West Thornley Colliery

Overview

A Weardale Iron and Coal Company colliery near Tow Law, at work by the 1850s with coke ovens attached, which worked the same thin coking seams as Black Prince from a shallow shaft; after years of stoppages it was worked on a small scale until 6 November 1965.

History

West Thornley Colliery lay near Tow Law, nine miles west-south-west of Durham. It was at work in 1854, Attwood and Co. are recorded as owners in the 1850s, and by 1860 it and Inkerman had begun with coke works attached. The Weardale Iron and Coal Company held it from the 1860s.

In 1894 it worked the same seams as the company's Black Prince Colliery, the Ballarat, Five Quarter, Top Coal and Main Coal, with the Three Quarter seam 54 feet above the Ballarat; the shaft was only 25 fathoms deep, and about 350 men and boys were employed in coal-getting and coke-making when the pit was working. Employment rose from 340 in 1894 to 530 in 1910.

The colliery worked only intermittently after the First World War: it employed 133 in 1921 and 478 in 1925, was closed in May 1924 and again later, and was discontinued in 1931; Tow Law's own history gives its end as 1932. It was worked again on a small scale from the 1940s, latterly in the Harvey with 50 to 75 men under the National Coal Board, and it closed on 6 November 1965. The museum's list of those killed holds 16 names.

Geology

Durham coalfield, western edge: the Three Quarter, Ballarat, Five Quarter, Top Coal and Main Coal, with the Brass Thill, Victoria and Harvey.

Workings

A shaft 25 fathoms deep with coke ovens; later small workings in the Main and Harvey.

Closure

Discontinued in 1931; worked again on a small scale and closed on 6 November 1965.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

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

• Worked until 1932. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• West Thornley Colliery had begun by 1860, with coke works attached. ¹
• The colliery was working in 1854. ²
• In 1894 it worked the same seams as Black Prince, with the Three Quarter, from a shaft 25 fathoms deep, employing about 350. ²
• Closed on 6 November 1965. ²
• Worked until 1932. (disputed) ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Tow Law's History — Tow Law Community Association (towlaw.org.uk)
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: West Thornley Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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