Langley Park Colliery

Overview

The Consett Iron Company's colliery at Langley Park, north-west of Durham, which created the village: begun in the 1870s, it coked its whole output, employed more than 1,300 before the First World War, and closed on 31 October 1975, a hundred years after its first coal.

History

In 1873 the Consett Iron Company had borings made near Langley Park, on the River Browney four and a half miles west-north-west of Durham, for a new winning to the Busty seam. The first sinking, in 1874, was abandoned because of water, and the company almost gave up the idea; under William Logan, the colliery's first manager, it was brought to work, and the first coals were drawn on 24 April 1875. The company built the workmen's houses, and a village of more than two thousand people grew up on the west bank of the Browney, with its Co-operative store, Working Men's Club and hotel. The Lanchester Valley railway served the colliery.

In 1894 the colliery worked the Busty and Hutton, about four feet thick, by a shaft 30 fathoms deep and a drift, raising 200,000 tons a year, all of it made into coke, with 500 men and boys. It grew quickly: 1,104 were employed in 1905 and 1,308 in 1910. The Kaysburn pumping shaft was sunk to 487 feet, and in 1903 a bore at Hill Top proved the Victoria seam for a proposed air shaft. By the 1930s it worked through the No. 1 pit, the Hutton and the Hall Drift, and a Harvey Drift was worked until 1942.

The National Coal Board took over in 1947, when the colliery raised 166,000 tons with 651 men, and employment rose again to 1,011 in 1955. It closed on 31 October 1975 with 498 still employed, exactly a century after its first coal; in the village it was believed that it had been kept open only to see its centenary. The colliery site is now a small industrial estate.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Busty and Hutton (about four feet thick in 1894), Brockwell, Low Main, Five Quarter, Main and Harvey seams, and the Victoria proved by boring in 1903; worked for coking coal.

Workings

A shaft 30 fathoms deep and a drift in 1894; later the No. 1 and No. 2 pits, the Kaysburn pumping shaft (487 ft), the Hall Drift and the Harvey Drift.

Closure

Closed on 31 October 1975 under the National Coal Board, with 498 employed.

What remains

The colliery site, on the north side of the village, is a small industrial estate.

Redevelopment

Industrial estate.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Langley Park Colliery was commenced in 1874 and brought into operation by the Consett Iron Company in 1876; in 1894 it worked the Busty and Hutton by a 30-fathom shaft and a drift, raising 200,000 tons a year, all coked, with 500 men and boys. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The first sinking at Langley Park, in 1874, was abandoned because of water; the colliery was brought to work under its first manager, William Logan, and the first coals were drawn on 24 April 1875. ¹
• Langley Park Colliery was commenced in 1874 and brought into operation by the Consett Iron Company in 1876; in 1894 it worked the Busty and Hutton by a 30-fathom shaft and a drift, raising 200,000 tons a year, all coked, with 500 men and boys. (disputed) ²
• Langley Park village developed around the colliery opened by the Consett Iron Company, whose former site on the north side of the village is now a small industrial estate. ³
• Employment at the colliery reached 1,308 in 1910, and 1,011 under the National Coal Board in 1955. ²
• Langley Park Colliery closed on 31 October 1975. ^2,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Langley Park Colliery — Langley Park Mining and Memories
2. (primary) Langley Park Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Langley Park Settlement Character Study — Durham County Council

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