North Hetton Colliery

Overview

The North Hetton Coal Company's colliery at Moorsley, west of Hetton-le-Hole, opened in 1821 and closed in 1935. It worked the Five Quarter, Main Coal and Low Main, had its own firebrick and gas works, and built the village school; from 1915 it was joined with its sister pit, the Hazard.

History

North Hetton Colliery, also called Moorsley Colliery, lay north of Front Street, Moorsley, on the north side of the road from Hetton to Pittington, west of Hetton-le-Hole. It is recorded as opened in 1821, though the Durham Mining Museum also dates the start of sinking to 19 April 1826. In the 1850s it belonged to the North Hetton Company, a partnership of the Earl of Durham with Wood, Philipson, Burrell and others, later the North Hetton Coal Company. Lindsay Wood was appointed its viewer in 1858 and later became a managing partner. Sinking of the No. 2 or upcast pit was begun by William Coulson on 23 March 1857 and reached the Hutton seam on 29 January 1858, and in 1872 air-compressing plant was put up to drive coal-cutters underground. The colliery sent its coal out by the North Hetton branch of the Rainton and Seaham Railway. An explosion on 22 November 1833 killed six.

In 1894 it worked the Five Quarter at 52 fathoms, the Main Coal at 62½ and the Low Main at 83½, raising 360 tons a day with 320 men and boys, and the company also ran firebrick works making 60,000 bricks a week and gas retorts. It built a school for 360 children in 1871, and chapels stood in the village. By the 1910s it belonged to Lambton and Hetton Collieries Ltd. Plans of the Three Quarter, Five Quarter and Main Coal were deposited as abandoned in December 1915, the year it was joined with the neighbouring Hazard Colliery, and the two closed together in 1934-35. The miners' cottages of High and Low Moorsley were demolished in the 1950s.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Five Quarter at 52 fathoms (3 feet 8 inches), the Main Coal at 62½ fathoms (4 feet 6 inches), the Low Main at 83½ fathoms (3 feet 6 inches), the Three Quarter, and the Hutton.

Workings

No. 1 Pit and the No. 2 or upcast pit, sunk 1857-58 to the Hutton; compressed-air plant for coal-cutters from 1872; a branch of the Rainton and Seaham Railway; firebrick works and gas retorts at the pithead.

Closure

Closed with the Hazard Colliery in 1934-35, after the two were merged in 1915.

What remains

The colliery site has been landscaped; the waste heap north of it was never reclaimed and has partly returned to nature.

The unreclaimed waste heap and the line of the former wagon way to the north.

Redevelopment

The colliery cottages were demolished in the 1950s and replaced with council housing.

Related mines

• Hetton Colliery — Both among the Hetton collieries managed by Lindsay Wood, and later in the Lambton and Hetton group.
• Rainton Meadows Colliery — Both worked by the North Hetton Coal Company.
• Rainton Plain Pit — Both worked by the North Hetton Coal Company.

What's uncertain

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

• Sinking started on 19 April 1826. (uncertain) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• North Hetton Colliery was opened in 1821. ^1,2,3
• Sinking started on 19 April 1826. (uncertain) ¹
• In 1894 the colliery raised 360 tons a day with 320 men and boys, with firebrick works making 60,000 bricks a week. ^1,2
• The No. 2 or upcast pit was sunk from 23 March 1857 and reached the Hutton seam on 29 January 1858. ¹
• The colliery closed in 1935, together with the Hazard Colliery, with which it had merged in 1915. ^1,2,4,3
• Lindsay Wood was appointed viewer of North Hetton Colliery in 1858. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) North Hetton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) HER 3224: North Hetton Colliery (Moorsley Colliery) — Sitelines (Tyne and Wear HER)
3. (secondary) Boundary Heritage Walk: Point J — Hetton Local History Group
4. (secondary) Moorsley Collieries (David Witham) — Hetton Local History Group
5. (secondary) Sir Lindsay Wood — Hetton Local History Group

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