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This page is a page in progress. Hopefully more collieries will soon be
covered - just Eppleton Colliery today.
EPPLETON COLLIERY, near Hetton-the-Hole
Elsewhere in these pages (here),
Len Charlton honoured the place in history of the Hetton Railway, which opened
to much fanfare on Nov. 18, 1822. A major achievement in its time, the line
was
both surveyed & built by none other than
George Stephenson - to carry coal from the coal mines of the Hetton Coal Company to staithes
located on the south bank of the river Wear, just west of the bridges in
central Sunderland. A railway line just 8 miles long
- but at the time a major technological triumph.
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An Eppleton Colliery pit token.
Amongst the collieries that were serviced by the Hetton
Railway was the colliery at Eppleton (Elemore & Hetton collieries were the
others). It was, I read, one of the earliest coal
mines in Durham, the first shaft being commenced in 1824 or 1825. When it eventually
closed, in 1986, Eppleton Colliery could lay claim to being one of the oldest operating coal mines in all of Europe,
in production since 1833.
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The pit's early history? I do try, in these pages, to be
fully accurate, but that said it is most difficult to establish
Eppleton Colliery's early history with full assurance. The next paragraph summarises what I have read at
prominent
WWW sites:-
Work on the first
shaft at Eppleton commenced, in 1824 or 1825. Problems, big problems, were
encountered - the shaft hit a band of aquiferous
sands & as a result the shaft both collapsed & became
filled with water in quantities greater that the available pumping capacity
could manage. After 8 years of struggle that first shaft was successfully
completed - the Caroline shaft - which on Aug. 01, 1833 reached the Hutton seam,
a major seam of coal at a depth of 270 metres (about 886 ft.). In 1837, a second shaft was sunk,
the Jane, to access the Busty coal seam.
Is that data accurate? I have
significant doubts as to its accuracy.
In 1974, Michael Sill wrote a thesis
respecting his seeking a Master of Arts degree. His thesis, entitled 'Hetton-Le-Hole: the genesis of a coalmining landscape 1770-1860', is made available by
Durham University in the form of a 166 page 'pdf' document. A most diligent
study indeed as you will see if you choose to read or download it. We thank
Michael Sill & Durham University for making it available. Michael indicates that
the Jane shaft, stated above to have been sunk in 1837,
was in fact the shaft begun in 1825, abandoned in 1827 (at 399 ft.) &
resumed in 1831. It was the Jane shaft which encountered the Lower Main seam at 931 ft. & the
Hutton seam at 1046 ft. And that it was the Caroline shaft that was sunk in 1837
but would appear to have been commenced earlier since it had been abandoned in 1832.
Michael's thesis does not refer to the Busty seam.
A third shaft was sunk in 1874, the
Lindsay, to connect with the Hutton coal seam. The coal seams were known as the Busty, Five Quarter, Hutton, Main, & Maudlin - such
seams were easily worked I read, & also the unworkable Low Main. The
mine was considered to be most modern - it certainly was a major employer - at times the mine had more than 1,600 miners working
underground and 400 or so at the surface. It produced in the range of 2,000 to
3,000 tons of coal a day.
An item of related interest. Trove, Australia advises me that
the average production in the Busty seam at Eppleton Colliery was, in 1946, 5 or
6 tons of coal per shift per man. To the webmaster that sounds like an enormous
quantity of coal. But .... in Apl. 1946, a miner named John Thomas Barker
'hewed & filled', in the Busty seam, 18 tons of coal in a single 6 1/2 hour shift using a pneumatic pick & an ordinary shovel. As you can read
here. My word!
 A postcard image of Eppleton Colliery, prominently featured by the Hetton Local and Natural History Society (see links below
or click image).
The mine was not accident free
- the Durham Mining Museum site lists the names of 193 men & boys who lost their
lives in the mine over its lifetime.
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An Eppleton Colliery miner's lamp, from e-Bay many years ago now.
An SL Patent 'Protector' lamp (1 & 2), manufactured by The Protector Lamp & Lighting Co.
Ltd. of Eccles, Manchester, & stamped '131 EPPCOL 55/5660 L, which would seem to
date the lamp to 1955.
The ownership of the mine changed over the years. Essentially Hetton Coal Company gave way to the Lambton & Hetton Coal Company
in 1911 and
to Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd. in 1934. In 1947, the mine was
nationalised at which time The National Coal Board
took the mine over. Soon after the miners' strikes of 1984/5, the mine closed
for good - on Mar. 30, 1986. The Hetton Lyons Country Park is now on the site.
There are a number of websites which cover the history of Eppleton Colliery. Amongst those
I found to be of interest are:-
i) the many Durham Mining Museum
pages with
especial mention of the report of H.M. Deputy Chief Inspector of Mines's investigation into the 1951 explosion.
ii) many photographs offered by the Hetton Local and Natural History Society
here.
iii) Ian Winstanley's well detailed page about the 1951 disaster.
You might also enjoy reading about Tom Scott, who worked in the Eppleton mine at age 15 as a wagonway
lad & pony driver. He later became the mayor of Sunderland - in 1986. He nearly made a century, (he died at age 97).
Alas the 'Sunderland Echo' page seems no longer to be available. It used to be
here. |
At left below an interesting image that comes from a New Zealand page (thanks Keith Johnson!) about Eppleton Colliery - but
the image's location is not indicated and it may not have been taken at Eppleton. No
matter. A great photograph, regardless. At right a portion of a fine image by
Anthony Killeen (thanks!) - of the winding wheel at Eppleton.
And next a fine image provided to the webmaster by Frank Lee.
Whose grandfather, John Davidson Lee (1890/1947 or 1948 - but such dates of
birth & death are guesstimates), Frank advises, was chief engineer at Eppleton Colliery.
From a very young age indeed, thru probably about 1911 or a year or so
thereafter. While the image, per
Frank, seems to bear little resemblance to other images he has seen of the colliery, folks
on Facebook have apparently confirmed it to be of Eppleton Colliery. Another
image is apparently available that shows the same chimney & the strange, elevated construction to the left.
The date of the image is
not known. But seems likely to be from the period when John Davidson Lee was at
Eppleton. Click the image for a slightly larger image.
Quality images of Eppleton
Colliery seem to be scarce. Do you
have any images of Eppleton Colliery, perhaps postcard images, that could be
included here? If you do, please consider being in touch with the webmaster.
HETTON COLLIERY, at bottom left in this little map
As for Eppleton Colliery,
Len Charlton elsewhere in these pages (here) honoured the place in history of the Hetton Railway, which opened
to much fanfare on Nov. 18, 1822. A major achievement in its time, the line
was
both surveyed & built by none other than
George Stephenson - to carry coal from the Hetton, Elemore & Eppleton collieries of the Hetton Coal Company to staithes
located on the south bank of the river Wear, just west of the bridges in
central Sunderland. A railway line just 8 miles long
- but at the time a major technological triumph.
It would seem that a local Parish magazine was published in the village of Hetton-Le-Hole back in 1918. Maybe it continues to be published - I
certainly do not know. All I have seen is an e-Bay item of long ago
that offered for sale the Jan. 1918 edition of such magazine. And then, it would
appear, withdrew the item from sale. It had an image of the parish church on its
cover. Click the image to see a larger image of the church.
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,
9 men died as a result of an explosion at 1:50 a.m. on Jul. 06, 1951, caused by the electric
arcing of a faulty 'Joy Loader', which arcing ignited a build up of methane.
