Newbottle Colliery

Overview

A colliery of several pits at Newbottle and Philadelphia near Houghton-le-Spring, sunk by the Nesham family from 1774, owned by the Earls of Durham from 1819 and the Lambton companies from 1896, and worked until 1956. Explosions, a boiler burst and an inrush killed more than a hundred between 1815 and 1885.

History

The Neshams began sinking a pit at Newbottle to the Main Coal seam on 10 August 1774, and the colliery was also known as Nesham's Main. The Dolly and Dorothea pits were begun in July 1811, the Dorothea reaching the Hutton seam in March 1816; the Elizabeth, Margaret and Success pits followed, and in 1857 the Margaret upcast was sunk. In 1819 the colliery passed to the Earl of Durham, in 1896 to Lambton Collieries Ltd, then to Lambton and Hetton, and Lambton, Hetton and Joicey, Collieries, and in 1947 to the National Coal Board; the Lambton pits were linked by eighteen miles of private railway. It raised household and manufacturing coal and fireclay, later gas and steam coal, employing 1,647 men in 1910 and 641 at the end. Six disasters struck the colliery between 1815 and 1885 (see Disasters, below). The Low Main, Harvey and Busty seams were abandoned in 1912, and the colliery closed in 1956.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Main Coal, Maudlin, Hutton, Low Main, Harvey and Busty seams, with fireclay.

Workings

The Dolly, Dorothea, Elizabeth, Margaret and Success pits, linked to the other Lambton collieries by private railway.

Closure

Closed in 1956 under the National Coal Board.

What remains

A plaque on a stone wall marks the location of the Dorothea shaft.

A marker plaque at the Dorothea shaft site.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Lambton Colliery — Both Earl of Durham, later Lambton Collieries, pits linked by the Lambton private railway.

Nearby mines

• Herrington Colliery — 1.1 km NE
• Houghton Colliery — 2.1 km S
• Lambton Colliery — 2.3 km SW, County Durham
• Chartershaugh Colliery — 2.7 km NW, County Durham
• Silksworth Colliery — 4.4 km E

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

Disasters & major incidents

• Newbottle Colliery Success Pit explosion, 1815
  1815 · Explosion · 57 fatalities
  At about four in the afternoon of 2 June 1815 an explosion in the Success Pit of Newbottle Colliery, the Nesham family's colliery near Houghton-le-Spring, killed 57 of the 72 people in the pit.
• Newbottle Colliery boiler explosion, 1815
  1815 · Machinery · 11 fatalities
  In the summer of 1815 a new boiler at Newbottle Colliery, raising steam for the engine that drew loaded waggons up the colliery railway, burst on its first day in use while a crowd stood watching. Eleven were killed and over fifty wounded or scalded.
• Newbottle Colliery Elizabeth Pit gas disaster, 1821
  1821 · Gas / Asphyxiation · 6 fatalities
  On 19 October 1821 six men died in the Elizabeth Pit of Newbottle (Nesham's) Colliery when a brattice built up against old workings broke and gas came through. Their candles went on burning in it and gave no warning.
• Newbottle Colliery Dolly Pit explosion, 1824
  1824 · Explosion · 11 fatalities
  On 19 November 1824 an explosion in the Dolly Pit at Newbottle Colliery killed eleven men, eight of them overmen and wastemen. The blast tore out the brattice dividing the shaft and dropped it to the bottom.

What's uncertain

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

• The Tyne and Wear HER gives the colliery as opened in 1816 (the Dorothea pit), against the museum's 1774. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking to the Main Coal seam commenced on 10 August 1774; the Dorothea pit was begun in July 1811 and reached the Hutton seam in March 1816. ¹
• Owners: the Nesham family, the Earl of Durham from 1819, Lambton Collieries Ltd from 1896, then Lambton & Hetton and Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries, and the NCB from 1947; closed 1956. ^1,2
• The Tyne and Wear HER gives the colliery as opened in 1816 (the Dorothea pit), against the museum's 1774. (disputed) ^1,2
• Employment rose to 1,647 in 1910 and was 641 at closure in 1956. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum - Newbottle Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Newbottle Colliery, Dorothea Pit (HER 3123) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)

Record created: 21 September 2026 · Last researched: 21 September 2026