North Bitchburn Colliery

Overview

The North Bitchburn Coal Company's colliery at Howden-le-Wear, sunk from 1845, with coke ovens and fire brick and sanitary pipe works fed by its clay. It employed 939 in three pits in 1902, worked on a small scale into the 1960s, and its site is now woodland.

History

North Bitchburn Colliery was begun on 27 August 1845 and sunk to the Brockwell, about 266 feet down, near Howden-le-Wear. H. Stobart and Co. owned it in the 1850s, the North Beechburn Coal Company in the 1880s and the North Bitchburn Coal Company Ltd by the 1910s. In 1894 it was the principal colliery of the Witton-le-Wear township, working the Harvey, Constantine, Ballarat, Five Quarter and Brockwell; the 700 tons raised daily were mostly made into coke, its clay supplied the company's fire brick and sanitary pipe works, and it employed 700 men and boys from the villages of High Grange, North Bitchburn, Quarryburn and Valley Terrace. The company also worked Howden Colliery nearby.

In 1902 its Constantine, Five Quarter and Shafto pits employed 939 between them. The Victoria and Marshall Green seams were abandoned in January 1908; the Five Quarter or Busty followed in 1936 and the Top Main and Brockwell in 1938. The colliery carried on with a small workforce, 204 in 1930, about 150 in the late 1930s and 40 to 50 through the 1950s and 1960s, latterly in the Harvey, Three Quarter and Busty. It is recorded as closed in 1966, and its last plans were abandoned with Newton Cap's in 1976. The site has been reclaimed as a 21-hectare council woodland along the Beech Burn, where old pipes from the brickworks and colliery can still be found.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Harvey (2 feet 4 inches), Constantine (2 feet), Ballarat (1 foot 8 inches), Five Quarter (2 feet 8 inches) and Brockwell (4 feet 3 inches), with the Top Main, Victoria, Marshall Green, Main, Busty and Three Quarter; fireclay.

Workings

The 1845 shaft to the Brockwell; the Constantine, Five Quarter and Shafto pits (1902); drifts; coke ovens and fire brick and sanitary pipe works.

Closure

Recorded as closed in 1966; returns continue to 1967-68 and the last plans were abandoned in 1976.

What remains

The site is the North Bitchburn Colliery Reclamation, a Durham County Council woodland of 21 hectares.

Old pipes from the brickworks and colliery.

Redevelopment

Reclaimed as woodland along the Beech Burn.

Related mines

• Howden Colliery — Both worked by the North Bitchburn Coal Company in the same seams.
• Randolph Colliery, Evenwood — North Bitchburn Coal Company collieries; the company sank Randolph in 1893.
• Rough Lea Colliery — Both North Bitchburn Coal Company collieries, sunk by Stobarts.
• Toronto Colliery — Their last plans were abandoned together, with Rough Lea, in May 1976.

Recorded claims

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

• North Bitchburn Colliery was begun on 27 August 1845 and sunk to the Brockwell. ^1,2
• In 1894 the colliery raised 700 tons a day, mostly coked, supplied clay to fire brick and sanitary pipe works, and employed 700 men and boys. ¹
• In 1902 the Constantine, Five Quarter and Shafto pits employed 939. ¹
• The colliery site is now the North Bitchburn Colliery Reclamation woodland, 21.17 hectares, with remains of old pipes from the brickworks and colliery. ³
• The colliery is recorded as closed in 1966; its last plans were abandoned with Newton Cap's in May 1976. ^4,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) North Bitchburn Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) North Bitchburn Colliery: shaft details — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) North Bitchburn Colliery Reclamation — Woodland Trust
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Newton Cap (incl. North Bitchburn, Middle Bitchburn, Rough Lea, Howden and Hunwick), Constantine or Tilley 'P', abandoned 1976 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026