Merrington Colliery

Overview

A colliery on the Whitworth estate at Spennymoor, also called Spennymoor Pit, which made a fortune for the partners Reay and Johnson; said to have closed in the depression of 1882, it was at work again under Bolckow, Vaughan in the 1920s and closed on 3 June 1928.

History

Merrington Colliery, also called Spennymoor Pit, stood on the Whitworth estate at Spennymoor, five and a half miles south-south-west of Durham. The town's histories date its first coal to 1841, two years after the sinking of the Wittered pit began the mining town; the Durham Mining Museum records the sinking of the Merrington Colliery shafts to the Brockwell seam in 1846. Its early years were uneven, and it prospered only under the partnership of L. M. Reay and R. S. Johnson, who made a fortune from it.

Men were killed by explosions of gas in 1854 and 1855. On 10 July 1857 a boiler exploded and killed four: a brakesman of 22, a fireman, a waggonwayman of 45 and a tub coupler of 17. The museum's list of those killed at the colliery holds 14 names, the last in 1872, and the inspectors' reports add three unnamed deaths in 1853 and 1855.

Spennymoor's histories say the trade depression of the late nineteenth century closed the colliery in 1882. The museum nonetheless records it at work in the 1920s under Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. Ltd, employing 275 in 1921 and 394 in 1924 in the Brockwell, Harvey and Busty seams. It was stopped temporarily on 30 July 1927 and closed on 3 June 1928; the abandonment plans for its Brockwell, Harvey and Busty workings are dated 1928.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Brockwell, reached by the 1846 shafts, and the Harvey and Busty, worked in the 1920s.

Workings

Shafts sunk to the Brockwell on the Whitworth estate in 1846.

Closure

Closed on 3 June 1928, after a temporary stoppage from 30 July 1927. Spennymoor's histories give an earlier closure in 1882, in the trade depression.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• First coal was brought up in 1841. (uncertain) ^1,2
• Closed in 1882 in the trade depression. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• First coal was brought up in 1841. (uncertain) ^1,2
• The shafts were sunk to the Brockwell seam on the Whitworth estate in 1846. ³
• It prospered under the partnership of L. M. Reay and R. S. Johnson. ^1,2
• A boiler explosion on 10 July 1857 killed four men and boys. ³
• Closed in 1882 in the trade depression. (disputed) ^1,2
• Closed on 3 June 1928 under Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. Ltd. ^3,4
• Merrington Colliery, also known as Spennymoor Pit, closed in 1928. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Wikipedia: Spennymoor — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Co-Curate: Spennymoor — Newcastle University (Co-Curate)
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Merrington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Merrington, Brockwell seam, abandoned 1928 — British Geological Survey
5. (secondary) The North East 1920-1938 (England's North East) — England's North East (David Simpson)

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