Ravensworth Shop Colliery

Overview

A Team colliery at Lamesley, also called Allerdean, working by 1726; its Shop and Betty pits employed 1,570 in 1921, and it closed under the National Coal Board in February 1962.

History

Ravensworth Shop Colliery, also known as Allerdean (or Allerdene) Colliery, lay at Lamesley, south of Gateshead, about six and a half miles north-north-west of Durham. It is one of the Team collieries: the Tyne and Wear historic environment record says Allerdean Colliery was working by 1726, when the Team Wagonway reached it, and records Ravensworth Shop and Team Colliery as other names for it. The archive's Team Colliery record (Ravensworth Ann, Eighton Moor) covers the neighbouring pits of the same take; whether the two were ever one undertaking is not settled, so both records stand.

The Durham Mining Museum dates the Shop pit from 1850. W. W. Burdon and W. Barkus junior and Co. owned it in the 1850s, W. W. Burdon in the 1860s, Charles Perkins and Partners in the 1900s, the Birtley Iron Company in the 1910s and Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd in the 1940s. In 1894 the Betty and Shop pits of the Team Colliery employed 860, working the Yard at 42 fathoms, Maudlin, Low Main, Hutton and the Beaumont at 97 fathoms, for over 1,100 tons a day; the directory says the working had been carried on continuously since 1703. The Shop pit employed 704 in 1910, and the Betty and Shop together 1,570 in 1921.

Seams were given up from 1930: the Yard in July 1930, the Maudlin in 1933, the Low Main in 1938 and the Beaumont in 1950. The National Coal Board took over in 1947, raising 150,000 tons of coking, gas and industrial coal, with 711 men in 1950 working the Beaumont, Top Busty and Towneley. Fifteen deaths are recorded there. The colliery closed on 23 February 1962.

Geology

The Yard (6 feet at 42 fathoms), Maudlin, Low Main, Hutton (5 feet at 71 fathoms) and Beaumont (4 feet at 97 fathoms), with the Six Quarter, High Main, Tilley, Five Quarter, Busty, Towneley, Three Quarter and Brockwell also worked.

Workings

The Shop and Betty pits of the Team Colliery, served from the 18th century by the Team Wagonway.

Closure

The Yard, Maudlin, Low Main and Beaumont were abandoned between 1930 and 1950; the colliery closed on 23 February 1962, when the Brockwell and Three Quarter were abandoned.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bewicke Main Colliery — Both worked by Charles Perkins and Partners in 1894 (Whellan's directory, via DMM).
• Team Colliery — Team collieries at Lamesley: the HER gives Team Colliery as another name for Allerdean (Ravensworth Shop). Kept as two records under the keep-both ruling.

Recorded claims

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

• Allerdean Colliery was working by 1726, when the Team Wagonway reached it. ¹
• Also known as Ravensworth Shop and Team Colliery. ^2,1
• The Shop pit dates from 1850. ²
• In 1894 the Betty and Shop pits employed 860 and raised over 1,100 tons a day. ²
• The Betty and Shop pits employed 1,570 people in 1921. ²
• Owned by W. W. Burdon, Charles Perkins and Partners, the Birtley Iron Company and Pelaw Main Collieries Ltd before 1947. ^2,1
• The Yard seam of Ravensworth Shop or Allerdene was abandoned in 1930. ^2,3
• Closed on 23 February 1962. ^2,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Allerdean Colliery (Ravensworth Shop Team Colliery) (HER 3771) — Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record
2. (primary) Ravensworth Shop Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Ravensworth Shop or Allerdene Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority plan 10165, Yard, 1930) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) Ravensworth Shop Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority plan D832, Brockwell 'S', abandoned 23 February 1962) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 9 October 2026