Preston Colliery

Overview

A North Shields colliery at Billy Mill, rebuilt around 1900 by a Dutch syndicate with a new Edwina shaft to the Beaumont seam; it employed 1,254 in 1923 and closed in 1928-29, its war memorial naming 65 of its men.

History

Preston Colliery lay in Preston township on the west side of North Shields, near Billy Mill. Coal had been worked in small pits in the area for centuries, and a Preston Colliery, owned by Messrs Johnson, appears in the returns from 1860; the colliery at Billy Mill is not on the first Ordnance Survey map and was built after 1858. The Preston Coal Company held it in the 1880s, when it sold landsale coal and fireclay, and in 1894 it employed 158.

In the late 1890s a Dutch syndicate led by J. B. van Heek rebuilt the old pit completely. A new shaft fourteen feet across was sunk to the Beaumont seam, and in 1903 the sinking was briefly stopped by a sudden inrush of water; it was named the Edwina Pit after van Heek's fiancée. The old pit had raised about 600 tons a day and the new one was expected to raise 1,500. A large washing plant, a brickworks and a new railway to staithes on the Tyne were built with it. On 16 November 1900 an explosion of gas killed three sinkers and a bricklayer. About 1904 the colliery was sold to U. A. Ritson and Sons.

Working the Yard, Bensham, Low Main, Beaumont, Brockwell and Top Busty, it employed 1,027 in 1910 and 1,254 in 1923, its peak. A large ridge of stone near Preston Cemetery stopped its coal, and borings on the east side of the 90-fathom dyke, five or six years before the end, were disappointing. Coal production stopped on 26 October 1928, and a further attempt to restart with boring in the spring of 1929 also failed. Its seams were abandoned on 28 September 1929. North Shields Corporation filled the shafts with refuse, the 120-foot chimney was felled with gelignite on 9 March 1931, and the power house, used afterwards for making paving slabs, was demolished in July 1958, when the site was cleared for housing. The colliery's First World War memorial, unveiled on 15 June 1924 and naming 65 men, was moved from Billy Mill Lane to Preston Cemetery in 1964.

Geology

Northumberland coalfield: the Yard, Bensham, Low Main, Beaumont, Brockwell and Top Busty seams, limited by the 90-fathom dyke and a ridge of stone near Preston Cemetery.

Workings

The old Preston pit and the Edwina shaft (No. 1), 14 ft in diameter, sunk to the Beaumont in 1903, with Nos. 2, 3 and 4; a washing plant, brickworks and a railway to staithes on the Tyne.

Closure

Production stopped on 26 October 1928, the coal stopped by a ridge of stone; attempts to restart in 1929 failed and all six seams were abandoned on 28 September 1929.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

The shafts were filled by North Shields Corporation; the last building, the power house, was demolished in 1958 and the site cleared for housing.

Recorded claims

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

• Preston Colliery at Billy Mill is not on the first edition Ordnance Survey map and was built after 1858. ¹
• A Dutch syndicate led by J. B. van Heek modernised the colliery and sank a new 14-foot shaft, the Edwina Pit, to the Beaumont seam. ²
• Employment peaked in 1923, with 1,254 at the colliery. ^3,4
• The Preston Coal Co. owned it in the 1880s and U. A. Ritson & Sons Ltd by the 1910s. ^3,4
• Coal production at Preston Colliery stopped on 26 October 1928. ²
• The Yard, Bensham, Low Main, Beaumont, Top Busty and Brockwell seams were abandoned on 28 September 1929. ^5,6
• The colliery's war memorial, unveiled on 15 June 1924, commemorates 65 men and was moved to Preston Cemetery in 1964. ^7,8

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Preston Colliery (Tyne and Wear HER 2123) — Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record (Sitelines)
2. (observational) Preston Colliery, North Shields (Co-Curate resource: newspaper cutting of the 1931 chimney demolition, with history by Chris 802 from Flickr) — Co-Curate, Newcastle University
3. (primary) Preston Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Preston Colliery (closed 1929) (Co-Curate) — Co-Curate, Newcastle University
5. (primary) Preston Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Preston No 1 or Edwina / Nos 2, 3, 4, Beaumont seam — British Geological Survey
7. (secondary) Preston Colliery - WW1 (IWM War Memorials Register 11506) — Imperial War Museums
8. (observational) Preston Colliery War Memorial, Preston Cemetery, North Shields (Geograph 6756986, Geoff Holland) — Geograph

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026