a drift mine.

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board in July 1957; abandonment plans of the Shield Row or High Main workings are dated 1957.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• The 1840 shafts may be the Greencroft Colliery whose sinking John Bowes & Co. began on 4 March 1840. (uncertain) ⁴
• The site may be the small Greencroft Pit of the early nineteenth century, with a waggonway north-east to Annfield Plain. (uncertain) ⁵

Recorded claims

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

• Boring for coal from the surface was in progress on the Greencroft estate in 1838. ¹
• Two shafts were sunk to the Hutton seam on the Greencroft estate in 1840. ¹
• Worked from 1838 and closed in July 1957, latterly as Greencroft Tower Drift. ^2,1
• The workings abandoned in 1957 were in the Shield Row or High Main seam. ³
• The 1840 shafts may be the Greencroft Colliery whose sinking John Bowes & Co. began on 4 March 1840. (uncertain) ⁴
• The site may be the small Greencroft Pit of the early nineteenth century, with a waggonway north-east to Annfield Plain. (uncertain) ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Greencroft Tower Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: GREENCROFT, Shield Row or High Main 'E' seam, abandoned 1957 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Greencroft Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Keys to the Past: Greencroft Pit, near Annfield Plain (D5898) — Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026