Shilburnhaugh Colliery

Overview

A small drift mine near Falstone, by the Whickhope Burn whose valley now lies under Kielder Water; it raised landsale and household coal with two to ten men from the 1880s until it was abandoned in 1928.

History

Shilburnhaugh Colliery, also called the Shilburnhaugh Drift, lay near the Whickhope Burn at Falstone, about twenty miles north-west of Hexham; the burn has since been swallowed by Kielder Water. It was a drift with a small tramway to a pit head to its north, a weighing machine at the entrance, and a dirt road to another coal working about 100 metres away and to the farms along the burn.

Michael Robson owned and managed it in the 1880s and 1890s, selling landsale and then household coal, followed by F. F. Robson in the 1900s, E. Summerside in the 1910s, the Shilburnhaugh Colliery Company in the 1920s and Thompson Brothers in the 1930s. It never employed more than ten people: three to five in most years, ten in 1921. It worked the Limestone Coal before the First World War and later a seam known as the Shilburnhaugh. Working was temporarily abandoned in November 1925, resumed with five men in 1927, and the colliery was abandoned on 25 January 1928; in 1930 it is recorded as temporarily closed.

Geology

The Limestone Coal, and later the Shilburnhaugh seam.

Workings

A drift with a small tramway to a pit head.

Closure

Temporarily abandoned in November 1925; abandoned on 25 January 1928; recorded as temporarily closed in 1930.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed; the Whickhope Burn valley is now under Kielder Water.

Recorded claims

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

• Shilburnhaugh was owned by Michael Robson in the 1880s, F. F. Robson in the 1900s, E. Summerside in the 1910s, the Shilburnhaugh Colliery Company in the 1920s and Thompson Brothers in the 1930s. ^1,2
• Shilburnhaugh Colliery stood by the Whickhope Burn, which is now under Kielder Water. ^2,3
• The Shilburnhaugh drift had a small tramway to a pit head and a weighing machine at its entrance. ²
• Shilburnhaugh was temporarily abandoned in November 1925 and abandoned on 25 January 1928. ¹
• Shilburnhaugh never employed more than ten people, and usually three to five. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Shilburnhaugh Drift — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Shilburnhaugh Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
3. (observational) A break from the spruce (Geograph photograph 5422819) — Geograph

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