Stockdale Colliery

Overview

Stockdale Colliery was a tiny drift mine near Thwaite at the head of Swaledale, opened in 1910 and worked by two or three men until 1931. It took the Tan Hill Coal, known locally as the Stockdale Seam, from two levels, and was one of the last coal workings in the Dales.

History

The Durham Mining Museum records the colliery opening in 1910 with two men employed, under Capt. F. H. Lyell, who owned Tan Hill Colliery in the same decade. In the 1920s it belonged to J. G. Reynoldson & Son and in the 1930s to the Lingholme Trust. It never employed more than three: three in 1921 and two, one underground and one on the surface, through the mid and late 1920s. Household coal is recorded in every return from 1921 to 1930, and the coal is said to have sold at 4d per hundredweight. The Northern Mine Research Society says the mine closed in 1931 and was abandoned in April 1932; the plan of the Stockdale seam, abandoned in 1932, reached the National Coal Board's Durham Division catalogue in 1958 under Mining Record Office reference F.42/24.

Geology

The Northern Mine Research Society identifies the seam as the Tan Hill Coal, here called the Stockdale Seam, dipping at 1 in 12 to the north-west. Its section was 19 inches of coal, a 3-inch dirt band, 8½ inches of coal, a 1½-inch dirt band and 15 inches of coal. The Lists of Mines give 'Limestone Series' in 1921 and 'Stockdale' from 1923.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A drift with two levels in the seam and a third in the shale above it.

Closure

Closed in 1931 and formally abandoned in April 1932. No reason is given.

What remains

Nothing is recorded of the site today.

Nothing is recorded of surviving remains.

Related mines

• Tan Hill Colliery — Both worked the Tan Hill Coal (here the Stockdale Seam), and Capt. F. H. Lyell owned both in the 1910s.

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 mine reputedly sold its coal at 4d per hundredweight. (uncertain) 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 in 1910 with two men employed. ¹
• Owners were Capt. F. H. Lyell (1910s), J. G. Reynoldson & Son (1920s) and the Lingholme Trust (1930s). ¹
• The drift worked the Tan Hill Coal, called the Stockdale Seam, dipping 1 in 12 north-west, from two levels plus one in the shale above. ²
• The mine closed in 1931 and was abandoned in April 1932; the Stockdale seam plan is catalogued as abandoned 1932. ^1,2,3
• The mine reputedly sold its coal at 4d per hundredweight. (uncertain) ²
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Stockdale' (catalogue 10780, Stockdale, dated 1932). ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Stockdale Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Stockdale Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society (after M. C. Gill, British Mining No. 86, 2008)
3. (primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines for Stockdale Colliery — Durham Mining Museum (from the N.C.B. Durham Division catalogue, 1958)
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans: STOCKDALE — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026