Holly Moor Colliery

Location	Cockfield, County Durham — 54.6169, -1.8227 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	By 1912–29 May 1929
Maximum depth	Unknown.
Operators	Summersons Ltd (?–1929)

Overview

A small colliery on Cockfield Fell, worked by Summersons Ltd with around thirty men in the Five Quarter and Main Coal seams; it closed in 1927, briefly reopened, and was abandoned in May 1929.

History

Holly Moor Colliery lay at Cockfield, about fifteen miles south-west of Durham. Summersons Ltd owned it from the 1910s, with H. Summerson and later H. W. Summerson as manager, neither holding a certificate. It worked the Five Quarter, or Busty, and the Main Coal, or Brockwell, for household, steam, coking and manufacturing coal.

On 2 January 1912 Joseph Bertie Teesdale, 19, a putter who also acted as onsetter at an inset six fathoms from the surface, was killed by falling down the shaft. The colliery employed 35 people in 1915, 30 in 1921 and 34 in 1923. The Five Quarter was abandoned on 15 November 1926, and the colliery closed in August 1927 with 14. It was worked again with eight men in 1929, and the Five Quarter and Main were abandoned on 29 May 1929.

Geology

The Five Quarter (Busty) and Main Coal (Brockwell) seams.

Workings

A shaft with an inset six fathoms below the surface.

Closure

The Five Quarter was abandoned in November 1926 and the colliery closed in August 1927; a brief reworking ended with the Five Quarter and Main abandoned on 29 May 1929.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed.

Nearby mines

New Copley Colliery — 0.4 miles (0.7 km) S
Millfield Grange Colliery — 0.7 miles (1.1 km) N
Butterknowle Colliery — 0.8 miles (1.3 km) NW
Gordon House Colliery — 1.0 miles (1.6 km) E
Wham Colliery — 1.2 miles (2.0 km) N

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.

Summersons Ltd owned Holly Moor Colliery from the 1910s. ^1,2
On 2 January 1912 a nineteen-year-old onsetter at Holly Moor was killed by falling down the shaft from an inset six fathoms from the surface. ^1,3
Holly Moor Colliery employed 35 people in 1915. ¹
The Five Quarter and Main seams at Holly Moor were abandoned on 29 May 1929. ^1,4,2

Photographs & further reading

Holly Moor, 1912 (NMRS deaths database) (reference)

The Northern Mine Research Society's record of the onsetter killed in the shaft in 1912.

View source

Sources

(primary) Holly Moor Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Holly Moor Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
(secondary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Teesdale, Holly Moor, 1912 — Northern Mine Research Society
(primary) Holly Moor Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum

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