Woodhouse Close Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Woodhouse Close, Bishop Auckland, also called Tindale Colliery, won in 1837 when the Main Coal was found at 74 fathoms. Laid in by the 1870s, it was worked by drifts on a small scale until March 1934, and the Woodhouse Close housing estate was built over it.

History

Sinking of the North or Engine Pit at Woodhouse Close, in the township of St Andrew Auckland, began on 2 June 1835, and on 7 January 1837 the winning was accomplished, the Main Coal being found in great perfection at seventy-four fathoms; the pit's section gives the true depth as 76 fathoms 1 foot, about 447 feet. The South Pit was taken down to the Main Coal from 1850, and in 1854 a shaft was sunk to the Yard seam at the part known as Tindale Colliery, in St Helen's Auckland. Sir C. F. Maclean owned the colliery in the 1860s and T. Vaughan and Co. in the 1870s. The Upper Harvey and Hutton were abandoned in 1878 and the Busty and Brockwell in 1879, and the colliery was laid in.

In 1894 William Wilkinson was working the Hutton, 2 feet 4 inches thick, by a drift only 28 feet below the surface, with about thirty men; this working closed in July 1907. R. Atherton and Co. reopened it in the 1920s, and by the 1930s the Woodhouse Close Colliery Company had an old and a new Woodhouse Close colliery linked by a tramway, with 93 men in 1930. Both closed in March 1934, the Hutton being abandoned on 16 April, and the site lay derelict. In 1947 Bishop Auckland Urban District Council bought 168 acres including the colliery land, levelled the pit heaps and filled in three shafts, and the first houses of the Woodhouse Close estate were opened in 1951.

Geology

Durham Coal Measures: the Main Coal at 74-76 fathoms, the Yard, Upper Harvey, Hutton (2 feet 4 inches, 28 feet down at the drift), Busty, Brockwell and Low Main.

Workings

The North or Engine Pit (1835-37) and South Pit (1850) to the Main Coal; a shaft to the Yard at Tindale (1854); drifts in the Hutton from 1894; old and new Woodhouse Close collieries linked by a tramway in the 1930s.

Closure

Laid in by 1879; worked by drifts from 1894 to 1907 and again from the 1920s until March 1934.

What remains

The colliery site lies under the Woodhouse Close housing estate.

Redevelopment

Bishop Auckland Urban District Council bought the land in 1947, levelled the heaps and filled three shafts; the Woodhouse Close estate opened in 1951.

Related mines

• Toronto Colliery — The 1928 abandonment catalogue groups Newton Cap with Woodhouse Close and Dene.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking began on 2 June 1835, and on 7 January 1837 the Main Coal was found at seventy-four fathoms. ^1,2
• Woodhouse Close Colliery was also known as Tindale Colliery. ^1,3
• In 1894 the colliery had been laid in for about eighteen years, and William Wilkinson was working the Hutton by a drift 28 feet from the surface. ¹
• The old and new Woodhouse Close collieries, linked by a tramway and owned by the Woodhouse Close Colliery Co. Ltd, both closed in March 1934. ^1,3
• In 1947 the council bought the land, levelled the pit heaps and filled in three shafts for the Woodhouse Close estate, whose first houses opened in 1951. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Woodhouse Close Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Woodhouse Close Colliery: North or Engine Pit shaft details — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Woodhouse Close Estate — Wikipedia

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