Victoria Garesfield Colliery

Overview

A drift colliery near Rowlands Gill, opened about 1870 on the Garesfield royalties and worked by the Priestmans from the 1880s, making coke and firebricks; it closed on 13 July 1962 and its site is now a Durham Wildlife Trust reserve.

History

Victoria Garesfield Colliery was developed around 1870, just south of Smith's Lea and beside Lintzford Lane, about a mile south of Garesfield, and it worked the same royalties as Garesfield Colliery. It took its coal through drifts: the Ashtree, Coronation, Hookergate, Speculation and Rickless Travelling drifts. The Victoria Garesfield Coal Co. is recorded as an early owner, Priestman and Peele held it in the 1880s and Priestman Collieries Ltd from 1899. Large quantities of coke and firebricks were made there in the 1890s.

The colliery employed 473 in 1894 and 619 in 1910, in the Brockwell, Five Quarter, Stone Coal, Three Quarter and Tilley seams, and still about 550 to 590 in the late 1920s. In 1935 several men fell ill with spirochaetal jaundice caused by rats in the workings; a shifter, Bartholomew McNaughton, died of it, and in 1936 his widow won £600 compensation against Priestman Collieries Ltd at Newcastle County Court.

The National Coal Board took the colliery over in 1947. It employed about 290 then and 205 in 1960-61, producing coking coal and fireclay, and it closed on 13 July 1962. The colliery site has since been reclaimed and planted, and it is now a Durham Wildlife Trust nature reserve with species-rich grassland.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Brockwell, Five Quarter, Stone Coal, Three Quarter and Tilley seams, worked by drifts.

Workings

The Ashtree, Coronation, Hookergate, Speculation and Rickless Travelling drifts; coke ovens and firebrick works.

Closure

Closed on 13 July 1962 under the National Coal Board.

What remains

A reclaimed colliery site, planted with trees and grassland.

Redevelopment

Victoria Garesfield nature reserve (Durham Wildlife Trust).

Related mines

• Garesfield Colliery — Victoria Garesfield worked the same royalties as Garesfield Colliery, a mile to the north.

Recorded claims

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

• Developed around 1870, south of Smith's Lea beside Lintzford Lane. ^1,2
• It worked the same royalties as Garesfield Colliery. ¹
• A shifter died in 1935 of spirochaetal jaundice caused by rats in the colliery; his widow was awarded £600 against Priestman Collieries Ltd in 1936. ¹
• Closed on 13 July 1962. ¹
• The reclaimed colliery site is a Durham Wildlife Trust nature reserve. ²
• The colliery is shown on the second edition Ordnance Survey map of 1890. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Victoria Garesfield Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Durham Wildlife Trust: Victoria Garesfield — Durham Wildlife Trust
3. (primary) Victoria Garesfield Colliery (HER 6903) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026