Ouston Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Ouston, near Birtley, working by 1807 and one of the first to use the edge rail, in 1816. Held by the Hunts and Perkinses, the Birtley Iron Company and Pelaw Main Collieries, its A, B and E pits employed 800 in 1896; it merged with Urpeth C in 1957 and closed in January 1959.

History

Ouston Colliery lay at Ouston, three miles north-west of Chester-le-Street and five and a half miles south of Newcastle, and was working by 1807, when its first pit was linked to the Beamish Wagonway, which carried its coal to staithes on the Wear at Fatfield. From around 1810 the Ouston and Pelaw Waggonway, later the Pelaw Main Railway, linked the Ouston and Urpeth pits to the Wear by another route, and a branch of 1811 reached the Tyne at Pelaw Main Staithes near Bill Quay. Between 1831 and 1834 the Waldridge Waggonway was joined to the Pelaw Main line via Ouston Colliery. In 1865 the Ouston estate belonged to the executors of Lady Byron. According to Benjamin Thompson, one of the first uses of the edge rail was made there in 1816. Firedamp in its workings killed John Turnbull on 3 November 1817, and on 21 February 1823 an explosion in an old working killed four, Joseph Barrowfoot, James Bell, ten years old, Joseph Brown and Charles Turnbull, and badly burnt two more. The B Pit was sunk to the Hutton in 1824 and worked until 1875.

Hunt and Company held the colliery in the 1850s, Hunt, Perkins and Company in the 1860s, E. M. Perkins and Partners in the 1880s and Charles Perkins and Partners in the 1890s. In 1894 the A Pit worked the Low Main at 324 feet and the nearly exhausted Hutton at 372 feet, raising 540 tons a day with 500 men and boys and lighting its offices and houses from its own gas works. The E Pit, begun on 19 July 1888 on the eastern edge of the township, reached the five-foot Busty at 80 fathoms and in 1896 a sinking below the Busty proved the Three Quarter and Brockwell. The owners built the Mechanics' Institute in 1887 and the colliery schools at Perkinsville in 1859. Together the pits employed 803 in 1896.

The Birtley Iron Company took the colliery in the 1910s and Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd in the 1920s. The Maudlin was abandoned in 1915, the Brockwell in 1930 and the Hutton and Five Quarter in 1934. The Towneley and Busty were discontinued in 1948 and 1950. Under the National Coal Board from 1947 the colliery merged with Urpeth C Colliery on 30 March 1957 and closed on 31 January 1959.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Maudlin, Low Main, Hutton, Five Quarter, Towneley, Busty, Three Quarter and Brockwell seams.

Workings

The A Pit, the B Pit (1824-1875) and the E Pit (1888), later joined to Urpeth C.

Closure

Merged with Urpeth C Colliery on 30 March 1957 and closed on 31 January 1959. The Maudlin, Brockwell, Hutton and Five Quarter had been abandoned between 1915 and 1934.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• South Pelaw Colliery — Both were held by E. M. Perkins and Partners in the 1880s.
• Team Colliery — Both were held in turn by Charles Perkins and Partners, the Birtley Iron Company and Pelaw Main Collieries.
• Urpeth Colliery — Ouston merged with Urpeth C Colliery in 1957, and their Urpeth B, C and Ouston E workings share a plan.
• Waldridge Colliery — Between 1831 and 1834 Waldridge's coal ran through Ouston Colliery to the Pelaw Main Waggonway.

Recorded claims

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

• Ouston Colliery was working before 1815. ^1,2
• According to Benjamin Thompson, one of the first uses of the edge rail was made at Ouston Colliery in 1816. ²
• On 21 February 1823 an explosion of firedamp in an old working at Ouston Colliery killed four men and badly burnt two. ^3,1
• In 1894 the A Pit worked the Low Main at 324 feet and the Hutton at 372 feet, raising 540 tons a day with 500 men and boys; the E Pit, begun on 19 July 1888, worked the Busty at 80 fathoms. ¹
• The E Pit reached the Busty at about 474 feet. ⁴
• Ouston merged with Urpeth C Colliery on 30 March 1957 and closed on 31 January 1959. ^1,2
• The Maudlin was abandoned in 1915, the Brockwell in 1930 and the Hutton and Five Quarter in 1934. ^1,5
• A colliery operated at Ouston from at least 1807, linked to the Beamish Wagonway, which carried coal to staithes on the Wear at Fatfield. ⁶
• From around 1810 the Ouston and Pelaw Waggonway, later called the Pelaw Main Railway, linked mines at Ouston and Urpeth to the Wear, and a branch of 1811 reached the Tyne at Pelaw Main Staithes near Bill Quay. ⁶
• Between 1831 and 1834 the Waldridge Waggonway was linked to the Pelaw Main Waggonway via Ouston Colliery. ⁷
• Further pits opened at Ouston during the nineteenth century to make up Ouston Colliery, which operated until 1959. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Ouston Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Ouston Colliery — Grace's Guide
3. (primary) Local Records; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events, vol. 2 (J. Sykes, 1866 edition) — Internet Archive
4. (primary) Ouston Colliery: strata sunk through in the E Pit, 1888 — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) Ouston Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
6. (secondary) Beanish, Urpeth, Ouston and Pelton — England's North East
7. (secondary) Waldridge (Exploring the Waldridge Waggonway, parts one to four) — historyman1794

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