| Seaton Colliery | Index | Seaton Colliery | ||
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Seaton Colliery
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| Location: | Seaham 5 miles [8 km] S of Sunderland |
| Map Ref: | (Sheet 88) NZ409495, 54° 50' 22" N, 1° 21' 47" W |
| Maps: |  1860s map detailed map from the Ordnance Survey |
| Opened: | 1845 |
| Closed: | 1864 |
| Sinking Started: | 31 Jul 1844 |
| Pits: | Union Pit |
| Shaft details for Union Pit |
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| Owners: | 1845 - Hetton & North Hetton Coal Co |
| 1850's - North Hetton Co. (Earl of Durham & Messrs. Wood, Philipson, Burrell, & Others) | |
| 1864 - Lord Londonderry | |
| Employment: | 1854 - 0 [Working] |
| Notes: | 1844 - Began on 31 July to sink the Union Pit, Seaham and Seaton Colliery, from the surface to below the Hutton Seam. |
1853 - The Longwall method of working was adopted at Seaton Colliery. |
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1864, Nov - Seaton Colliery acquired by Lord Londonderry and merged with Seaham Colliery |
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Description
Seaham Colliery was commenced in 1846 by the third Marquis of Londonderry. Seaton Colliery, in close proximity, was formerly worked by Lord Durham and the Hetton Coal Company, are now worked as one. Here there are at present being wrought the Harvey seam, the Main coal, the Maudlin, the Hutton Jubilee, Hutton No. 2, and Hutton No. 3 ; the Harvey in the lowest seam being 282 fathoms deep to the shaft bottom, and 300 fathoms to the lowest point. This seam is 3 feet thick. The Main coal if 5 feet thick. The Maudlin, 4 feet, and the Low Main run together, and are only separated by a thin band, which, however, assumes a considerable division a long distance eastwards. Their depth is about 245 feet. The Hutton Jubilee got its names from the fact of having been reached through a great fault, after three years' cutting in the Jubilee year (1887). This seam is 265 fathoms deep, and varies from 3 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 6 inches thick. There is a Low Main of this same seam, having a thickness of 5 feet. To the eastward the Maudlin, the Hutton Jubilee, the Nos. 2 and 3 are worked for a considerable distance under the sea. The Hutton No. 2, by a fault or trouble, which occurs near the pit shaft, is thrown down below the level of the Harvey, and the whole strata is affected by this fault. The old system of ventilation by furnaces is still in use here. This is a very extensive colliery, giving employment to about 1700 men and boys, which is a great number, considering there are no coke ovens here. The output, which amounts to between 2500 and 2800 tons per day, is nearly all shipped at Seaham Harbour and Sunderland Docks, a small portion only being sold at land sales.
Miners' Hall is a handsome brick building with stone facings, erected in 1889, at a cost of £2000. It comprises a large lecture hall, capable of holding 750 persons, offices, committee and reading rooms, and is well supplied with daily and weekly papers, &c.
Whellan's 1894 Directory of County Durham
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Disasters (5 or more killed)
| 16th | Jun | 1852 | Explosion, 6 lives lost (Show Names) |
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Names of those killed at this colliery
Please note that this collection of names is by no means complete!
 | Amour, Richard, 29 Jun 1859, aged 50, Screener, crushed by surface waggons | |||||
Beckham, John, 24 Oct 1863, aged 16, Horse Driver, crushed by tubs | ||||||
| Burn, William, 13 May 1854, (accident: 11 May 1854), aged 60, he was severely crushed at No. 1 Pit, Seaton Colliery on 11 May. The cage had been overdrawn up to the pulleys, causing damage to the timber staging, which fell on to Burn who was standing on the heap. He died on the 13th. At the inquest it was stated that the bell weight, which indicated the proper time to stop the engine 'had got out of order, and failed to give the usual signal to the engineman.' | |||||
Carter, James, 24 May 1862, aged 52, Hewer, killed by a fall of stone | ||||||
| Clough, Matthew, 15 Oct 1857, he was severely crushed by a tub which ran amain down an incline, he had been widening the incline at the time. He died the same day | |||||
Coker, John, 24 Aug 1867, aged 12, Driver, crushed by tubs in rolley way | ||||||
| Colling, Joseph, 16 May 1857, Driver, he was driving a pony and two coal tubs from a flat towards the shaft when his head was crushed between a tub and the roof, killing him instantly | |||||
Dakers, S. G., 23 Apr 1867, aged 14, Small Putter, fell off erections while emptying tub | ||||||
Defty, John, 16 Jun 1852, aged 53, killed in the 1852 explosion (caused by naked light), left a wife and 9 children [More information ...] | ||||||
Dixon, Robert, 08 Aug 1867, aged 54, Screener, killed by stone falling off engine chimney | ||||||
Dixon, Rodney, 24 Nov 1859, aged 13, Labourer, crushed by tub drawn by pony on the surface | ||||||
