Twizell Burn Drift

Overview

A drift mine at Grange Villa, near Pelton, worked for gas coal by Lambton, Hetton & Joicey in the 1920s and 1930s and revived by the National Coal Board, continuing as Alma Drift until 1958.

History

Twizell Burn Drift lay at Grange Villa, near Pelton, about six miles north-north-west of Durham. The Durham Mining Museum gives it an opening date of 1843; the Northern Mine Research Society's list of nationalised collieries dates it from 1923.

Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd worked it in the 1930s for gas coal from the Main seam. It employed 47 in 1925 and 66 in 1930, but only two in 1935, the Main having been discontinued in October 1932, and ten in 1940. Walter Forster, an eighteen-year-old putter, was killed by a fall of stone there in December 1923.

The drift revived after the National Coal Board took it over in 1947, when it employed 160 and raised 55,000 tons of coking and gas coal from the Five Quarter and Main; the Hutton and Low Main followed. Its closure is recorded as 1 July 1948, and the Coal Authority's plan of its Five Quarter workings is dated that year, yet the museum lists about 171 men there each year to 1954.

The working carried on as Alma Drift, at the same spot and counted with Twizell Burn in 1950: it employed 214 in 1955 and 163 in 1958 in the Hutton, Low Main, Main and Five Quarter, and the Coal Board's list closes it in November 1958.

Geology

Worked the Main seam in the 1920s and 1930s; under the Coal Board the Five Quarter, Main, Hutton and Low Main.

Workings

A drift mine.

Closure

Recorded as closed on 1 July 1948, with the Five Quarter plan dated 1948 (the museum notes its abandonment in 1950); as Alma Drift the working continued until November 1958.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Twizell Colliery — Both at Grange Villa under the Joicey company and its successor Lambton, Hetton & Joicey; Twizell Colliery closed in 1938.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Opened in 1843. (disputed) ¹
• Worked from 1923. (disputed) ²
• Alma Drift, at the same spot, was counted with Twizell Burn in 1950 and closed in November 1958. (uncertain) ^3,2,5

Recorded claims

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

• Opened in 1843. (disputed) ¹
• Worked from 1923. (disputed) ²
• Employed 47 in 1925 and 66 in 1930, working the Main seam for gas coal. ¹
• Raised 55,000 tons of coking and gas coal in 1947 with 160 men. ¹
• Closed on 1 July 1948. ^3,2,1
• The plan of the Five Quarter workings is dated 1948. ⁴
• Alma Drift, at the same spot, was counted with Twizell Burn in 1950 and closed in November 1958. (uncertain) ^3,2,5

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Twizell Burn Drift — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - England (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) GENUKI: Northumberland collieries T-W — GENUKI
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: TWIZELL BURN, Five Quarter seam, abandoned 1948 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Alma Drift — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026