Ramshawfield Drift

Overview

A small drift mine near Bardon Mill in the South Tyne valley, opened in the 1930s by the Melkridge Coal Company and worked privately in the Little Limestone coal until 1982.

History

Ramshawfield Drift, also called the Ramshaw Drift, worked coal near Bardon Mill in the South Tyne valley, eleven and a half miles west of Hexham. In the 1930s it belonged to the Melkridge Coal Company, which also ran Melkridge and Bayldon collieries near Haltwhistle. A newspaper of 4 March 1937 reported it as a new coal drift whose first tub was drawn by a woman. It was still being developed in 1945, with ten men, and on 23 December 1946 a 41-year-old shifter, C. Firby, was killed there in an explosion.

By 1948 it belonged to the Henshaw Coal Company, and it stayed a small private mine for the rest of its life, working the Little Limestone coal for household and steam use. It employed 27 people through the 1950s and early 1960s, 21 in 1970 and 15 or 16 from 1975. Its workings, by then a licensed mine, were abandoned on 29 October 1982, although the 1983 Guide to the Coalfields still listed it with 15 men.

Geology

The Little Limestone coal of the Northumberland Carboniferous, worked for household and steam coal.

Workings

A drift mine in the Little Limestone coal.

Closure

Its Little Limestone workings, as a licensed mine, were abandoned on 29 October 1982.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bayldon Colliery — Both were worked by the Melkridge Coal Company in the 1930s, in the Little Limestone coal.
• Melkridge Colliery — Both were worked by the Melkridge Coal Company in the 1930s.

Recorded claims

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

• The Melkridge Coal Company owned the drift in the 1930s and the Henshaw Coal Company by 1948. ^1,2,3
• C. Firby, a 41-year-old shifter, was killed in an explosion at the drift on 23 December 1946. ³
• It worked the Little Limestone coal for household and steam coal. ^2,4
• It employed 27 people through the 1950s and early 1960s and 15 or 16 from 1975. ²
• The Little Limestone workings of the licensed mine were abandoned on 29 October 1982. ⁴

Sources

1. (secondary) Melkridge Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Ramshawfield Drift — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) NMRS deaths database: C. Firby, Ramshaw, Bardon Mill, 23 December 1946 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS mine plan NC748: RAMSHAWFIELD DRIFT (licensed mine), Little Limestone, abandoned 29 October 1982 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 22 October 2026 · Last researched: 24 October 2026