Pelton Colliery

Overview

The Pelton Fell colliery near Chester-le-Street, begun in 1835 to send Hutton coal down the Stanhope and Tyne Railway, where a runaway of tubs and a firedamp explosion killed 29 in 1866, and which worked for 130 years until 1965.

History

Ground was broken for the air shaft of Pelton Colliery, about two miles west-south-west of Chester-le-Street, on 12 August 1835. It was begun by Messrs Kingscote and Company and soon carried on by James Reid and Partners; the air shaft was 64 fathoms and the working shaft 52 fathoms deep to the Hutton seam, 4 feet 4 inches to 4 feet 6 inches thick, and the coal was sent 13 miles along the Stanhope and Tyne Railway to the staiths at South Shields. After further changes of owner it passed in 1869 to Lord Dunsany and Partners. By the 1860s the extensive Hutton workings were hard to ventilate with furnaces, so the Busty seam was sunk to by two new shafts and a 30-foot Guibal fan was started in October 1865. Two disasters struck in 1866. On 12 January five boys riding a set of laden tubs out of the pit, against the colliery's rules, were killed when it collided with a runaway set. Later that October an explosion of firedamp in the newly opened Busty seam killed 24 (see Disasters, below); the jury could not say what caused it but found that officials had not enforced the rules and the men had not kept them. The North Pit was sunk to the Busty in 1867. In the 1890s Pelton Fell Colliery employed 1,550 men and boys in the Maudlin, Low Main, Hutton and Busty seams, had 210 coke ovens and raised about 2,500 tons a day; its owners built schools for 1,000 children in 1862 and a Literary Institute in 1889. Employment peaked at 1,828 in 1910. The Five Quarter and Main Coal seams were abandoned as exhausted in 1905, and the Mid Durham Coal Company took over in 1929. Nationalised in 1947, the colliery closed in February 1965.

Geology

The Maudlin (3 feet, at 20 fathoms), Low Main (3 feet 8 inches, 24 fathoms), Hutton (4 feet 4 inches to 4 feet 6 inches) and Busty (6 feet with dirt bands, at 100 fathoms) seams, with the Five Quarter and Main Coal worked out by 1905; borings in 1857 and 1893 proved the Brockwell below the Busty too thin to work.

Workings

The Brow, Fan, North and Busty pits; first worked from a 52-fathom working shaft and 64-fathom air shaft with furnaces, then from 1865 by a 30-foot Guibal fan, and by the 1890s by two Guibal fans and a Waddle fan, with 210 coke ovens at the surface.

Closure

Closed in February 1965, when 408 people were employed.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Related mines

• Wingate Grange Colliery — NMRS's account of the 1866 Pelton explosion names Mr Armstrong 'of Wingate Grange' as Pelton's principal viewer from 1862.

Nearby mines

• Edmondsley Colliery — 3.6 km SW
• Craghead Colliery — 4.3 km W
• Sacriston Colliery — 4.3 km SW
• Harraton Colliery — 4.4 km NE, Tyne and Wear
• Beamish Colliery — 4.6 km NW

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

What's uncertain

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

• NMRS dates the explosion that killed 24 in the Busty seam to 21 October 1866; DMM gives 31 October 1866. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• Ground was broken for the air shaft on 12 August 1835; the Hutton seam was worked and coal went by the Stanhope and Tyne Railway to staiths at South Shields. ¹
• A 30-foot Guibal fan was started at Pelton on 21 October 1865 to ventilate the Hutton and the newly sunk Busty seam. ²
• On 12 January 1866 five boys riding out on laden tubs were killed when their set collided with a runaway set on the engine plane. ^1,3
• NMRS dates the explosion that killed 24 in the Busty seam to 21 October 1866; DMM gives 31 October 1866. (disputed) ^1,2
• The jury found no evidence of the cause of the explosion but found negligence by officials in not enforcing the rules and by the men in not keeping them. ²
• In the 1890s Pelton Fell Colliery employed 1,550 men and boys, had 210 coke ovens and raised about 2,500 tons a day. ¹
• Owners included Lord Dunsany and Partners from 1869 and the Mid Durham Coal Company from 1929; the colliery closed in February 1965. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Pelton Colliery (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Pelton Colliery Explosion – Chester-le-Street – 1866 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Pelton Colliery Accident – Chester-le-Street – 1866 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026