Dunn, William, 29 Apr 1867, aged 13, Driver, crushed by a set of tubs on self acting plane while trying to get upon it | ||||||
Eltringham, Stephen, 04 Jun 1859, Hewer, killed by a fall of stone | ||||||
Fairley, William, 11 Apr 1864, (accident: 06 Apr 1864), aged 42, Stoneman, burnt by explosion of gas [More information ...] | ||||||
| Forster, Anthony, 23 Nov 1863, he was fetching some pick shafts in a cart from the railway station when his pony took off and he was thrown out as the cart overturned; he was critically injured and died a few hours later | |||||
Haddick, Roger, 18 Feb 1855, aged 23, Engineman, died after falling from a gangway at Seaton No. 1 Pit | ||||||
Halliday, Charles, 16 Jun 1852, aged 10, killed in the 1852 explosion (caused by naked light), (shown as aged 6 in 1851 census - may have lied about his age to obtain work) [More information ...] | ||||||
| Hedley, Edward, 28 Mar 1854, aged 42, he was suffocated by gas which had come from an area where there had been a large fall of stone, he was told not to go on the other side of the fall, but disregarded the order and went to get his pick | |||||
Hepple, Tristram, 22 Apr 1864, (accident: 06 Apr 1864), aged 50, Master Shifter, explosion of gas [More information ...] | ||||||
King, William, 07 Apr 1855, [Sunderland News reports: accident - 07 Apr 1855 pg 4 col 5] | ||||||
| Mason, Joseph, 07 Feb 1846, (accident: 02 Feb 1846), aged 20, Sinker, On Monday, 2 February, Joseph Mason, a 20 year old sinker working at the Union Pit, Seaham, was blasting stone using gunpowder. The charge had become obstructed by stone and he attempted to remove it using his pricker. The charge exploded prematurely and a piece of stone struck him. His partner survived, but Mason died of his injuries on the following Saturday | |||||
McGrath, William, 06 Feb 1868, aged 13, Pony Putter, crushed by falling over round coal heap with a tub, which fell on him | ||||||
Miles, Robert, 20 Feb 1860, aged 40, Deputy, killed by a fall of stone | ||||||
Moreland, Thomas, 09 Oct 1863, crushed by rope wheel on branches | ||||||
Pratt, John, 16 Jun 1852, aged 20, killed in the 1852 explosion (caused by naked light), single [More information ...] | ||||||
| Prest, Thomas, 20 Oct 1868, killed by a fall of stone | |||||
Robson, Robert, 31 Aug 1859, aged 55, Shifter, killed by a fall of roof | ||||||
Simpson, Andrew, 16 Jun 1852, aged 18, killed in the 1852 explosion (caused by naked light), brother of John, the brothers being the only support for mother aged 86 [More information ...] | ||||||
Simpson, George, 30 Apr 1862, aged 15, Hooker On, crushed by tubs | ||||||
Simpson, John, 16 Jun 1852, aged 36, killed in the 1852 explosion (caused by naked light), brother of Andrew, the brothers being the only support for mother aged 86 [More information ...] | ||||||
Simpson, William, 16 Jun 1852, aged 27, killed in the 1852 explosion (caused by naked light), left a wife and 2 children [More information ...] | ||||||
Souther, John, 11 May 1864, aged 58, Stoneman, killed by a fall of stone | ||||||
Usher, William, 01 Apr 1859, aged 15, Coupler, falling part of way down shaft | ||||||
Williamson, John, 20 May 1858, aged 44, Hewer, accidentally pushed by crowd into cage hole [More information ...] | ||||||
| 34 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
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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 |  |
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Inspectors Remarks |
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| 18 Mar 1852 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | Crush of tub |
| 08 Nov 1855 | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | |
| 24 Dec 1855 | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | |
| 27 Aug 1856 | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | fall of stone |
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Collieries and Pits within 5 miles (8km)
a simulated map showing the immediate vicinity of Seaton Colliery
list of collieries/pits etc. near to Seaton Colliery
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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
- 1864 Mines Inspectors Report
- 1867 Mines Inspectors Report
- 1868 Mines Inspectors Report
- 1869 List of Mines
- An Account of the strata of Northumberland & Durham as proved by Borings & Sinkings, Volume S-T, published by the North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers, 1894
- 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.
- Sunderland Daily News
- Sunderland Herald
- Victoria History of the Counties of England – Durham. Published in three volumes in 1907.
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Related Links:
| On this site | |
| | Newspaper articles |
| | Names of those killed in the 1852 disaster |
Further Reading:
- Explosions in Coal Mines by W. N. & J. B. Atkinson, published in 1886
Further Research:
Research Notes for Seaton Colliery
