Washington Glebe Colliery

Overview

The Washington Coal Company's Glebe Pit, whose shafts were sunk through quicksand in 1901 by the Poetsch freezing method — its first use in Great Britain — where an overloaded shot set off an explosion that killed 14 in 1908, and which worked until 1972.

History

Sinking of the Glebe Pit at Washington began in 1901 to reach the Harvey seam at 720 feet. The first 120 feet were largely troublesome quicksand, and they were sunk successfully by the Poetsch freezing method, the first time it had been applied in Great Britain. The colliery opened in 1904 as the second of the Washington Coal Company's collieries alongside the much older F Pit, to which it was connected underground by a road in the Maudlin seam. Both of its shafts were sunk to the Low Main seam at 114 fathoms, passing the Main Coal at 94 and the Maudlin at 104 fathoms; the old Hutton workings of the abandoned Oxclose colliery lay beneath. Working of the Low Main by bord and pillar began in October 1906, still mainly for development, with coal raised temporarily in a single cage in the upcast. On 20 February 1908 an explosion of gas and coal dust in the Low Main seam killed 14 men (see Disasters, below); the jury found it accidentally caused by the firing of an overloaded shot. The dead were carried through Washington in a funeral procession of coffins. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947, employed its largest workforce, 690, in 1960, and closed on 4 August 1972.

Geology

About 120 feet of quicksand at the surface, then the Main Coal (94 fathoms), Maudlin (104 fathoms) and Low Main (114 fathoms) seams, with old Hutton workings 10 fathoms below the Low Main; part of the Low Main south-west of the shafts had been heat-affected.

Workings

Two shafts sunk through the quicksand by freezing: a 14-foot downcast and coal-drawing shaft to the Maudlin, and a 12-foot upcast with a fan; bord and pillar working in the Low Main from 1906, and an underground road in the Maudlin to the F Pit.

Closure

Closed on 4 August 1972, when 529 people were employed; the Maudlin 'H' seam had been abandoned in 1963.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Related mines

• Usworth Colliery — Both owned by the Washington Coal Company.

Nearby mines

• Usworth Colliery — 2.2 km N
• Chartershaugh Colliery — 2.8 km S, County Durham
• Harraton Colliery — 2.9 km SW
• Springwell Colliery — 3.6 km NW
• Herrington Colliery — 4.3 km SE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

People

• Edward Ashman · victim, 1908 — Deputy, aged 41, killed in the 1908 explosion.
• Mark Ford · manager, 1908 — Certificated manager of both the Glebe and F pits at the 1908 explosion.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking began in 1901; the first 120 feet of quicksand were sunk by the Poetsch freezing method, its first application in Great Britain. ¹
• The Glebe Pit was one of two Washington Coal Company collieries with the older F Pit; its two shafts reached the Low Main at 114 fathoms. ^1,2,3
• On 20 February 1908 an explosion of gas and dust in the Low Main seam killed 14; the jury found it accidentally caused by an overloaded shot. ^1,4,3
• The colliery closed on 4 August 1972. ¹
• The Maudlin 'H' seam at Washington Glebe was abandoned in 1963. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Washington Glebe Colliery (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Washington Glebe Colliery Disaster Report (1908) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Glebe Colliery Explosion – Washington – 1908 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Memorials: 1908 Washington Glebe Colliery Disaster (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue: Washington Glebe (Maudlin 'H', abandoned 1963) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 17 September 2026