Widdrington Colliery

Overview

A Northumberland colliery south-east of Alnwick, worked from the 1850s by William Barkus and from the 1880s by the Widdrington Coal Company, with an air shaft begun in March 1869 and the Sisters Pit sunk in 1873 alongside the Isabella Pit. Its Beaumont, Yard, Five Quarter and Main seams were abandoned in 1911. The village that grew around it is now Widdrington Station, and the colliery's mineral railway can still be traced across the farmland.

History

The Durham Mining Museum's returns show coal from Widdrington in the Lists of Mines from 1855, under William Barkus in the 1860s and the Widdrington Coal Company from the 1880s. The colliery worked through several shafts: the Isabella Pit, an air shaft whose sinking began in March 1869, and the Sisters Pit, sunk in 1873. Its Beaumont, Yard, Five Quarter and Main seams were abandoned in 1911. The settlement that grew up around the colliery took the name Widdrington Station from the railway, and a rail spur served the colliery and later an opencast site. The museum names ten men and boys killed at the colliery and records no disaster of five or more.

Geology

Northumberland coalfield seams: the Beaumont, Yard, Five Quarter and Main, all abandoned in 1911.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

The Isabella Pit, an air shaft begun in March 1869 and the Sisters Pit sunk in 1873, with a rail spur to the main line that later also served an opencast working.

Closure

Neither source gives a closure date; the museum records the abandonment of the Beaumont, Yard, Five Quarter and Main seams in 1911, and Co-Curate's page gives no span. Opencast working continued in the area long afterwards.

What remains

Farmland and the Longmoor Plantation cover the ground north of the colliery site; the course of the mineral railway that served it can still be traced.

Nothing of the colliery buildings survives; the remains of the mineral railway are visible across the fields.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Nearby mines

• Ellington Colliery — 5.9 km SE
• Lynemouth Colliery — 8.1 km SE
• Woodhorn Colliery — 8.2 km SE
• Hauxley Colliery — 8.7 km NE
• Pegswood Colliery — 9.2 km S

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

People

• William Barkus · owner, from 1860 — Owner of Widdrington Colliery in the 1860s, as the Lists of Mines record him.

Recorded claims

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

• The Lists of Mines record coal from Widdrington from 1855, under William Barkus in the 1860s and the Widdrington Coal Company from the 1880s. ¹
• The colliery worked the Isabella Pit, an air shaft whose sinking began in March 1869, and the Sisters Pit, sunk in 1873. ¹
• The Beaumont, Yard, Five Quarter and Main seams were abandoned in 1911. ¹
• The Durham Mining Museum names ten men and boys killed at the colliery and records no disaster of five or more. ¹
• A rail spur once served the colliery and later an opencast mine, and its course can still be traced across the farmland north of the site. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Widdrington Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Widdrington Colliery — Co-Curate, Newcastle University

Record created: 20 September 2026 · Last researched: 20 September 2026