Newburgh Colliery

Overview

A colliery sunk near Amble from about 1891 by the Radcliffe Coal Company, later Broomhill Collieries, which employed over a thousand people by 1900, lit Radcliffe's streets, suffered a fatal gas explosion in 1914 and gave out in the 1920s.

History

Newburgh Colliery, also spelled Newbrough and listed in the Durham Mining Museum's shaft records as the Newbrough Pit of Radcliffe Colliery, stood about a mile south-east of Radcliffe. Sinking was under way in 1891, when an inquest witness said the new shaft had been started two years before. The museum dates the colliery to 1892 under the Radcliffe Coal Company Limited and records 367 people employed in 1894, 554 in 1896 and 1,028 in 1900, when the Radcliffe and Broomhill companies merged as Broomhill Collieries Limited. Another account has the shaft sunk in 1900. A 1901 inquest heard that the shaft was 49 fathoms deep to the seam being worked, and a newspaper put its depth at some 80 to 90 fathoms.

In 1905 the colliery worked the Albert, Duke, Princess and Queen seams, and the 1923 return also lists the Radcliffe and Wonder seams. It raised household and steam coal, with fireclay in several returns from 1900 to 1923, and only steam coal by 1924. Employment reached 1,062 in 1905 and 1,144 in 1910, then fell to 468 in 1921 and stood at 507 in 1925, the last year the museum lists. In February 1909 the colliery's generating plant supplied the cable that lit Radcliffe's streets by electricity. On the night of 16 August 1914 a gas explosion in a heading killed two men.

Severe flooding closed the colliery in the 1920s. Hauxley Colliery, sunk by Broomhill Collieries in 1926, was the company's next pit in the district, and flooding remained a problem there too.

Geology

The Albert, Duke, Princess and Queen seams were worked from 1905, with the Radcliffe and Wonder seams added by 1923. A gas explosion in 1914 shows firedamp in the headings.

Workings

A cage shaft served the workings, reported in 1901 as about 80 to 90 fathoms deep and 49 fathoms to the seam then being worked. A generating plant at the colliery supplied electricity to Radcliffe village from 1909.

Closure

Severe flooding closed the colliery in the 1920s; the Durham Mining Museum's last return, for 1925, shows 507 people employed.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Hauxley Colliery — Both were Broomhill Collieries pits working the Duke, Princess and Queen seams; Hauxley was sunk in 1926 by the same company.
• Radcliffe Colliery — The Newbrough Pit was sunk by the Radcliffe Coal Company about a mile from Radcliffe Colliery, which had begun to fail.

Disasters & major incidents

• Newburgh Colliery gas explosion, 1914
  16 August 1914 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  A gas explosion at about 10.35 p.m. on Sunday 16 August 1914 in a pair of headings at Newburgh Colliery killed the chargeman Samuel Ainsley and Stephen Hume, who died the following day, and slightly injured a third man.

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 Durham Mining Museum gives 1892 as the year the colliery opened, under the Radcliffe Coal Company Limited. (disputed) ¹
• A shaft was sunk in 1900 about a mile from the original pit at Radcliffe and named Newburgh. (disputed) ^2,3

Recorded claims

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

• The Durham Mining Museum gives 1892 as the year the colliery opened, under the Radcliffe Coal Company Limited. (disputed) ¹
• A shaft was sunk in 1900 about a mile from the original pit at Radcliffe and named Newburgh. (disputed) ^2,3
• In 1900 the Radcliffe and Broomhill companies were merged as Broomhill Collieries Limited, the colliery's owner into the 1920s. ^4,1
• Employment was 367 in 1894, 1,028 in 1900, 1,062 in 1905, 1,144 in 1910, 468 in 1921 and 507 in 1925. ¹
• In 1905 the colliery worked the Albert, Duke, Princess and Queen seams. ¹
• In February 1909 electric street lighting for Radcliffe village was supplied by cable from the colliery's generating plant. ⁴
• The colliery closed in the 1920s because of severe flooding. ²
• The British Geological Survey catalogues abandonment plans that cover Newburgh with the Broomhill, Bullocks Hall, Chevington East and Togston workings. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Newburgh Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Coal Mining - Bailiffgate Collections — Bailiffgate Museum & Gallery
3. (secondary) The Amble and District Mining Memorial: Newburgh Colliery — Amble and District Local History (fusilier.co.uk)
4. (secondary) The Rise and Fall of Radcliffe (timeline) — Amble and District Local History (fusilier.co.uk)
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plans: BROOMHILL/BULLOCKS HALL/CHEVINGTON EAST/NEWBURGH/TOGSTON/TOGSTON NORTH — British Geological Survey

Record created: 29 September 2026 · Last researched: 29 September 2026