Westholme Colliery

Location	Winston, Teesdale, County Durham — 54.5557, -1.7920 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	1910 (sinking)–22 August 1914
Maximum depth	Unknown.
Operators	Newsham Collieries Co. Ltd (1910–1914)

Overview

A short-lived Teesdale colliery near Winston station, sunk by the Newsham Collieries Company about 1910, which employed 87 at its peak and was abandoned in August 1914; its miners' cottages at South Cleatlam remain.

History

Westholme Colliery lay near Winston station in Teesdale, about eleven miles north-north-west of Richmond. The Newsham Collieries Company Ltd was sinking it in 1910, with 21 men, 20 of them underground, to work a coal in the Yoredale beds.

It employed 87 miners at its peak, around the beginning of the First World War, and miners' cottages were built for it in the hamlet of South Cleatlam, which still stand as homes. The colliery was short-lived: its Yoredale seam was abandoned on 22 August 1914. One death is recorded there.

After it closed, efforts turned to two new collieries nearby, Teesside and North Tees.

Geology

A coal in the Yoredale beds.

Workings

A colliery sunk about 1910 to a Yoredale coal.

Closure

The Yoredale seam was abandoned on 22 August 1914.

What remains

Miners' cottages at South Cleatlam, now private houses.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

North Tees Colliery — Winston collieries: North Tees was opened after Westholme closed in 1914 (Wikipedia, Winston).
Teesside Colliery — Successive Winston collieries: Teesside opened after Westholme closed (Wikipedia, Winston).

Nearby mines

North Tees Colliery — 1.1 miles (1.8 km) SW
Gordon House Colliery — 4.0 miles (6.5 km) N
Randolph Colliery, Evenwood — 4.6 miles (7.4 km) N
Butterknowle Colliery — 5.2 miles (8.3 km) N
Arnghyll Colliery — 5.5 miles (8.9 km) NW

Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (15 km). Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

Being sunk in 1910 by the Newsham Collieries Company, with 21 men. ¹
Employed 87 miners at its peak, around the beginning of the First World War. ²
Its miners' cottages in South Cleatlam still stand as homes. ²
The Yoredale seam was abandoned on 22 August 1914. ^1,3,4

Photographs & further reading

Westholme Colliery (Durham Mining Museum) (reference)

Owners, employment and abandonment.

View source

Sources

(primary) Westholme Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Winston, County Durham — Wikipedia
(primary) Catalogue of Plans of Abandoned Mines: Westholme Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) Westholme Mine Plans (Mining Remediation Authority plan 6225, Yoredale, 1914) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 9 October 2026 · Last researched: 9 October 2026