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  Pittington Colliery  Index  Pittington Colliery  

Pittington Colliery

also known as North Pittington Colliery


  Description Disasters Names Local Collieries Credits  

Location: Pittington
4 miles [6 km] ENE of Durham
Map Ref: (Sheet 88) NZ335443, 54° 47' 33" N, 1° 28' 44" W
Maps: 1860s map detailed map from the Ordnance Survey
1898 map from Reid's Handy Colliery Guide
Opened:
Closed: 11 Jun 1891
Sinking Started: 21 Aug 1820
Pits: Adolphus Pit, locn: (Sheet 88) NZ334443, opened: 1826, sinking: 22 Apr 1826
  Shaft details for Adolphus Pit
Buddle Pit, locn: (Sheet 88) NZ331440
  Shaft details for Buddle Pit
Lady Seaham Pit, locn: (Sheet 88) NZ325455
Londonderry Pit, locn: (Sheet 88) NZ334442, opened: 1828, sinking: 03 Apr 1826
  Shaft details for Londonderry Pit
Owners: 1850's - Lady F. A. Vane Londonderry
1860's - North Hetton & Co.
Output: 1873 - Coal.
1888 - Coal.
Employment: 1854 - 0 [Working]
  Colliery Management (prior to 1955)
    Catalogue of plans of abandoned mines for Pittington Colliery
Notes:

1820, Aug 21 - Commenced to sink at Pittington Colliery, below the Five Quarter Seam down to the Main Coal Seam.

1891, 28 Feb - Five Quarter, Main Coal, Low Main seams abandoned - Mineral worked out



  Summary Disasters Names Local Collieries Credits  

Description

There is a large colliery in this township [Pittington] at Littletown, worked by Lord Durham. It was sunk in 1834, and at present is working the "Low Main", which averages 2 feet 9 inches in thcikness, at a depth of 95 fathoms. The "Hutton" seam has been almost worked out. The "Main coal" and Five Quarter are here of full section, and have yet scarcely been touched. The daily output is 500 tons of excellent coal, giving employment to 500 men and boys. The Pittington colliery was laid in 1891.

Littetown, once called "South Pittington", later Little Pittington, and in 1613 Littletown, was once probably the name of a farm near the village. The present village of Littletown has arisen near the colliery worked by the Earl of Durham. It lies on rising ground less than a mile south of the church, and contains a school, reading room, and a Wesleyan chapel.

Whellan's 1894 Directory of County Durham


  Summary Description Names Local Collieries Credits  

Disasters (5 or more killed)

None Found


  Summary Description Disasters Local Collieries Credits  

Names of those killed at this colliery

Please note that this collection of names is by no means complete!

     

Aisbett, Thomas, 04 Oct 1847, aged 15, Driver, Thomas Aisbett, a 15 year old rolley driver, was driving his horse attached to nine rolleys full of coal in Londonderry Pit on 4 October. He had just got off the rolley when he was crushed to death between the wall and one of the waggons.

     

Bowey, James, 01 May 1857, Deputy, he was drawing a jud with other men when a mass of stones fell from the roof and killed him

     

Coleman, Walter, 19 May 1855, aged 15, Pony Putter, he was sitting with another boy against a wall side in that pit waiting for a waggon, when a large stone fell from the side of the pit upon him, he died before he could be removed from the pit

      

Cuthbertson, William, 02 Sep 1863, aged 19, Water Leader, crushed by return wheel in underground engine plane

     

Forster, Robert, 24 Apr 1854, aged 50, while at work in the five-quarter seam he was critically injured when he was crushed by a stone falling on him, he sustained spinal injuries and died shortly afterwards

     

Hall, Joseph, 28 Jun 1859, aged 66, Shifter, killed by a fall of stone

      

Hall, Rodham, 08 Apr 1868, aged 14, Pony Putter, crushed between prop and tubs

      

Hunter, Richard (jnr.), 29 Sep 1860, aged 18, Onsetter, killed by a fall of stone

     

Hunter, William, 20 Apr 1849, aged 26, On 20 April, The Durham Advertiser reported that William Hunter, 26, had been crushed by a mass of stone and rubbish which had fallen from the roof of the east part of the Londonderry Pit. He was taken out and died 15 to 20 minutes later.

