Waterhouses Colliery

Overview

A Pease and Partners colliery in the Deerness valley, west of Durham, whose drifts fed more than 200 coke ovens; opened in the late 1850s, it created the village of Waterhouses and closed in August 1966.

History

Waterhouses Colliery, five and a half miles west of Durham in the Deerness valley, was sunk in 1856 by Joseph Pease and Partners, who held it until nationalisation; the museum dates its opening to 1859. A map of about 1860 shows only a small colliery with a few buildings on the north side of the railway, and the village of Waterhouses grew up around it from the 1850s.

By the late nineteenth century the colliery had expanded, with an extensive tramway system linking a series of drifts to coke ovens at the main colliery. In 1894 it worked the Brockwell, three feet thick, and the Busty, two feet four inches, and had lately opened out the Yard and the Harvey, all through four drifts; the whole output went into more than 200 coke ovens, and 600 men and boys were employed. The museum's returns show between about 420 and 510 at work from 1894 to 1961, in the Ballarat, Five Quarter, Main Coal and Yard seams among others. A goods station and signal box on the Deerness Valley Railway served the colliery.

Terraces were built for the workforce, among them West Terrace, East Terrace and Hamilton Row, and the village gained Methodist chapels, St Paul's church, a vicarage, schools and a cemetery. The workforce fell to 301 in 1964 and 187 in 1965, and the colliery closed in August 1966, ten years after East Hedleyhope. In the 1980s the colliery site and much of the housing were cleared and the land reclaimed. The museum's list of those killed holds 25 names.

Geology

Durham coalfield: the Brockwell (3 ft) and Busty (2 ft 4 in), with the Yard, Harvey, Ballarat, Five Quarter and Main Coal, worked by drifts.

Workings

A series of drifts linked by a tramway system to the coke ovens at the main colliery; four drifts in 1894.

Closure

Closed in August 1966 under the National Coal Board.

What remains

The colliery site and much of the housing were cleared and the land reclaimed in the 1980s.

Redevelopment

Reclaimed land.

What's uncertain

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

• Sunk in 1856. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Opened in 1859 by Joseph Pease and Partners. ¹
• Sunk in 1856. (disputed) ¹
• In 1894 the whole output went into more than 200 coke ovens, with 600 men and boys employed. ¹
• A tramway system linked a series of drifts to the coke ovens at the main colliery. ^1,2
• Closed in August 1966. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Waterhouses Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Waterhouses and East Hedleyhope Settlement Character Study — Durham County Council

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