Middridge Colliery

Overview

A Weardale Iron and Coal Company colliery near Shildon, worked as two pits — the Eden, sunk to the Brockwell in 1872, and the Charles, sunk to the Busty in 1874 — joined by a narrow gauge tramway. It employed 420 people raising 600 tons a day in the 1890s. The Eden closed in 1894, the Charles in 1914, and the pit village at Eden was demolished in the 1950s.

History

Sinking began at Middridge in 1872, when the Weardale Iron and Coal Company put the Eden pit down to the Brockwell seam; the Charles followed in 1874, sunk to the Busty and carried into the Brockwell a few years later. Whellan's directory of County Durham described the colliery in 1894: the Harvey seam two feet four inches thick at thirty-one fathoms, the Brockwell five feet six at sixty-five fathoms, and the Busty divided by a seggar band into two sections together five feet six to six feet; four hundred and twenty men and boys employed, six hundred tons a day, worked by both bord and pillar and longwall. A narrow gauge tramway known locally as the Tramlines ran between the two pits. Coal from the Charles went along it to the Eden, where there was a drop onto the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The employment figures peak at four hundred and fifty-six in 1894 and fall away steadily — four hundred and thirty-two in 1896, three hundred and ninety in 1900, three hundred and four in 1902, forty-seven in 1905, a hundred and thirty-nine in 1910 — and the returns are marked suspended in 1915 and 1921. The Brockwell seam was abandoned in 1915. The Eden closed in 1894 and the Charles in 1914. A settlement of thirty-seven houses at Eden had been built for the miners, and after the pit closed the families stayed on: unemployed, in what was described as a stagnant, suffering village. Attempts to regenerate it failed and the whole place was demolished in the 1950s. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and the name reappears under R. and A. Young Mining Ltd in the 1980s.

Geology

The colliery worked the productive Coal Measures of the south-west Durham coalfield, taking the Harvey, Brockwell, Busty and Four Foot seams — the deep coking coals of the western part of the field, which is why the output from 1894 onwards is returned as coking and manufacturing coal rather than house coal. The Busty here is split by a seggar band, a parting of fireclay, into two workable leaves.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts a thousand yards apart, the Eden at NZ248252 and the Charles at NZ250263. The Charles reached a maximum depth of five hundred and ninety feet, with the Brockwell at about four hundred. Coal was worked by both bord and pillar and longwall. The Tramlines, a narrow gauge line, carried the Charles's coal to the Eden for loading onto the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

Closure

The Eden pit closed in 1894 and the Charles in 1914, though the colliery's returns continue, marked suspended, in 1915 and 1921.

What remains

The remains of the Charles pit can be seen at Charles Row and in the spoil tip, still called the pit heap in the village, part of which is now park and recreation ground. The Tramlines embankment survives largely intact, including a retaining wall about three metres high at its highest, which now forms the boundary of a public footpath. At Eden and nearby Riseburn little if any trace remains.

The Charles pit heap, now partly recreation ground, and the Tramlines embankment with its retaining wall.

Redevelopment

Part of the Charles spoil tip is now park and recreational area.

Related mines

• Bishop Middleham Colliery — Both were Weardale Iron and Coal Company collieries in County Durham.
• Tudhoe Colliery — Both were Weardale Iron and Coal Company collieries in County Durham.

Nearby mines

• Auckland Park Colliery — 3.3 km NW
• Chilton Colliery — 5.3 km NE
• Dean and Chapter Colliery — 7.5 km NE
• Witton Park Colliery — 9.2 km NW
• Thrislington Colliery — 9.6 km NE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery consisted of two pits: the Eden, sunk to the Brockwell seam in 1872, and the Charles, sunk to the Busty in 1874 and carried into the Brockwell a few years later. ^1,2
• Whellan's 1894 directory gives the Harvey at two feet four inches at thirty-one fathoms, the Brockwell at five feet six at sixty-five fathoms, and the Busty split by a seggar band into two sections together five feet six to six feet, with 420 men and boys employed raising 600 tons a day by bord and pillar and longwall. ²
• The Eden pit closed in 1894 and the Charles in 1914; the colliery's returns are marked suspended in 1915 and 1921, and the Brockwell seam was abandoned in 1915. ^1,2
• Thirty-seven houses at Eden housed the miners; after the pit closed the unemployed families remained, the place was described as a stagnant, suffering village, and it was demolished entirely in the 1950s. ¹
• The colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and the name appears under R. and A. Young Mining Ltd in the 1980s. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Middridge Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Middridge Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026