West Denton Colliery

Overview

An old colliery at Lemington on the Tyne west of Newcastle, owned by Edward Montagu MP in the 1760s, with pits sunk in 1733 and 1792; revived as a small steam-coal pit in the twentieth century, it was abandoned in 1924.

History

West Denton Colliery lay at Lemington-on-Tyne, four miles west of Newcastle. Its North or Gin Pit was sunk in 1733, and Edward Montagu MP owned the colliery in the 1760s. The Yarmouth Pit was sunk from March 1792, from a surface 103 feet above sea level, meeting the Denton Low Main seam, 2 ft 10 in thick, at about 72 feet; another of its shafts reached the Denton Low Main at about 287 feet. Old plans of the royalty name further pits, among them the Arundel, Bogg, Mittam, Norwich, Sussex and Turn Rail.

No colliery is shown on the first Ordnance Survey map, and only an air shaft on the second, but by the third edition of 1919 the Yarmouth Pit is marked. In the twentieth century the colliery was a small steam-coal working, owned in the 1910s by the owners of West Denton Colliery and in the 1920s by the West Denton Colliery Company, with 42 men in 1915, 34 in 1921 and 39 in 1923, working the Beaumont and Tilley and later the Hodge and Six Quarter. The Beaumont, Hodge and Tilley were abandoned in July 1923 and the colliery closed in 1924.

Geology

Northumberland coalfield, Tyne valley: the Denton Low Main (2 ft 10 in) at about 72 ft in the Yarmouth Pit and about 287 ft in another shaft; the Beaumont, Tilley, Hodge and Six Quarter were worked in the 1910s and 1920s.

Workings

The North or Gin Pit (1733), the Yarmouth Pit (1792) and the Kew Pit; older plans name the Arundel, Bogg, Mittam, Norwich, Sussex and Turn Rail pits.

Closure

The Beaumont, Hodge and Tilley were abandoned on 23 July 1923 and the colliery closed in 1924.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• West Denton Colliery's Yarmouth Pit opened in 1792. ^1,2
• The North or Gin Pit was sunk in 1733. ^1,3
• Edward Montagu MP owned the colliery in the eighteenth century. ^1,2
• In the Yarmouth Pit the Denton Low Main seam, 2 ft 10 in thick, lay at about 72 feet. ⁴
• The Beaumont, Hodge and Tilley were abandoned on 23 July 1923. ⁵
• West Denton Colliery closed in 1924. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) West Denton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) West Denton Colliery (Tyne and Wear HER 4294) — Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record (Sitelines)
3. (primary) West Denton Colliery: strata in the North or Gin Pit — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) West Denton Colliery: strata in the Yarmouth Pit — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: West Denton, Beaumont and Hodge, 1923 — British Geological Survey

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