Old Etherley Colliery

Overview

The Old Etherley workings at Witton Park, near Bishop Auckland: an old colliery name used by Henry Stobart and Co. early in the twentieth century, and from about 1950 to 1965 a group of small drifts worked by the Old Etherley Coal Company in the Busty, Brockwell and Constantine seams.

History

Old Etherley was an old name in the coalfield around Witton Park and Etherley, west of Bishop Auckland, where the Witton Park pits had worked since the Jane Pit was sunk in 1819. In 1905 Henry Stobart and Co. Ltd were working Old Etherley at Witton Park. Plans of the Old Etherley workings record the Busty abandoned in 1907 and 1926, the Brockwell in 1908, and the Constantine and Harvey seams in 1917, the year the George Pit at Witton Park closed; the museum's catalogue adds the Constantine in January 1908 and the Brockwell in July 1944.

After nationalisation the name came back with the Old Etherley Coal Company, which worked a group of small drifts in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1950 No. 3 employed 27 people, 17 of them underground, working the Brockwell and Constantine, while No. 4 was being developed and then given up. From 1955 to 1965 No. 3 employed about 20 and No. 2 three. No. 2 worked the Busty and No. 3 the Constantine until the early 1960s, when both moved to the Brockwell; a plan of No. 2's Busty workings is catalogued as abandoned in 1954. Their coal was returned as steam coal to 1961 and as coking and household coal in 1964 and 1965, the last year they are listed.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures. The workings took the lower seams of the coalfield: the Busty, Brockwell, Constantine and Harvey.

Workings

In the 1950s and 1960s, drift mines Nos. 2, 3 and 4. No. 3 was the largest, with about 20 people; No. 2 employed three; No. 4 was developing in 1950 and had been discontinued and taken up again by 1955 and 1960.

Closure

Last listed in 1965, when Nos. 2 and 3 were working the Brockwell seam.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Witton Park Colliery — The George Pit, later called Old Etherley Colliery, was one of the Witton Park pits.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1905 Old Etherley, at Witton Park, was worked by Henry Stobart and Co. Ltd. ¹
• In the 1950s the colliery was owned by the Old Etherley Coal Co. ²
• In 1950 No. 3 drift employed 27 people, 17 below ground and 10 on the surface; from 1955 to 1965 it employed 20. ²
• No. 2 worked the Busty seam until 1961 and the Brockwell in 1964 and 1965. ²
• A plan of Etherley Old No. 2's Busty workings is catalogued as abandoned in 1954. ³
• Plans of the Old Etherley workings record the Brockwell abandoned in 1908, the Constantine and Harvey in 1917 and the Busty in 1926. ^4,5,6,7
• The museum's catalogue records the Constantine seam abandoned on 11 January 1908 and the Brockwell in July 1944. ²
• The George Pit at Witton Park closed in 1917 and the Jane Pit in April 1925. ⁸

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Accident record: Robert Marshall, Old Etherley, 1905 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Old Etherley Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) ETHERLEY OLD NO 2, Busty seam: mine plan catalogue entry (abandoned 1954) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) ETHERLEY OLD, Busty seam: mine plan catalogue entry (abandoned 1926) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) ETHERLEY OLD, Brockwell seam: mine plan catalogue entry (abandoned 1908) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
6. (primary) ETHERLEY OLD, Constantine seam: mine plan catalogue entry (abandoned 1917) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
7. (primary) ETHERLEY OLD, Harvey seam: mine plan catalogue entry (abandoned 1917) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
8. (secondary) Witton Park Colliery — Wikipedia

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026