      

Hutchinson, John, 09 Nov 1860, aged 28, Hewer, killed by a fall of stone

     

Judson, William, 16 Oct 1846, aged 63, Wasteman, he was crushed to death by a piece of stone which fell from the roof

      

Maddison, James, 29 Mar 1860, Hewer, killed by a fall of roof

     

Mason, Robert, 22 Jan 1857, Driver, he was standing at a flat preparing to drive along the rolley way with his horse and a set of tubs. Without warning, a large stone fell from the roof, crushing both Mason and the horse dead

      

Parry, John, 16 May 1862, aged 14, Driver, crushed by tubs

     

Pratt, George, 14 Nov 1848, aged 29, he was crushed by a large fall of stone from the roof; he died five minutes after the stone was removed

      

Quick, John, 18 Oct 1858, aged 15, Apparatus boy, crushed by surface waggons at night

      

Small, James, 29 Aug 1870, aged 48, Stoneman, shot exploded when drawing pricker

      

Spencely, William, 30 Nov 1857, aged 67, Accidentally crushed by a fall of stone from roof of pit

      

Tempest, Thomas, 1841, aged 54, killed by a fall of stone

      

Vardy, Thomas, 15 Jan 1886, (accident: 23 Dec 1885), aged 67, Hewer, fall of stone at face of working place

      

Walker, J., 19 Jul 1859, aged 70, Shifter, killed by a fall of stone

      

Wall, Matthew, 28 Mar 1834, an empty corf having been left near the mouth of the shaft, was caught by the wind, and hurled down the shaft at the time five men were ascending, two of whom were killed, the rest severely injured [More information ...]

      

Wilson, Edward, 28 Mar 1834, an empty corf having been left near the mouth of the shaft, was caught by the wind, and hurled down the shaft at the time five men were ascending, two of whom were killed, the rest severely injured [More information ...]

 
  23 names found

If you know of any fatalities missing from the above list then please contact us with the details and we will add them to our database.

Some of the names of mining fatalities on this web site have been kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle) and are marked with .

  more information on some of the fatalities shown above


The following unnamed fatalities are listed in the Mines Inspectors Reports, once again this collection is not complete!

Date Inspectors Remarks
18 Nov 1852 11Crush of tubs
13 Jun 1853 11
05 Sep 1856 11crushed by tubs
22 Jan 1857 11fall of stone

  Summary Description Disasters Names Credits  

Collieries and Pits within 5 miles (8km)

  a simulated map showing the immediate vicinity of Pittington Colliery

  list of collieries/pits etc. near to Pittington Colliery


  Summary Description Disasters Names Local Collieries  

Credits

Sources:

  • 1854 List of mines by T. Y. Hall, published in Vol II (1853-4) of the Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers
  • 1858 Mines Inspectors Report
  • 1859 Mines Inspectors Report
  • 1860 Mines Inspectors Report
  • 1862 Mines Inspectors Report
  • 1863 Mines Inspectors Report
  • 1868 Mines Inspectors Report
  • 1869 List of Mines
  • 1870 Mines Inspectors Report (C 124)
  • 1873-4 List of Mines
  • 1880 List of Mines
  • 1881 Mines Inspectors Annual Report
  • 1884 List of Mines
  • 1886 Mines Inspectors Report (C 5090)
  • 1888 List of Mines - Government report from the Mines Department, from a copy held in the Scottish Mining Museum, Newtongrange, Midlothian
  • A History of Coal, Coke, Coalfields and Iron Manufacture in Northern England by William Fordyce published in 1860
  • An Account of the strata of Northumberland & Durham as proved by Borings & Sinkings, Volume L-R, published by the North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers, 1887
  • Banners of the Durham Coalfield, Norman Emery, 1998, Sutton Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-7509-1708-3
  • Contributions by members of the Public
  • History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham by Francis Whellan. Second edition published in 1894.
  • Victoria History of the Counties of England – Durham. Published in three volumes in 1907.

  Summary Description Disasters Names Local Collieries Credits  

Related Links:

None found

Further Reading:

  • Banners of the Durham Coalfield, Norman Emery, 1998, Sutton Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-7509-1708-3, provides a brief history of the colliery along with the history of the associated Miners Lodge Banner

Further Research:

  Research Notes for Pittington Colliery


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Page last updated: 01 Oct 2008


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