Kenton Colliery

Overview

The colliery of Kenton, north-west of Newcastle, recorded with five pits to the Main Coal in 1732. Its engine house, Kenton Tower, built for a Newcomen pumping engine, stood as a landmark until 1928, and in 1813 a Blenkinsop rack locomotive was tried on the Kenton and Coxlodge waggonway that carried its coal.

History

A record of Kenton Colliery, north-west of Newcastle, in 1732 lists five pits on the north side of Kenton, on land worked by a Mr Blackett: the Corner Pit in Wheat Close, 32 fathoms deep, pits in the First and Second Fattening Pastures and in Barker's Close, 26 and 27 fathoms, and the Caldwell Pit, 27 fathoms, all to the Main Coal. The fields appear on an estate map of 1742. The colliery's Old Engine Pit was drained by a Newcomen pumping engine, and its engine house, known as Kenton Tower, remained a landmark until it was demolished in 1928.

From 1808 the collieries of Kenton and Coxlodge sent their coal to the Tyne at Wallsend by the Kenton and Coxlodge Waggonway. Their viewer, John Watson, bought a Blenkinsop rack locomotive from Middleton Colliery in Leeds, part of the line was laid with rack rail, and on 2 September 1813 the engine drew sixteen chaldron waggons, seventy tons, at about three miles an hour; George Stephenson came to see it. Two more were built for the line, but heavy loads and steep gradients wore them out, and they were out of use by the time the colliery was sold in 1817. In October 1818 John Potts, a carpenter, was killed at the new engine at the top of the Ouseburn bank on the Kenton waggonway.

The colliery's pits included an Engine Pit and the Frances Pit, north of the dyke, where the Five-Quarter seam lay at 196 feet and a boring went down to the Beaumont seam at about 650 feet. A plan of the High Main of 1829 survives, and old plans of Kenton and Coxlodge were deposited in 1888.

Geology

Tyneside coal measures: the Main Coal (1732), the High Main (1829 plan), and the Five-Quarter (Newbiggin Stone Coal) and Beaumont seams proved at the Frances Pit, north of a dyke.

Workings

Five shallow pits to the Main Coal in 1732; later the Old Engine Pit with its Newcomen pumping engine, the Engine Pit and the Frances Pit, sunk 196 feet to the Five-Quarter and bored to 652 feet. Coal went by the Kenton and Coxlodge Waggonway to the Tyne.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

The area is now the suburb of Kenton in Newcastle upon Tyne; Kenton Tower, the engine house, was demolished in 1928.

Redevelopment

Suburban housing at Kenton.

Related mines

• Coxlodge Colliery — Kenton and Coxlodge collieries shared a waggonway and a viewer, John Watson, and their old plans were deposited together as Kenton and Coxlodge.

Recorded claims

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

• A record of Kenton Colliery in 1732 lists five pits on the north side of Kenton, on land worked by Mr Blackett, 26 to 32 fathoms deep to the Main Coal. ¹
• The engine house of the Old Engine Pit, known as Kenton Tower, was built for a Newcomen pumping engine and was a landmark until demolished in 1928. ^2,3
• A Blenkinsop rack locomotive bought by the viewer John Watson began work on the Kenton and Coxlodge waggonway on 2 September 1813, drawing sixteen chaldron waggons of seventy tons at about three miles an hour. ⁴
• At the Frances Pit, north of the dyke, the Five-Quarter seam lay at 196 feet and a boring from it reached the Beaumont seam at 646 feet. ⁵
• On 4 October 1818 John Potts, a carpenter, was killed when the fly wheel of the new engine at the top of the Ouseburn bank on the Kenton waggonway caught his head. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Fawdon, coal pits (HER 13773) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
2. (secondary) Kenton Colliery, Old Engine Pit (HER 4019) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
3. (secondary) Kenton (Tyne and Wear village atlas) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
4. (secondary) Coxlodge Wagonway — Suscram
5. (primary) Kenton Colliery: strata bored through in the Frances Pit — Durham Mining Museum
6. (primary) Kenton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026