Wham Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Wham, near Butterknowle in County Durham, marked on the 1859 map; it raised coking coal and fireclay with over a hundred men in the 1890s and was last worked by a handful of men until 1931.

History

Wham Colliery lay at Wham, near Butterknowle, in Lynesack and Softley parish, County Durham. The Ordnance Survey map of 1859 marks it beside the Malt Shovel public house. Plans of a Wham Drift in the Brockwell seam were deposited in 1876, when the Brockwell there was abandoned.

In the 1890s the Butterknowle Colliery Company Ltd worked it for coking and manufacturing coal and fireclay, with 131 people in 1896, 82 in 1900 and 79 in 1902, managed by H. Dowdeswell and then G. G. Robson, with William Simpson as under-manager. It worked the Brockwell, also called the Main Coal. Working was suspended in 1910, and the Main or Brockwell was recorded as abandoned before January 1910 and as exhausted in 1912.

In the 1910s J. and J. W. Firbank took it over, J. W. Firbank managing it himself. It was temporarily closed in 1921 and abandoned in 1923, then reopened with three or four men raising coking, household and steam coal from the Main seam until it was abandoned for the last time on 29 August 1931.

Geology

The Brockwell seam, also called the Main Coal, with fireclay.

Workings

A drift (the Wham Drift) and later workings in the Main or Brockwell seam.

Closure

The Brockwell was abandoned in 1876 at the Wham Drift; the Main or Brockwell was suspended in 1910 and recorded exhausted in 1912; after a small reopening the Main seam was abandoned on 29 August 1931.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Wham Colliery is marked on the Ordnance Survey map of 1859, beside the Malt Shovel public house. ¹
• In the 1890s the Butterknowle Colliery Company Ltd worked Wham for coking coal and fireclay, employing 131 people in 1896. ²
• Plans of the Wham Drift in the Brockwell seam were received in May 1876. ³
• J. and J. W. Firbank owned Wham from the 1910s, J. W. Firbank managing it. ^2,4
• The Main seam at Wham was abandoned on 29 August 1931. ^2,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Wham Colliery — North East Heritage Library (Coals Archive)
2. (primary) Wham Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Wham Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Wham Colliery: colliery management — Durham Mining Museum

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