Stobswood Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Stobswood near Widdrington, Northumberland, opened in 1875 by the Burn family beside the East Coast Main Line, with its own sidings. Two shafts about 300 feet deep and later drifts worked the Main, Yard and Beaumont; it broke production records in the 1940s and closed on 1 May 1965.

History

The ground around Stobswood was full of bell pits before the colliery came. Commercial mining began with the Burn family, who also owned the colliery at West Stanley: John H. Burn held Stobswood in the 1880s, and the Stobswood Coal Company from the 1900s. The colliery opened in 1875 close to Widdrington on the East Coast Main Line, which made its coal easy to send away and led to the building of its own sidings. Two shafts were sunk about 300 feet, one for winding and one for ventilation, and drifts were later driven nearby to reach the face. In the late 1890s a fire destroyed the headgear and the buildings around the shaft; they were rebuilt and the colliery carried on. A gazetteer of 1894-95 called it a small colliery, with a school built in 1881.

It stayed small for forty years, employing between 80 and 134 until 1915, then grew through the 1920s, to 404 in 1930 and 417 in 1940, working the Beaumont, Five Quarter, Main and Yard seams. The pit was highly successful and broke production records in the 1940s. The National Coal Board took it over in 1947; by the 1960s it was working the Low Main, the Plessey and the Widdrington Main and Yard, with 437 men in 1960. Plans for the Widdrington Yard and the Top Beaumont were deposited as abandoned in 1963, and the colliery closed on 1 May 1965.

Geology

Northumberland Coal Measures: the Main, Yard, Two Feet, Beaumont and Five Quarter, later the Low Main, Tilley, Plessey and the Widdrington Main and Widdrington Yard (or Tilley 'P').

Workings

A winding shaft and a ventilation shaft about 300 feet deep, later drifts nearby, and sidings on the East Coast Main Line.

Closure

Closed on 1 May 1965.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• West Stanley Colliery — Both owned by the Burn family.

Recorded claims

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

• Stobswood Colliery opened in 1875. ¹
• Commercial mining at Stobswood began with the Burn family, who also owned West Stanley Colliery; John H. Burn held it in the 1880s. ^1,2
• Two shafts were sunk about 300 feet, one for winding and one for ventilation, with drifts later. ²
• A fire in the late 1890s destroyed the headgear and the buildings around the shaft; they were rebuilt. ²
• The colliery employed 404 in 1930 and 437 in 1960. ¹
• The colliery closed on 1 May 1965. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Stobswood Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Stobswood Colliery (Coals Archive) — North East Heritage Library

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026