Seaton Delaval Colliery

Overview

A Northumberland colliery on the Delaval family's estate, sunk from 1838 and worked through a dozen shafts until 1960. It was held by a succession of Lamb partnerships and then the Seaton Delaval Coal Company, and from 1929 formed part of the Hartley Main Collieries group. The village it worked from is named in the folk song 'Blackleg Miner'.

History

Sinking at the Engine Pit began on 10 May 1838, and the colliery grew into a group of shafts — A to F, Engine, Richard, and later Forster, sunk from May 1859, Hastings from 1875 and Relief from 1884. The E and F pits were given up in 1932. The colliery was held by Joseph Lamb & Co. in the 1830s and then by successive Lamb partnerships — Lamb, Scott, Barnes, Burdon & Co. in the 1850s and Lamb, Burdon & Co. in the 1860s — before passing to the Seaton Delaval Coal Company in the 1880s. In May 1929 it was absorbed into Hartley Main Collieries Ltd., which worked a group of pits in this corner of south-east Northumberland linked by their own railways; a 1932 plan in the Colliery Engineer shows the disposition of the group and the lines between them. The Bedlington Mains Coal Company held it from 1943, and the National Coal Board from nationalisation in 1947. Fireclay was raised alongside the coal from the 1880s. The colliery closed on 27 May 1960.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coal Measures of the Northumberland coalfield, close to the coast north of the Tyne, where the productive measures run out under the sea. Seatearth fireclay beneath the coals was raised as a saleable product alongside it, as at most of the collieries in this part of the coalfield.

Workings

A group of shafts rather than one pit: the Engine Pit from 1838, lettered pits A to F, Richard, and the later Forster (1859), Hastings (1875) and Relief (1884). Coal and fireclay were both raised. From 1929 the colliery worked as part of the Hartley Main group, whose pits were connected to each other and to the coast by their own railways.

Closure

Closed on 27 May 1960, under the National Coal Board.

What remains

The colliery site has largely returned to woodland and open ground. Some colliery buildings survive, along with an air shaft, and the position of the headgear can still be made out.

Surviving colliery buildings and an air shaft; the site of the headgear.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking at the Engine Pit began on 10 May 1838. (high) ¹
• The Forster Pit was sunk from 11 May 1859, the Hastings Pit opened in 1875 and the Relief Pit in 1884; the E and F pits closed in 1932. (high) ¹
• The colliery passed to Hartley Main Collieries Ltd in May 1929, and a 1932 plan in the Colliery Engineer shows the disposition of the group's pits and the railways between them. (high) ¹
• The colliery closed on 27 May 1960. (high) ¹
• The folk song 'Blackleg Miner' names the village directly — 'Oh, Delaval is a terrible place' — alongside the neighbouring Seghill pit. (medium) ²

Photographs & further reading

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Seaton Delaval Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Seaton Delaval — Wikipedia

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