Howburn Colliery

Overview

A colliery in the How Burn valley near Morpeth on the Duke of Portland's land, opened by Caisley and Company in the 1880s, flooded by an unknown old shaft under the burn in 1896, and reopened in 1906 as Morpeth Moor Colliery.

History

Howburn Colliery lay in the valley of the How Burn near Morpeth, on land of the Duke of Portland's Bothal estate. Messrs Caisley and Company leased it and opened the colliery in the 1880s. It was put up for sale in 1892 and passed to Thomas Dodd. In 1896 a hewer struck water that rushed into the mine with great force: it came from an older shaft, timbered and covered with soil, over which the burn had found its course, unknown to the miners. The manager then set a strong gang of men to cut the burn a new channel.

The Wansbeck Colliery Company Ltd took the colliery over, and it was reopened in January 1906 as Morpeth Moor Colliery, in Pegswood parish. In 1910 it employed 137 people working the Bandy seam for manufacturing and steam coal, and in 1915, when it was standing, 156. The Old Man seam was abandoned in 1909, and the Low Main, Old Man, Little, Bandy and Brockwell seams in March 1917. The Ordnance Survey of the late 1910s shows two shafts, one old and one in use. Plans of later Howburn workings, in the Band, Little Wonder, Nineteen Inch and Harvey seams, are dated 1921, 1922 and June 1929.

Geology

The Bandy, Brockwell, Little, Low Main and Old Man seams; later the Band, Little Wonder, Nineteen Inch and Harvey.

Workings

Two shafts, one of them old by the late 1910s.

Closure

Morpeth Moor's seams were abandoned in 1909 and March 1917; plans of later Howburn workings run to June 1929.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed.

Recorded claims

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

• Howburn Colliery was on the Duke of Portland's Bothal estate and was leased to and opened by Messrs Caisley; it was sold in 1892 to Thomas Dodd. ¹
• In 1896 a Howburn hewer struck water from an old timbered shaft hidden beneath the course of the How Burn, and the burn was given a new channel. ¹
• Howburn was reopened in January 1906 as Morpeth Moor Colliery by the Wansbeck Colliery Company Ltd and employed 137 people in 1910. ^2,1
• The Low Main, Old Man, Little, Bandy and Brockwell seams of Morpeth Moor Colliery were abandoned in March 1917. ^2,3,4
• Plans of Howburn workings in the Nineteen Inch and Harvey seams are dated June 1929. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Howburn Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
2. (primary) Morpeth Moor Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Morpeth Moor Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21915744: Morpeth Moor / Howburn, Bandy, Little, Old Main, Brockwell and Low Main, 31 March 1917 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21908385: Howburn, Nineteen Inch and Harvey, 4 June 1929 — British Geological Survey

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