South Tanfield Colliery

Overview

The main colliery of the Kyo and Oxhill area near Stanley, whose Main Coal was won to rejoicing in July 1837; worked by the Joiceys through ten seams, it employed about 600 in the 1890s and closed in 1915.

History

South Tanfield Colliery, also called Kyo Colliery, lay at Oxhill in the township of Kyo, near Stanley, eight and a half miles north-west of Durham, on high ground about 790 feet above sea level. It was the main colliery of the New Kyo and Oxhill area. Joseph Smith and Co. sank it in 1837, and on 10 July 1837 the Main Coal, 5 feet 8 inches thick, was won, and much rejoicing took place in consequence. The shaft reached the Five Quarter by 1838 and the Brass Thill in September 1839; the account of its strata goes on below to over a thousand feet, through the Hutton, nearly twelve feet with its band, at about 464 feet, and the Beaumont, Tilley, Top and Bottom Busty and Brockwell, the last at about 853 feet.

James Joicey held the colliery from the 1850s, and James Joicey and Co. from the 1860s. A third shaft, the C Pit, was begun on 11 April 1870 and reached the Main Coal or Hutton on 22 July 1871. In 1894 the colliery was working eight seams, from the Shield Row to the Brockwell, through a shaft of 150 fathoms with a relief shaft of about the same depth and another working shaft of 86 fathoms, ventilated by a Guibal fan; it raised some 250,000 tons a year with about 500 hands, and 607 were employed in 1896. Its coal went for coking and gas, and fireclay was raised as well.

The Tilley, Busty and Brockwell workings were abandoned on 17 August 1912, and on 31 March 1915 the Beaumont, Brass Thill, Five Quarter, Hutton, Main Coal and Shield Row followed, closing the colliery after 78 years.

Geology

North-west Durham coalfield, about 790 ft above sea level: the Shield Row (7 ft 4 in) at about 162 ft, Five Quarter at about 257 ft, Brass Thill (5 ft 3 in) at about 293 ft, the Hutton (11 ft 10 in with a band) at about 464 ft, and below it the Main Coal, Beaumont, Tilley or Towneley, Top and Bottom Busty and the Brockwell at about 853 ft.

Workings

The A, B and C pits at Oxhill; in 1894 a working shaft of 150 fathoms, a relief shaft and a second working shaft of 86 fathoms, with a Guibal fan.

Closure

The Tilley, Busty and Brockwell were abandoned on 17 August 1912 and the remaining six seams on 31 March 1915, when the colliery closed.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• On 10 July 1837 the Main Coal, 5 feet 8 inches thick, was won at South Tanfield, to much rejoicing. ¹
• South Tanfield Colliery, in the New Kyo and Oxhill area, operated from 1837 to 1915. ^1,2,3
• The C Pit was begun on 11 April 1870 and reached the Main Coal or Hutton on 22 July 1871. ^1,4
• In 1894 it raised about 250,000 tons a year with about 500 hands, through a shaft of 150 fathoms. ¹
• James Joicey and Co. owned the colliery from the 1850s and 1860s. ^1,2
• The Hutton, 11 ft 10 in with its band, lay at about 464 feet. ⁵
• Six seams, from the Shield Row to the Beaumont, were abandoned on 31 March 1915. ^6,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) South Tanfield Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Durham Collieries: South Tanfield Colliery (Kyo) — Durham County Record Office
3. (secondary) Stanley, Annfield Plain, Pontop and Tanfield (England's North East) — England's North East (David Simpson)
4. (primary) South Tanfield Colliery: strata in the C Pit — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) South Tanfield Colliery: strata in Kyo Estate — Durham Mining Museum
6. (primary) South Tanfield Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
7. (primary) BGS mine plan: Tanfield South, Shield Row to Beaumont seams, 1915 — British Geological Survey

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