Sacriston Colliery

Overview

A County Durham colliery north-west of Durham City, sunk in the late 1830s and worked on the Busty seam for nearly 150 years until 1985. By the 1890s it employed 600 men raising 1,000 tons a day of coking, gas and manufacturing coal, with fireclay alongside. An inrush in 1903 killed two men and left a third stranded in the dark for 92 hours.

History

The shaft was sunk in the late 1830s — Wikipedia gives 1838, the Durham Mining Museum 1839 — and the Findon Hill Pit was added from August 1865. William Heward Bell held the colliery in the 1850s, Sir George Elliot and William Hunter in the 1860s, and the Charlaw & Sacriston Collieries Company from the 1890s until nationalisation in 1947. By the 1890s the pit employed 600 men and produced 1,000 tons of coal a day, and a Wesleyan chapel had been built in the village in 1865; the population in 1870-72 was around 2,100, many of them working in the mines.

On Monday 16 November 1903 water flooded into the 3rd West district of the Busty seam. The inrush killed two miners, John Whittaker, 25, and Thomas McCormick, 52. When the workings were pumped out, another man, Robert Richardson, was found on the Friday standing on his coal tub, having been stranded in the dark surrounded by flood water for 92 hours. Decades afterwards workers came upon the skeleton of one of the pit ponies that died in the accident and a full tub of coal still bearing a miner's token — and the miner was paid his back money. A fall of stone on 4 December 1940 killed five more (see Disasters, below).

The returns record coking, gas and manufacturing coal from the Busty seam from 1894, with fireclay in most years, household coal added by 1935 and coking coal alone by the 1970s. With the thick seams worked out, the colliery was producing only 1,500 tons of best coal a week by 1979. The last coal was raised on 15 November 1985 and the colliery closed on 28 December.

Geology

The colliery worked the Busty seam of the Middle Coal Measures, one of the lower productive coals of the Durham sequence and the bed on which many of the west Durham pits depended. The seatearth fireclay beneath it was raised as a product in its own right. Water in the measures was a real hazard here: the 1903 inrush came into the 3rd West district of the Busty itself, and it was the exhaustion of the thick coal, not the geology giving out altogether, that finally ended the colliery.

Workings

The main shaft worked the Busty seam, named in the colliery's output returns from 1900 onward, with the Findon Hill Pit sunk from 1865. Fireclay was raised alongside the coal in most years to 1935. The colliery's coal was returned as coking, gas and manufacturing quality, with household and steam coal added in the twentieth century and coking coal alone by the 1970s.

Closure

With the thick seams exhausted, output was down to 1,500 tons of best-quality coal a week by 1979. The last coal was raised on 15 November 1985 and the colliery closed on 28 December 1985; the Durham Mining Museum gives the closing date as 15 November.

What remains

Little evidence of the mining operations remains. The area around the former colliery has been landscaped and turned into woodland, and Sacriston Wood is now a 30-hectare local nature reserve. A few mining-related buildings survive, the largest now a depot for the local authority's refuse vehicles, and the foundations of demolished mine buildings can be seen in places in the new woodland.

A few colliery buildings, one in use as a council depot; building foundations within Sacriston Wood.

Redevelopment

The colliery site was landscaped into woodland and is now Sacriston Wood, a 30-hectare local nature reserve.

Related mines

• Charlaw Colliery — Worked together as the Charlaw and Sacriston collieries by Elliot and Hunter and then the Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company, on one waggonway.
• Nettlesworth Colliery — Charlaw and Sacriston Collieries Company pits; Nettlesworth was its pumping station from the 1890s.
• Penshaw Colliery — Collieries held by Sir George Elliot, who worked Penshaw from the 1860s.
• Usworth Colliery — Collieries of Sir George Elliot.
• Waldridge Colliery — Its coal ran down the Waldridge waggonway, for which it paid wayleave to the Waldridge owners.
• Witton Colliery — Worked with Sacriston under one manager from the 1940s, by the same company and then the NCB.

Disasters & major incidents

• Sacriston Colliery inrush, 1903
  16 November 1903 · Flooding / Inundation · 2 fatalities
  On Monday 16 November 1903 water broke into the 3rd West district of the Busty seam at Sacriston Colliery in County Durham and drowned two hewers in their working places. When the district was pumped out a third man, Robert Richardson, was found alive on the Friday, standing on his coal tub, where he had spent ninety-two hours in the dark surrounded by flood water. The jury found accidental drowning and no blame attaching to the management, and the Royal Humane Society gave silver medals to six of the colliery's officials.
• Sacriston Colliery roof fall, 1940
  4 December 1940 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 5 fatalities
  A fall of stone at Sacriston Colliery on 4 December 1940 killed five officials and workmen who were clearing the debris of an earlier fall.

Culture

• Durham Miners' Gala (Labour)
  Sacriston Lodge's banner quoted Matthew 7:12, one of the Biblical banners of the Gala.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Wikipedia gives the shaft as sunk in 1838; the Durham Mining Museum gives the colliery as opening in 1839. The Findon Hill Pit was sunk from 9 August 1865. (uncertain) ^1,2
• By the 1890s the pit employed 600 men and produced 1,000 tons of coal a day. (uncertain) ²
• On 16 November 1903 water flooded into the 3rd West district of the Busty seam, killing John Whittaker, 25, and Thomas McCormick, 52. When the workings were pumped out, Robert Richardson was found alive on the Friday standing on his coal tub after 92 hours in the dark. (uncertain) ²
• Output was down to 1,500 tons of best-quality coal a week by 1979. The last coal was raised on 15 November 1985 and the colliery closed on 28 December; the Durham Mining Museum gives 15 November as the closing date. (uncertain) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• Wikipedia gives the shaft as sunk in 1838; the Durham Mining Museum gives the colliery as opening in 1839. The Findon Hill Pit was sunk from 9 August 1865. (uncertain) ^1,2
• By the 1890s the pit employed 600 men and produced 1,000 tons of coal a day. (uncertain) ²
• On 16 November 1903 water flooded into the 3rd West district of the Busty seam, killing John Whittaker, 25, and Thomas McCormick, 52. When the workings were pumped out, Robert Richardson was found alive on the Friday standing on his coal tub after 92 hours in the dark. (uncertain) ²
• Output was down to 1,500 tons of best-quality coal a week by 1979. The last coal was raised on 15 November 1985 and the colliery closed on 28 December; the Durham Mining Museum gives 15 November as the closing date. (uncertain) ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Sacriston Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Sacriston — Wikipedia
3. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Colliery Disaster, 4 December 1940 (Sacriston) — Durham Mining Museum

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