Tees Hetton Colliery

Overview

A short-lived Evenwood colliery on the Haggerleases branch, worked by T. Charlton and Company and then the Tees Hetton Coal Company, whose Brockwell and Five Quarter seams were given up in July 1894; nothing remains.

History

Tees Hetton Colliery lay near Evenwood, about twelve and a half miles south-south-west of Durham. It joined the Haggerleases branch near Thrushwood and had a couple of sidings of its own, with a small heap to the west. T. Charlton and Company owned it in the 1870s, when coal was returned in 1873, and the trustees of T. Charlton and Company and then the Tees Hetton Coal Company Ltd in the 1880s.

It was standing in 1880 and 1882 and employed 15 people in 1883. T. W. Crawford was agent and manager in 1883, J. W. Heckels in 1884, W. Johnson in 1888 and T. W. Keillar in 1890. Four deaths are recorded: George Curry, a stoneman, killed by a fall while repairing a drift in 1876; Thomas Coates, a joiner, who fell from a gangway 21 feet high in 1884; Thomas Robson, a screen boy of 14, crushed between two trucks in 1886; and John Croudace, a hewer, who died of a severe internal strain from lifting a tub onto the rails the same year. The colliery had a miners' lodge with its own banner.

The Brockwell seam was abandoned in 1894 as exhausted, and the Five Quarter or Busty on 3 July 1894, the small quantity of coal left being too costly to work. Plans of the Harvey and Main are dated the same year. Nothing remains on the site.

Geology

The Brockwell, Five Quarter or Busty, Harvey and Main seams.

Workings

A drift was being repaired in 1876; the colliery had its own sidings off the Haggerleases branch.

Closure

The Brockwell was abandoned in 1894 as exhausted and the Five Quarter or Busty on 3 July 1894 as too costly to work.

What remains

The site has been reclaimed; nothing remains.

None.

Related mines

• Storey Lodge Colliery — The trustees of T. Charlton and Company owned both in the 1880s.

Recorded claims

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

• T. Charlton and Company owned Tees Hetton Colliery in the 1870s, and its trustees and the Tees Hetton Coal Company Ltd in the 1880s. ^1,2
• Tees Hetton joined the Haggerleases branch near Thrushwood and had sidings of its own. ²
• Tees Hetton Colliery employed 15 people in 1883. ¹
• Tees Hetton's Brockwell seam was abandoned in 1894 as exhausted, and the Five Quarter or Busty on 3 July 1894 as too costly to work. ^1,3,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Tees Hetton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Tees Hetton Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
3. (primary) Tees Hetton Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21925501: Tees Hetton, Five Quarter, 1894 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026