Rough Lea Colliery

Overview

The largest of Hunwick's collieries, sunk in 1858 by Henry Stobart and Co. and later the North Bitchburn Coal Company's, with coke ovens and a pipe works using its fireclay. It peaked in 1910, was abandoned in 1924-25 and is recorded as closed in 1931.

History

Rough Lea Colliery, in the township of Hunwick, was sunk in June 1858 to the Brockwell, reached at about 176 feet, by Henry Stobart and Co.; the North Bitchburn Coal Company took it over in 1880. It began production in 1858 working five seams. In 1896 it turned to coking coal as well, and its fireclay supplied a pipe works making sanitary pipes and ware from 1879. It was the largest of Hunwick's collieries: in 1910 it employed 306 men and boys underground and about 80 at the surface, with 60 coke ovens, working the Ballarat, Constantine, Five Quarter, Harvey and Top Main.

The decline was quick. There were 151 men in 1921 and 82 in 1924, and plans for the Busty, Top Main, Main, Five Quarter, Ballarat, Constantine and Harvey were deposited as abandoned on 30 June 1924; by 1925 only three surface workers remained. Pease and Partners became owners in 1926, the colliery stood idle in 1940, and it is recorded as closed in 1931. The pipe works outlived it, using fireclay and coal brought by rail from Newton Cap until Hunwick station closed to freight in 1957, then by road, and from 1970 clay from a new drift at Brecken Hill, until it was demolished in 1975. The colliery had its own lodge and, from 1890 to the 1920s, a band that played at the Durham Miners' Gala.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Brockwell (Main Coal), Ballarat, Constantine, Five Quarter, Harvey, Top Main, Main and Busty, with fireclay.

Workings

A shaft to the Brockwell (1858); 60 coke ovens (1910); the Rough Lea pipe works alongside, 1879-1975.

Closure

Plans abandoned 30 June 1924; recorded as closed in 1931; the pipe works lasted until 1975.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

The pipe works, the colliery's last survivor, was demolished in 1975.

Related mines

• North Bitchburn Colliery — Both North Bitchburn Coal Company collieries, sunk by Stobarts.
• Toronto Colliery — Rough Lea's pipe works used fireclay and coal from Newton Cap; their last plans were abandoned together in 1976.

Culture

• Rough Lea Lodge banner (Labour)
  The banner of the Rough Lea colliery's miners' lodge at Hunwick, made in 1873, rediscovered, re-dedicated in 1994 and remade in 2022.

Recorded claims

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

• Rough Lea Colliery was sunk to the Brockwell in June 1858. ^1,2,3
• Rough Lea was the largest of Hunwick's collieries, employing 306 underground and about 80 at the surface in 1910, with 60 coke ovens. ^1,3
• By 1925 only three surface workers remained, and the colliery closed in 1931. ^1,3
• The Rough Lea pipe works made pipes and sanitary ware from 1879 to 1975. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Rough Lea Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Rough Lea Colliery: shaft details — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Rough Lea colliery & Rough Lea Pipeworks — Hidden Heritage

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026