West Hunwick Colliery

Overview

A coal and fireclay colliery at Hunwick, near Willington, owned by an iron company in the 1870s and by firebrick makers from the 1910s, with coke ovens and a brickworks beside its shafts; it worked the Busty seam into the 1930s.

History

West Hunwick Colliery stood at Hunwick, near Willington, south of Rough Lea Colliery and across the Wear from Newfield Colliery. Its two shafts lay on the north-west of the site, with a line of ovens and a brickworks, and a short spur joined it to the railway from Durham to Bishop Auckland. It was raising coal by 1873, when the Lackenby Iron Company owned it; Joseph Torbock and Co. held it in the 1890s.

The colliery stood idle in the early 1880s and again in 1894. Working again from 1896, it raised coking and manufacturing coal and fireclay, and its workforce jumped to 161 in 1900 before falling back to 60 in 1902 and 27 in 1905; it was not worked in 1910. From the 1910s it belonged to firebrick makers, first the West Witton Ganister Firebrick Company and in the 1920s the West Hunwick Silica and Firebrick Company, working the Busty seam with between 26 and 56 men. In 1898 William Naisbitt, a horse keeper of 68, fell from the cage in the shaft and was killed, and in 1933 a pony putter of 17, Thomas Brown, was caught between a tub and the roof; he died of his injuries in 1935.

It was still at work in 1935 and closed later in the 1930s.

Geology

The No. 1 Shaft passed through about 48 feet of clay, then sandstone (post) and shale (metal) to the Top Busty or Five Quarter seam, 3 feet thick, at 72 feet 6 inches, and on through sandstone to the Lower Busty seam, 5 feet 8 inches thick, at 149 feet 4 inches. The colliery worked the Busty and Five Quarter seams and fireclay.

Workings

Two shafts, including the No. 1 Shaft, with ovens, a brickworks and a rail spur to the Durham to Bishop Auckland line.

Closure

Working in 1935; closed later in the 1930s.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• West Hunwick Colliery was owned by the Lackenby Iron Company in the 1870s and by Joseph Torbock and Co. in the 1890s. ¹
• From the 1910s West Hunwick was owned by the West Witton Ganister Firebrick Company and in the 1920s by the West Hunwick Silica and Firebrick Company. ^1,2
• West Hunwick Colliery had two shafts, a line of ovens and a brickworks, and a spur to the Durham to Bishop Auckland railway. ²
• West Hunwick employed 161 people in 1900 and 35 in 1935. ¹
• The No. 1 Shaft section reaches the Lower Busty seam at 149 feet 4 inches. ³
• West Hunwick's managers included Frank Graham (1900-02) and A. W. Parkin (1930-35). ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) West Hunwick Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) West Hunwick Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
3. (primary) West Hunwick Colliery: No. 1 Shaft section — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) West Hunwick Colliery: colliery management — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 22 October 2026 · Last researched: 22 October 2026