Shipcote Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Shipcote in Gateshead, opened about 1856 by John Bowes and his partners and later worked by the Marley Hill Coal Company and John Bowes & Partners; its one shaft, the North Pit, reached the Hutton seam at 418 feet, and it closed about 1880.

History

Shipcote Colliery lay at Shipcote in Gateshead, half a mile south-south-east of Newcastle across the Tyne. It was opened about 1855 or 1856 and worked through a single shaft, the North Pit. The Durham Mining Museum names its first owners as John Bowes & Co., the partnership of Bowes, Hutt, Wood and Charles M. Palmer; mindat has the Marley Hill Company from 1855. The Marley Hill Coal Company held it in the 1860s and John Bowes & Partners from the 1870s.

The North Pit was sunk through 25 feet of gravel and clay and a thick freestone post to the High Main, six feet thick at 63 feet, and then on through the Metal, Stone, Yard, Bensham, Six Quarter or Maudlin and Five Quarter coals to the Low Main or Hutton, 5 ft 10 in thick, at 418 feet. The Maudlin and Hutton workings were abandoned in 1879 and the colliery closed about 1880. Plans of its Low Main, Six Quarter and Hutton workings were later held at John Bowes & Partners' Felling Colliery, and old Shipcote workings were taken into the plans of Felling's John pit in the Six Quarter, abandoned in 1931.

The museum's list of those killed holds eight names between 1860 and 1876, all single deaths: a horsekeeper run over by waggons on the incline, boys killed by tubs and by a sheave on the engine plane, a hewer run over by the engine set, and men killed by falls of stone.

Geology

Tyne coalfield: the North Pit section passes the High Main (6 ft at 63 ft), Metal, Stone, Yard, Bensham, Six Quarter or Maudlin and Five Quarter coals to the Low Main or Hutton, 5 ft 10 in thick at 418 ft.

Workings

One shaft, the North Pit, working the Maudlin, Hutton, Low Main and Six Quarter seams.

Closure

The Maudlin and Hutton workings were abandoned in 1879 and the colliery closed about 1880; old Shipcote workings were later taken into the plans of Felling Colliery's John pit, abandoned in 1931.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Felling Colliery — Old Shipcote workings were taken into the plans of Felling Colliery's John pit, and Shipcote's plans were held at Felling by John Bowes & Partners.

What's uncertain

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

• The Durham Mining Museum gives John Bowes & Co. as owners in the 1850s; mindat gives the Marley Hill Company from 1855. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery opened about 1855 or 1856. ^1,2
• It was held by the Marley Hill Coal Company in the 1860s and by John Bowes & Partners from the 1870s. ^1,2
• The Durham Mining Museum gives John Bowes & Co. as owners in the 1850s; mindat gives the Marley Hill Company from 1855. (disputed) ^1,2
• The North Pit reached the Low Main or Hutton seam, 5 ft 10 in thick, at 418 feet. ³
• The Maudlin and Hutton workings were abandoned in 1879. ^4,5
• The colliery closed about 1880. ^1,2
• Old Shipcote workings were included in the Six Quarter plans of Felling Colliery's John pit, abandoned on 28 March 1931. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Shipcote Colliery, Gateshead (mindat) — mindat.org
2. (primary) Shipcote Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Shipcote Colliery: section of strata at the North Pit — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Shipcote Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Shipcote, Maudlin and Hutton (abandoned 1879) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026