Lily Colliery

Overview

A Dipton colliery of the later 19th century, north-east of the Delight Pit, joined by tramway to the Harelaw Waggonway and by a tunnel to Surtees Pit; R. Dickinson and Company worked it in the 1870s.

History

Lily Colliery lay north-east of the Delight Colliery at Dipton, in the parish of Collierley and Pontop, about eight and a half miles south-west of Newcastle. It worked during the latter half of the 19th century, connected by a tramway to the Harelaw Waggonway and through a tunnel to Surtees Pit near Hill Top; whether the tunnel survives is not known.

R. Dickinson and Company owned it in the 1870s. In November 1877 a sixteen-year-old putter was killed by a fall of stone while hewing in a place where he had twice been warned not to work. The colliery returned coal in 1883. Its old workings were later included in the abandonment plan of East Pontop Colliery, which also took in the Bog and Loud old workings when the Five Quarter and Brass Thill seams were abandoned on 28 June 1930. The site has since been reclaimed.

Geology

Coal; the seam is not named, though the 1930 plan that includes its old workings covers the Five Quarter and Brass Thill seams.

Workings

A pit linked by tramway to the Harelaw Waggonway and by a tunnel to Surtees Pit.

Closure

Worked in the latter half of the 19th century; its old workings were included in East Pontop's abandonment plan of 28 June 1930.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed.

Related mines

• East Pontop Colliery — East Pontop's abandonment plan of 1930 takes in Lily's old workings along with its own Five Quarter and Brass Thill seams.

Recorded claims

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

• Lily Colliery was connected by a tramway to the Harelaw Waggonway and through a tunnel to Surtees Pit near Hill Top. ¹
• R. Dickinson and Company owned Lily Colliery in the 1870s. ^2,1
• In November 1877 a sixteen-year-old putter was killed at Lily by a fall of stone while hewing where he had twice been warned not to. ²
• Lily's old workings were included in East Pontop's abandonment plan of the Five Quarter and Brass Thill seams, dated 28 June 1930. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lily Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
2. (primary) Lily Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Lily Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 22 October 2026 · Last researched: 22 October 2026