Wearmouth Colliery

Overview

The deepest mine in the world when it began producing coal in 1835, worked for 158 years until 1993, its site now home to Sunderland AFC's Stadium of Light.

History

Wearmouth Colliery, on the north bank of the River Wear at Monkwearmouth, was sunk between 1826 and 1834; when production began in 1835 its shaft, at 1,578 feet, made it the deepest mine anywhere in the world. A further seam discovered in 1846 at 1,720 feet kept it the deepest colliery in the country. Over its 158-year working life, at least 300 men are recorded to have died at the colliery, including three boys killed in an 1837 shaft fall and five sinkers and a mason killed in an 1862 shaft accident, when two chains supporting their working cradle broke and sent the men to their deaths in the shaft. Wearmouth was the last working mine in the County Durham Coalfield when it closed in December 1993, with the final shift on 10 December. The site was subsequently cleared and redeveloped as the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderland AFC, which opened in July 1997; a colliery winding wheel and a statue of miners stand outside the stadium as a memorial to those who worked there.

Geology

Wearmouth worked coal seams of the County Durham Coalfield at exceptional depth for its era, reaching 1,720 feet by 1846.

Workings

Coal was raised via shafts that made Wearmouth the deepest mine in the world on opening in 1835, later joined by extensive underground workings developed over more than 150 years.

Closure

Wearmouth closed in December 1993, the last working mine in the County Durham Coalfield, with the final shift on 10 December.

What remains

The colliery site was cleared and redeveloped as the Stadium of Light, home of Sunderland AFC, which opened in 1997.

A colliery winding wheel and a statue of miners stand outside the stadium as a memorial; little else of the mine survives above ground.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• Wearmouth Colliery was sunk between 1826 and 1834; on beginning production in 1835 its 1,578-foot shaft made it the deepest mine in the world, and a further seam found at 1,720 feet in 1846 kept it the deepest colliery in the country. ^1,2
• At least 300 men are recorded to have died at Wearmouth Colliery over its 158-year working life. (uncertain) ³
• Five sinkers and a mason were killed on 7 September 1862 when two chains supporting their working cradle broke, sending them to their deaths in the shaft. ⁴
• Three boys were killed in a shaft fall at Wearmouth in 1837. (uncertain) ³
• Wearmouth closed in December 1993 as the last working mine in the County Durham Coalfield; the site was redeveloped as Sunderland AFC's Stadium of Light, which opened in 1997. ^1,2

Images

Sources

1. (secondary) Monkwearmouth Colliery — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Sunderland Coal Mining — Wearside Online
3. (secondary) Fatal Accidents at Wearmouth Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Monkwearmouth Colliery Shaft Accident - Monkwearmouth - 1862 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 21 August 2026 · Last researched: 21 August 2026