Whitley Colliery

Overview

A colliery on the coast at Whitley, north of Tynemouth, whose coal fired the Cullercoats salt pans in the 1660s. Reopened in 1810 with new pits sunk in 1817-19, it lost a man and five boys in 1835 when their corf fell 45 fathoms down the shaft, and its last seams were abandoned as unprofitable about 1880.

History

Coal was being mined at Whitley, on the Northumberland coast north of Tynemouth, by the 1660s, when it fired the salt pans at Cullercoats, and in the seventeenth century the Whitley collieries were enlarged and joined to the coast by wooden wagonways. The trade declined when six of the salt pans were moved to Blyth. The colliery was reopened in 1810 and worked together with a quarry at Marden, whose lime kilns burned its coal, and Whitley grew as a settlement for its colliers. The A Pit was begun on 16 April 1817 and sunk to the Low Main at about 125 feet; the Engine Pit, 10 ft 6 in across, was begun at Whitley Park on 11 October 1819 and went down about 290 feet; and the B Pit, near Hillheads, reached the High Main, nearly nine feet thick, at about 235 feet.

At three o'clock on the morning of 1 May 1835 a man named Robinson and five boys fell 45 fathoms to the bottom of the pit when the hook on the winding chain had not been properly put into the bow of the corf they were riding in (see Disasters, below). It was thought to be the first fatal accident at the colliery; the inquest returned accidental death, with a deodand of one shilling on the corf. In February 1838 an explosion burnt four men, two of whom died the same day, and in April 1841 another, about two miles in from the shaft with more than 120 men and boys at work, fatally burnt the under-viewer, John Clavering. Low Main workings were given up between 1840 and 1850. J. Carr and others held the colliery in the 1880s, and about 1880 its High Main and Yard seams were abandoned as unprofitable.

Geology

Northumberland coalfield: the High Main, nearly nine feet thick, the Yard and the Low Main.

Workings

The A Pit (1817) to the Low Main, the B Pit near Hillheads to the High Main and the Engine Pit at Whitley Park (1819); earlier pits joined to the coast by wooden wagonways.

Closure

Its High Main and Yard seams were abandoned as unprofitable about 1880; the Low Main had been given up between 1840 and 1850.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Whitley Colliery shaft accident, 1835
  1 May 1835 · Winding / Shaft Accident · 6 fatalities
  At three in the morning of 1 May 1835 a man and five boys riding down the shaft at Whitley Colliery, near Tynemouth, fell 45 fathoms to the bottom when the winding chain's hook had not been properly set in the bow of their corf.

Recorded claims

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

• Coal was mined at Whitley in the 1660s, when it fired the salt pans at Cullercoats; in the seventeenth century the collieries were expanded and joined to the coast by wooden wagonways. ¹
• Whitley Colliery was reopened in 1810 and worked with a quarry at Marden, whose lime kilns used its coal. ¹
• The A Pit was begun on 16 April 1817 and the Engine Pit, 10 ft 6 in in diameter, on 11 October 1819. ^2,3,4
• On 1 May 1835 a man named Robinson and five boys fell 45 fathoms down the shaft when the chain hook had not been properly put into the bow of their corf. ^5,6,7
• In February 1838 an explosion at Whitley Colliery burnt four men, two of whom died the same day. ⁶
• Whitley's High Main and Yard seams were abandoned as unprofitable about 1880. ^2,8

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Whitley Colliery (HER 1192) — Tyne and Wear HER (Sitelines)
2. (primary) Whitley Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Whitley Colliery: account of sinking at the A Pit, 1817 — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) Whitley Colliery: strata sunk through in the Engine Pit, 1819 — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Mining disasters 1820-39 (Coal Mining History Resource Centre accounts) — Coal Mining History Resource Centre (Ian Winstanley)
6. (primary) Local Records; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events, vol. 3 (T. Fordyce, 1867) — Internet Archive
7. (primary) Colliery Disaster 1835: Whitley, 1 May 1835 — Durham Mining Museum
8. (primary) Whitley Colliery: catalogue of plans of abandoned mines — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026