Melkridge Colliery

Overview

A small landsale pit north of Melkridge, near Haltwhistle, sunk about 1877 by the Nicholson family; it worked the Little Limestone coal and grew to 67 men under the Melkridge Coal Company before its plans were abandoned in July 1940.

History

Melkridge Colliery was a modest landsale pit just north of the village of Melkridge, above the South Tyne near Haltwhistle. Shares were issued in 1877, which places the sinking of its shaft about then. It belonged to the Nicholson family, G. Nicholson being the owner in the 1880s, and it sold its coal to local households, farmsteads and quarries. The site was very small, beside the lane running north, with no railway, though the maps of the 1890s show an underground tramway.

The pit employed 18 men in 1894. Its Limestone Coal seam was abandoned in 1896 as exhausted. By the 1930s the colliery was in the hands of the Melkridge Coal Company Ltd, which also ran Bayldon Colliery near Haltwhistle and the Ramshaw Drift. It worked the Little Limestone coal for household and steam coal, with 36 men in 1935 and 67 in 1940, when it raised 12,000 tons. The plans of its Little Limestone workings are dated as abandoned on 26 July 1940. The heap and the shaft can still be made out.

Geology

The colliery worked the Limestone Coal, abandoned as exhausted in 1896, and later the Little Limestone coal.

Workings

A shaft with an underground tramway; no rail connection.

Closure

The Limestone Coal seam was abandoned in 1896 as exhausted; the Little Limestone workings were abandoned on 26 July 1940.

What remains

The heap and the shaft site are still visible in pasture.

Spoil heap and shaft site.

Related mines

• Blackett Colliery — The Durham Mining Museum files a strata section headed 'the shaft at Melkridge (now Blackett Colliery)' under Melkridge; the two were separate collieries about 2 km apart, so which pit it describes is in doubt.

What's uncertain

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

• A strata section of 'the shaft at Melkridge (now Blackett Colliery)' reaches 121 feet 6 inches, through the Little Limestone; which pit it describes is uncertain. (uncertain) ⁵

Recorded claims

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

• Shares in Melkridge Colliery were issued in 1877, around when its shaft was sunk. ¹
• Melkridge Colliery was owned by G. Nicholson in the 1880s and by the Melkridge Coal Company Ltd in the 1930s. ^2,1
• The Limestone Coal seam at Melkridge was abandoned in 1896, the coal exhausted. ²
• In 1940 Melkridge employed 67 men and raised 12,000 tons of steam coal from the Little Limestone. ²
• Plans of the Melkridge Little Limestone workings are dated as abandoned on 26 July 1940. ³
• The heap and the shaft of Melkridge Colliery can still be made out. ^1,4
• A strata section of 'the shaft at Melkridge (now Blackett Colliery)' reaches 121 feet 6 inches, through the Little Limestone; which pit it describes is uncertain. (uncertain) ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Melkridge Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
2. (primary) Melkridge Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21946109: Melkridge, Little Limestone, abandoned 26 July 1940 — British Geological Survey
4. (observational) Possible Site of Melkridge Colliery (Les Hull, 2010) — Geograph
5. (primary) Melkridge Colliery: strata section, 'the Shaft at Melkridge (now Blackett Colliery)' — Durham Mining Museum

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