Jarrow Colliery

Overview

Simon Temple's colliery at Jarrow on the south bank of the Tyne, opened on 26 September 1803 with the Alfred Pit sunk to the Bensham seam at 175 fathoms. Five explosions between 1817 and 1845 killed well over a hundred, and it closed after another explosion in 1851.

History

A pit at Jarrow appears in Durham Cathedral rent accounts of 1618. The modern colliery was won by Simon Temple, a shipbuilder who leased the coal from the Dean and Chapter of Durham: the Alfred Pit was begun in June 1801 and the colliery opened on 26 September 1803. It reached the High Main, six feet thick, at 128 fathoms and the Bensham seam at 175 fathoms, 165 fathoms below high water in the Tyne; in 1821 the E or Deep Pit was sunk from the High Main to the Low Main. The strata were badly broken, needing drifts, staples and two underground steam engines, and to the south the Heworth Band split the seam in two. A wagonway took the coal to Jarrow Staith.

Temple was followed by Thomas and Robert Brown, Drewitt Brown, and in the 1850s by W. Blackett, N. Wood, Anderson and Philipson. The pit was notorious for explosions: six killed in 1817, 34 (or 42) in 1826, eight in 1828, 42 in 1830 and 39 in 1845. It closed in 1851 after another explosion, but the Hetton Coal Company bought it and worked it from its other pits; the Bensham seam was abandoned in 1934.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures in much-faulted strata: the High Main at 128 fathoms, the Low Main, and the Bensham at 175 fathoms; to the south the Heworth Band thickens until it divides the seam.

Workings

The Alfred Pit, begun in 1801, and the E or Deep Pit (1821); drifts, staples and two underground steam engines; a wagonway to Jarrow Staith on the Tyne.

Closure

Closed in 1851 after an explosion; bought by the Hetton Coal Company and worked from its other pits, the Bensham seam being abandoned in 1934.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Jarrow Colliery explosion, 1830
  3 August 1830 · Explosion · 42 fatalities
  At 5.40 a.m. on 3 August 1830 gas exploded in the Bensham seam at Jarrow Colliery, killing 42 men and boys. Seventy of the 120 men and boys in the pit were in the Bensham seam, where the hewers had broken into a fissure from which gas suddenly issued.

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 explosion of 17 January 1826 killed 34. (disputed) ¹
• The explosion of 17 January 1826 killed 42. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Simon Temple opened the colliery in 1803, leasing the coal from the Dean and Chapter of Durham. ^1,2,3
• The Alfred Pit was sunk to the Bensham seam at 175 fathoms, the High Main lying at 128 fathoms. ¹
• Explosions killed 6 in 1817, 8 in 1828, 42 in 1830 and 39 in 1845. ^1,2
• The explosion of 17 January 1826 killed 34. (disputed) ¹
• The explosion of 17 January 1826 killed 42. (disputed) ²
• It closed in 1851 after another explosion and was bought by the Hetton Coal Company, which worked it from its other pits. ²
• The Bensham seam was abandoned in 1934. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Jarrow Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Jarrow Colliery (Alfred Pit) — Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record (Sitelines)
3. (secondary) Jarrow and the Industrial Revolution — Jarrow Hall

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026