South Derwent Colliery

Overview

A gas-coal colliery at Annfield Plain and Catchgate whose Creswell and Willie pits employed over 600 in 1894; worked by R. Dickinson and Co. and the South Derwent Coal Company, it was abandoned in 1933.

History

South Derwent Colliery lay at Annfield Plain and Catchgate, in the townships of Greencroft and Kyo, about nine miles north-west of Durham, with its Creswell, Willie, Hutton and Furnace pits close together. Records of the old pits in the district go back to about 1790, and the original lessees partly worked the Five Quarter and Hutton, leaving coal to hold up the roof. When the Stanhope and Tyne Railway came through, the best-placed pits were reopened, new shafts of larger diameter were sunk, and seams once discarded as household coal proved valuable for gas making; the small coal was coked on the spot.

Bainbridge, Kissop and Co. owned it in the 1860s, R. Dickinson and Co. in the 1880s and the South Derwent Coal Company from the 1890s; William Rutherford managed it from 1882 into the 1900s. Its section shows the Shield Row at 52 feet, then the Five Quarter and Brass Thill, and the Hutton, over nine feet thick, at 345 feet. In 1894 the Creswell and Willie pits together employed 604 and raised 1,100 to 1,200 tons a day, sold mainly as gas coal. On 11 August 1888 runaway waggons at the screens killed two screeners.

Employment was about 330 in 1915 and 1921 and 180 in 1925. The Hutton, Hutton Section and Main were abandoned in October 1920, and on 27 May 1933 the Shield Row, Five Quarter, Brass Thill, Hutton, Hutton Section and Main were all given up. The Carrmyers shaft was still producing in 1923.

Geology

The Shield Row (5 feet 5 inches at 52 feet), Five Quarter, Brass Thill and Hutton (9 feet 2 inches at 345 feet); the district is described as comparatively free of dykes.

Workings

The Creswell, Willie, Hutton and Furnace pits, with drifts to the east and coke ovens beside the Stanhope and Tyne Railway.

Closure

The Hutton, Hutton Section and Main were abandoned in October 1920, and all the remaining seams on 27 May 1933.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• West Shieldrow Colliery — Both owned by the South Derwent Coal Company from the 1890s.

Recorded claims

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

• Records of the old pits in the district date from about 1790. ¹
• The section reaches the Hutton seam, over nine feet thick, at 345 feet. ²
• In 1894 the Creswell and Willie pits employed 604 people. ¹
• On 11 August 1888 two screeners were killed when waggons ran against those under the screens. ¹
• William Rutherford was manager from 1882 to 1902. ³
• The second-edition Ordnance Survey map names South Derwent Colliery and shows drifts to the east; the Carrmyers shaft was still producing in 1923. ⁴
• All remaining seams were abandoned on 27 May 1933. ^1,5
• The Derwent South plans record the Main and Hutton abandoned in 1920 and the Shield Row, Five Quarter, Brass Thill, Hutton and Main in 1933. ^6,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) South Derwent Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Section of Strata sunk through at South Derwent Colliery, near Annfield Plain (An Account of the strata of Northumberland & Durham as proved by Borings & Sinkings) — North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers, via the Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) South Derwent Colliery: Colliery Management (prior to 1970) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) South Derwent Colliery (Catchgate) (HER D4721) — Keys to the Past (Durham and Northumberland HER)
5. (primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines: South Derwent Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
6. (primary) Derwent South Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority plan 11064, Shield Row, Five Quarter, Brass Thill, Hutton and Main, 1933) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
7. (primary) Derwent South Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority plan 7355, Main and Hutton, 1920) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 9 October 2026 · Last researched: 9 October 2026