Lambley Colliery

Overview

A colliery in the Midgeholme coalfield at Lambley, near Haltwhistle, worked from the 1850s, abandoned and reopened more than once, and run by the Lambley Coal Company and the National Coal Board until it closed on 16 August 1958 with nearly two hundred men.

History

Lambley Colliery lay in the Midgeholme coalfield at Lambley, formerly Harper Town, in the parish of Coanwood near Haltwhistle. Coal was being raised there by 1850, when a young man was killed by being thrown out of a corve as he went down the pit. M. Thompson and Sons owned it in the 1860s. It was abandoned in 1885 and its Slag seam again in 1908, and it was a tiny working in 1905, with four men, growing to 39 by 1921, when it was abandoned once more.

In the 1920s the Coanwood Coal Company and then the Lambley Coal Company Ltd, with J. Longridge as manager, reopened it, with the Lambley Tyne Drift beside the main colliery; in 1923 it had 49 men. Through the 1930s it employed about 75, working the High Main, Low Main, Wellsyke, Five Quarter and Three Quarter seams. The National Coal Board expanded it: 143 people in 1950, 160 in 1954 and 184 in 1957, working the Craignook, High Main, Low Main and Three Quarter, and 14,000 tons of household, manufacturing and steam coal had been raised in 1947. A railway line west to Brampton served the colliery. Lambley closed on 16 August 1958; reserves of good coal remain in the Midgeholme coalfield.

Geology

Midgeholme coalfield: the Slag, Five Quarter, Three Quarter, Top, High Main (Cannel), Low Main, Wellsyke and Craignook (Yard) seams.

Workings

Shafts from the 1850s; the Lambley Tyne Drift and Lambley North Drift; served by Lord Carlisle's railway line west to Brampton.

Closure

Abandoned in 1885 and 1921 and reopened; closed by the National Coal Board on 16 August 1958, its last Lower Craignook plan dated 18 August.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Blenkinsopp Colliery — Collieries of M. Thompson and Sons in the Midgeholme and Haltwhistle district.
• Midgeholme Colliery — Collieries of M. Thompson and Sons in the Midgeholme and Haltwhistle district.
• Roachburn Colliery — Collieries of M. Thompson and Sons in the Midgeholme and Haltwhistle district.

Recorded claims

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

• Lambley Colliery closed on 16 August 1958. ^1,2
• Its owners were M. Thompson and Sons in the 1860s, then the Coanwood Coal Co. and the Lambley Coal Co. Ltd in the 1920s. ^2,3
• Lambley employed 4 people in 1905, 75 in 1930, 143 in 1950 and 184 in 1957. ²
• In 1850 a man was killed by being thrown out of a corve while descending the pit. ²
• Lambley was served by a line west to Brampton, sometimes called Lord Carlisle's line, which served Lambley colliery. ⁴
• The village lies in the Midgeholme coalfield, where reserves of good-quality coal remain. ⁴
• Lambley's Low Main and Wellsyke workings were abandoned in July 1939 and its Lower Craignook on 18 August 1958. ^5,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Lambley Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Lambley Coal Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Lambley, Northumberland — Wikipedia
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Lambley, Lower Craignook, abandoned 18 August 1958 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Lambley, Low Main and Wellsyke, abandoned 1 July 1939 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026