Windlestone Colliery

Overview

A south Durham colliery two miles south of Ferryhill, sunk for Joseph Pease & Partners in the mid-1870s and one of a group of pits the railways made possible in that corner of the coalfield. It stood idle in the early 1880s, was working again by 1905 and grew to 543 men by 1923 on the Brockwell and Harvey seams before closing in 1924. Its seams were formally abandoned on 4 November 1931.

History

Coal had been worked around Ferryhill for centuries in small pits employing few people. That changed from about 1840 with the railways, which gave access to larger markets and justified deeper and bigger sinkings: Leasingthorne in 1842, Little Chilton in 1852, Broom in 1870, Chilton in 1872, East Howle in 1873, and Mainsforth and Windlestone both in 1876. The Durham Mining Museum records that the sixteen-foot shaft at Windlestone was finished in October 1877 for Messrs Pease & Partners, put down from the surface to the Marshall Green Seam and bored further; there was also an Engine Pit. The colliery's early years were not settled. Whellan's Directory of County Durham for 1894 says the Windlestone pit was laid in 1874 and that the village at the southern end of Chilton township had become almost deserted because Messrs Pease and Partners closed the pit that year — an account hard to square with a shaft finished in 1877, and with the museum's own employment figures, which show 66 men in 1883 and the pit standing in 1883 and 1884. Whatever happened in those years, the colliery was at work again by 1905 with 77 employed, and grew quickly: 404 in 1910, 443 in 1921 and 543 in 1923, of whom 413 worked below ground. It took the Brockwell seam from at least 1910, adding the Busty and Harvey by 1921, and sold coking, manufacturing, household and steam coals. It closed in 1924, and the Harvey, Busty and Brockwell seams were formally abandoned on 4 November 1931.

Geology

The Durham coalfield, worked here as the usual stack of named seams. The shaft was put down to the Marshall Green and bored below it; the seams actually worked were the Brockwell from at least 1910, with the Busty and Harvey added by 1921 — the lower part of the Durham sequence, the same seams the neighbouring Ferryhill-district pits were taking.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Two shafts, the sixteen-foot pit finished in October 1877 and an Engine Pit. Haulage underground was by rope on inclines, and both of the colliery's recorded haulage deaths came from that: in 1908 a hauling rope broke while pulling twenty-one tubs up an incline and the tubs ran back onto a landing lad, and in 1912 a deputy walking up a self-acting incline 220 yards long was killed by two tubs that ran amain after a bank-top lad forgot to couple a set of four together, the inspector noting that neither a second protective chock nor a runaway switch had been provided.

Closure

The colliery closed in 1924, at a point when it was employing over 500 men and had been growing for two decades. The Harvey, Busty and Brockwell seams were formally abandoned on 4 November 1931.

What remains

The colliery is gone and the village that served it was already described as almost deserted in 1894. Nothing of the site was located in photographic coverage of the area.

Related mines

• Chilton Colliery — Both were pits of the Ferryhill district sunk in the wave that followed the railways: Chilton in 1872 and Windlestone in 1876, and Windlestone is named on the Chilton record.
• Mainsforth Colliery — Sunk in the same year, 1876, in the same Ferryhill district, and both had interrupted early lives — Mainsforth abandoned by 1877 and dug out again after 1900, Windlestone standing idle through 1883 and 1884.

Nearby mines

• Chilton Colliery — 1.5 km NW
• Mainsforth Colliery — 2.7 km NE
• Dean and Chapter Colliery — 3.1 km N
• Thrislington Colliery — 4.6 km NE
• Bishop Middleham Colliery — 5.1 km E

Straight-line distance, within 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.

• The sixteen-foot shaft at Windlestone was finished in October 1877 for Messrs Pease & Partners, put down from the surface to the Marshall Green Seam and bored further; Ferryhill's own history dates the sinking to 1876. ^1,2
• Whellan's Directory of County Durham for 1894 says the Windlestone pit was laid in 1874 and that the village had become almost deserted because Pease and Partners closed the pit that year. This cannot be reconciled with a shaft completed in 1877 or with the employment figures showing 66 men in 1883, and one of the two accounts must be wrong. (disputed) ¹
• The colliery employed 66 in 1883 and stood idle in 1883 and 1884; it was working again by 1905 with 77 employed, reaching 404 in 1910, 443 in 1921 and 543 in 1923, of whom 413 were below ground. ¹
• The Brockwell seam was worked from at least 1910, with the Busty and Harvey added by 1921; the colliery closed in 1924 and the three seams were formally abandoned on 4 November 1931. ¹
• The Ferryhill district's deeper collieries followed the arrival of the railways from about 1840, which gave access to larger markets: Leasingthorne 1842, Little Chilton 1852, Broom 1870, Chilton 1872, East Howle 1873, and Mainsforth and Windlestone both in 1876. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Windlestone Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Local history of Ferryhill — Ferryhill Town Council

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