Healey Cote Colliery

Location	Healey Cote, near Pauperhaugh and Longframlington, Northumberland — 55.2989, -1.8244 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	1915–7 May 1935
Maximum depth	Unknown.
Operators	R. Wood

Overview

A small colliery at Healey Cote near Pauperhaugh, west of Longframlington, sunk under R. Wood in 1915 to the Shilbottle seam; it employed up to 47 people and was abandoned in May 1935.

A weathered timber shed with a rusty corrugated roof among nettles and long grass beside trees. — A farm building at Healey Cote, near the site of the old coal mine David Clark, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph

History

Healey Cote Colliery lay at Healey Cote, near Pauperhaugh, about nine and a half miles south-south-west of Alnwick and a mile west of Longframlington. It was being sunk in 1915, with five men, under R. Wood, who owned it from the 1910s; O. Wood was manager in 1915, A. Wood in 1919 and R. Wood through the 1920s, with A. Wood as agent. It worked the Shilbottle Main seam for household and steam coal.

Employment rose from 26 in 1921 to 45 in 1925 and 47 in 1930. On 7 July 1924, while the shaft siding was being enlarged, a side stone fell away and knocked out the end prop of a new roof support; the roof came down, killing John William Edmunds, a shifter of 15, outright and fatally injuring the deputy Robert Wallace, 34. The boy's father, also at work there, escaped.

The Shilbottle seam was abandoned on 7 May 1935, when the colliery still employed 40. A lime kiln stood here as well. The site has been reclaimed and is now farmland at Healey Cote farm.

Geology

The Shilbottle or Shilbottle Main seam.

Workings

A shaft, sunk from 1915, with a shaft siding enlarged in 1924.

Closure

The Shilbottle seam was abandoned on 7 May 1935.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed as farmland.

Related mines

Bullocks Hall Colliery — R. Wood owned both: Bullocks Hall in the 1900s and Healey Cote from the 1910s.

Nearby mines

Framlington Colliery — 1.4 miles (2.3 km) NE
Chirm Colliery — 3.0 miles (4.9 km) SW
Forrestburn Colliery — 3.1 miles (4.9 km) SW
Newton Colliery, Newton-on-the-Moor — 4.9 miles (7.9 km) NE
Whittle Colliery — 5.4 miles (8.7 km) NE

Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (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.

Healey Cote Colliery was being sunk in 1915, with five men. ¹
Healey Cote Colliery employed 47 people in 1930. ^1,2
The Shilbottle seam at Healey Cote was abandoned on 7 May 1935. ^1,3,2
R. Wood owned Healey Cote from the 1910s and managed it through the 1920s. ^1,4,5

Photographs & further reading

Healey Cote (Co-Curate) (reference)

Newcastle University's page on the hamlet, its colliery and lime kiln.

View source

Sources

(primary) Healey Cote Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Healey Cote (Co-Curate) — Co-Curate, Newcastle University
(primary) Healey Cote Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) Healey Cote Colliery: colliery management — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Healey Cote Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026