Kiln Pit Hill Colliery

Overview

A small Brockwell-seam colliery at Kiln Pit Hill, south-east of Hexham, owned by Mrs M. A. Robson, which was prospected from 1921, worked with about a dozen men from 1927 and still listed in 1940.

History

Kiln Pit Hill Colliery lay at Kiln Pit Hill, about eight and a half miles south-east of Hexham, in the parishes of Espershields and Shotley Low Quarter. It was owned in the 1920s by Mrs M. A. Robson and managed throughout by J. H. Bell, who held no certificate.

From 1921 to 1925 it was listed as prospecting, with no more than three men. By 1927 it was working the Brockwell seam with 14 people, twelve of them underground, for household and manufacturing and later steam coal; it employed 12 in 1929 and 11 in 1930. The Brockwell was abandoned on 4 September 1931, and a second plan, of Barley Hill or Kiln Pit Hill, records it abandoned again on 7 July 1937. Nine people were still employed there in 1940.

Geology

The Brockwell seam.

Workings

Unknown.

Closure

The Brockwell was abandoned on 4 September 1931 and, under the name Barley Hill or Kiln Pit Hill, on 7 July 1937; nine were employed in 1940.

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.

• Mrs M. A. Robson owned Kiln Pit Hill Colliery in the 1920s. ^1,2
• Kiln Pit Hill was prospected from 1921 and by 1927 worked the Brockwell seam with 14 people. ¹
• The Brockwell at Kiln Pit Hill was abandoned on 4 September 1931, and as Barley Hill or Kiln Pit Hill on 7 July 1937. ^1,3
• J. H. Bell, without a certificate, managed Kiln Pit Hill from 1921 to 1930. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Kiln Pit Hill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Kiln Pit Hill Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
3. (primary) Kiln Pit Hill Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Kiln Pit Hill Colliery: colliery management — Durham Mining Museum

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