Rainton Plain Pit

Overview

A Londonderry pit of Rainton Colliery at Chilton Moor, near Houghton-le-Spring, sunk from 1817 to the Hutton seam, where explosions killed 27 in December 1817 and 55 in November 1823.

History

The Plain Pit belonged to Rainton Colliery, the Londonderry family's group of pits at West and East Rainton, opened before 1815 and worked in one form or another until 1978. Sinking from the surface to the Hutton seam began on 13 September 1817, and the pit was among the West Rainton pits linked to the waggonways that ran to the Wear at Penshaw. In the 1850s Rainton's owners were the North Hetton Coal Company and Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry.

The pit was thought free of gas and worked by candlelight, and on 18 December 1817 an explosion before the hewers went down killed 27. On 3 November 1823, after boys warned that the Davy lamps were burning with gas, it exploded again, killing 55. By 1894 Rainton Colliery as a whole had 31 stationary engines and employed 1,185.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the shaft passed the Three-Quarter seam at about 101 feet, the Main Coal at about 264 feet and the Low Main at about 454 feet, and reached the Hutton seam at about 502 feet.

Workings

A shaft sunk from 1817 to the Hutton seam; worked by candlelight until 1817 and with Davy lamps by 1823; linked by waggonway to staithes on the Wear.

Closure

Unknown. Rainton Colliery as a whole closed in July 1978.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• North Hetton Colliery — Both worked by the North Hetton Coal Company.
• Rainton Meadows Colliery — Both pits of the Londonderrys' Rainton Colliery.

Disasters & major incidents

• Rainton Plain Pit explosion, 1817
  18 December 1817 · Explosion · 27 fatalities
  Early on 18 December 1817 firedamp exploded in the Plain Pit of Rainton Colliery, near Houghton-le-Spring, killing 27, eleven men and sixteen boys. The pit was thought free of gas and still worked by candles, and the hewers had not yet gone down, which saved about 160 lives.
• Rainton Plain Pit explosion, 1823
  3 November 1823 · Explosion · 55 fatalities
  Early on the morning of 3 November 1823 an explosion in the Plain Pit of the Marquess of Londonderry's Rainton Colliery killed 55 men and boys, the second disaster at the pit in six years. Boys reaching the shaft just before had reported the Davy lamps standing on fire.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking of the Plain Pit from the surface to the Hutton seam began on 13 September 1817. ¹
• The Plain Pit was part of Rainton Colliery, opened before 1815 and closed in July 1978. ²
• The Plain Pit at West Rainton, opened in 1817, was a Londonderry pit on the waggonway network. ³
• Explosions killed 27 on 18 December 1817 and 55 on 3 November 1823. ^1,4,5
• The Plain Pit shaft, sunk from 13 September 1817, reached the Hutton seam at about 502 feet, with a sump to 508 feet 6 inches. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Plain Pit (Rainton Colliery) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Rainton Colliery, Plain Pit — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
3. (secondary) The Railways of Hetton, Pittington and Rainton, Part 1: Early Developments — Hetton Local History
4. (secondary) Rainton Colliery Plain Pit Explosion - Rainton - 1817 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) Rainton Colliery Plain Pit Explosion - Rainton - 1823 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) Plain Pit, Rainton Colliery: shaft section, 1817 — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 3 October 2026 · Last researched: 3 October 2026