Waldridge Colliery

Overview

A colliery on Waldridge Fell, south-west of Chester-le-Street, opened on 1 August 1831 on land leased from Colonel Jolliffe and Lady Byron. That Christmas Eve a thousand pitmen threw tubs and corves down its shaft; it worked the Busty at 100 fathoms for Thiedemann and Wallis and Priestman Collieries until April 1926, and its derelict headgear was blown up for the BBC's Germinal in 1970.

History

Waldridge Colliery stood on the hill south of Waldridge, a mile and a half south-west of Chester-le-Street, overlooking the village and the Wear valley. Borings on the southern edge of Waldridge Common had proved the Hutton in 1776, and in 1779 a waggonway about three miles long was opened from a new drift mine on Waldridge Common, down the Cong Burn valley and north past Pelton Fell to join the Beamish waggonway to Fatfield on the Wear, where the coal went into keels for Sunderland. In the 1780s the colliery belonged to H. Jolliffe. The colliery was opened on 1 August 1831 by George Sowerby and partners, under a lease from Colonel Jolliffe and Lady Byron, with two coal pits and an engine pit, an 80-horsepower pumping engine and a 40-horsepower winding engine; its coal went fourteen miles by the Stanhope and Tyne Railway to the drops at South Shields. Before that line opened, from 1831 to 1834, the Waldridge waggonway was joined to the Pelaw Main Waggonway via Ouston Colliery, with a stationary engine at Brackenbeds, and the coal was shipped from Poultrer's Close on the Tyne; the waggonway then met the Stanhope and Tyne at Stella Gill, and the first Waldridge coal was shipped from South Shields in November 1834. Through the 1830s the colliery sent some 66,000 to 69,000 tons a year down the line.

On 24 December 1831 more than a thousand pitmen gathered at the colliery while twenty or thirty men, lead miners brought in by the owners after the colliers refused to work, were below. They stopped the pumping engine and threw iron tubs, cisterns and corves down the shaft, putting the men in great danger. Rewards of 250 guineas were offered by the government and by the owners, and at the Durham Assizes in March 1832 six men were convicted and imprisoned for between six and fifteen months.

The owners built the colliery school in 1834. Sowerby and Company held the colliery in the 1850s and Sowerby, Phillips and Company in the 1860s. Between 1838 and 1849 the owners drew nearly £8,500 a year in wayleave from the Sacriston, Edmondsley and Nettlesworth collieries, whose coal ran down the Waldridge waggonway, and in 1858 they sank Byron Colliery, which worked until 1879. In 1897 they bought two locomotives for the line between Stella Gill and the foot of the Waldridge bank. The Busty Pit was sunk in 1875, and the Five Quarter and Main Coal were abandoned in 1878. In 1894 Thiedemann and Wallis worked the Busty at 100 fathoms and the Main Coal at 40 fathoms with about 320 men and boys, raising over 700 tons a day, a third of it made into coke at the pit. Priestman Collieries held it in the 1910s. The A Pit was suspended at the end of 1910. By the mid-1920s the D Pit had closed and the remaining Waldridge coal was to be worked from Chester Moor Colliery, and late in 1926 the waggonway was sold to the Sacriston owners; it closed in 1955. The colliery, linked underground to Chester Moor, closed in April 1926; its last plans were deposited as abandoned in March 1927. The shaft and pithead gear were kept for ventilation and emergency access until 1967, and the derelict pithead was used as a set for the BBC 2 drama Germinal, shown in 1970, when the winding gear was blown up for the cameras.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Busty, Main Coal, Five Quarter, Hutton and Low Main seams.

Workings

Two coal pits and an engine pit from 1831, the A Pit, the D Pit and the Busty Pit (1875); an earlier drift on Waldridge Common (1779); the Waldridge waggonway to the Beamish way, the Pelaw Main line and, from 1834, the Stanhope and Tyne at Stella Gill; a later link underground to Chester Moor.

Closure

Closed in April 1926 and its plans deposited as abandoned on 17 March 1927; the shaft and pithead gear stayed for ventilation and emergency access until 1967.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Axwell Park Colliery — Both were taken over by Priestman Collieries Ltd.
• Blaydon Burn Colliery — Both were taken over by Priestman Collieries Ltd.
• Blaydon Main Colliery — Both were taken over by Priestman Collieries Ltd.
• Edmondsley Colliery — Its coal ran down the Waldridge waggonway, for which it paid wayleave to the Waldridge owners.
• Nettlesworth Colliery — Its coal ran down the Waldridge waggonway, for which it paid wayleave to the Waldridge owners.
• Ouston Colliery — Between 1831 and 1834 Waldridge's coal ran through Ouston Colliery to the Pelaw Main Waggonway.
• Sacriston Colliery — Its coal ran down the Waldridge waggonway, for which it paid wayleave to the Waldridge owners.
• Watergate Colliery — Both were taken over by Priestman Collieries Ltd.

Recorded claims

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

• Waldridge Colliery was opened on 1 August 1831, held under lease from Colonel Jolliffe and Lady Byron by George Sowerby and partners, and sent its coal by the Stanhope and Tyne Railway to South Shields. ¹
• On 24 December 1831 more than a thousand pitmen gathered at Waldridge Colliery, stopped the pumping engine and threw tubs, cisterns and corves down the shaft while twenty or thirty men were at work below. ²
• At the Durham Assizes in March 1832 six men were convicted for the Waldridge outrage and sentenced to between six and fifteen months; the men below had been lead miners employed after the pitmen refused to work. ²
• In 1894 Thiedemann and Wallis worked the Busty at 100 fathoms and the Main Coal at 40 fathoms with about 320 men and boys, raising over 700 tons a day, a third made into coke. ¹
• Waldridge Colliery opened in 1831 and closed in April 1926, having been linked underground to Chester Moor; the shaft and pithead gear remained until 1967. ^1,3
• The derelict colliery was used as a set for the BBC 2 drama Germinal, shown in 1970, and its winding gear was blown up during filming. ³
• The Five Quarter and Main Coal were abandoned in 1878, and the last plans in March 1927. ^1,4
• The Waldridge waggonway opened in 1779, carrying coal from the new Waldridge Common drift mine via the Beamish waggonway to Fatfield on the Wear. ⁵
• Between 1831 and 1834 the Waldridge waggonway was linked to the Pelaw Main Waggonway via Ouston Colliery and Waldridge coal was shipped from Poultrer's Close on the Tyne; the first Waldridge coal was shipped from South Shields by the Stanhope and Tyne Railway in November 1834. ⁵
• Between 1838 and 1849 the Waldridge owners' wayleave income from the Sacriston, Edmondsley and Nettlesworth collieries was worth nearly £8,500 a year. ⁵
• Byron Colliery was sunk by the Waldridge owners in 1858 and worked until 1879. ⁵
• By the mid-1920s the Waldridge D Pit had closed and the remaining Waldridge coal was to be worked from Chester Moor Colliery; the waggonway was sold to the Sacriston owners in October or November 1926 and closed in 1955. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Waldridge Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Local Records; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events, vol. 2 (J. Sykes, 1866 edition) — Internet Archive
3. (secondary) Waldridge, County Durham — Wikipedia
4. (primary) Waldridge Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Waldridge (Exploring the Waldridge Waggonway, parts one to four) — historyman1794

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026