Stanley Colliery, Crook

Overview

A Pease colliery at Stanley near Crook, working before 1828, whose drift and Josephine Pit employed over 600 by 1910; it closed in November 1911.

History

Stanley Colliery lay at Stanley, near Crook and Waterhouses in the parish of Crook and Billy Row, six and a half miles west-south-west of Durham. It was working before 1828, and Whellan's directory dates its Stanley Pit from 1850. In August 1857 the Josephine Pit was begun a quarter of a mile west of Wooley Farm House and put down to the Brockwell: from a surface 735 feet above sea level it found the Yard, over four feet thick, at about 68 feet, the Ballarat at about 99, the Busty at about 127, the Brockwell at about 216, the Victoria at about 274 and the Marshall Green, 4 ft 4 in, at about 320 feet.

The Pease family's firm, J. W. Pease and Partners and later Pease and Partners, worked it from at least 1873. It employed 457 in 1883 and raised coking and manufacturing coal, with fireclay in the 1880s and 1890s. By the 1890s it was worked through a drift as well as the pit, the drift employing about 450 to 500 and the pit 110 to 180; in 1910 the drift alone had 644 men working the Ballarat, Harvey, Victoria and Yard. On 15 August 1902 a deputy and a hewer were killed together when a stone eight feet long fell while the deputy was resetting timber. The colliery closed in November 1911.

Geology

Durham coalfield, western side, about 735 ft above sea level: the Yard (4 ft 4 in) at about 68 ft, the Ballarat at about 99 ft, the Busty (4 ft) at about 127 ft, the Brockwell (3 ft 6 in) at about 216 ft, the Victoria at about 274 ft and the Marshall Green (4 ft 4 in) at about 320 ft; the Five Quarter and Harvey were also worked.

Workings

The Stanley Pit, the Josephine Pit (1857) and a drift.

Closure

Closed in November 1911.

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.

• The Josephine Pit was begun in August 1857 and sunk to the Brockwell seam. ^1,2
• The Stanley Pit is dated to 1850. ³
• Pease and Partners worked Stanley Colliery near Crook. ^1,4,5
• In 1910 the drift employed 644, working the Ballarat, Harvey, Victoria and Yard. ¹
• The Marshall Green seam, 4 ft 4 in thick, lay at about 320 feet in the Josephine Pit. ²
• Stanley Colliery closed in November 1911. ¹
• Stanley Colliery is shown on the 1898 Ordnance Survey and as disused on that of 1923. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Stanley Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Stanley Colliery: strata in sinking the Josephine Pit, 1857 — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Durham Collieries: Stanley Pit (Crook & Billy Row) — Durham County Record Office
4. (secondary) Durham Collieries: Stanley Colliery (Crook & Billy Row) — Durham County Record Office
5. (secondary) Durham Collieries: Stanley Drift (Crook & Billy Row) — Durham County Record Office

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