Author: History

Mining at Rainton

Situated within Marygill Wood on the east side of the A1 (M) are the earthwork remains of 19th century and earlier coal mining. Coal mining is recorded at nearby Rainton in the 15th and 16th centuries, and it is thought that the remains within Mallygill Wood relate to that period of mining activity. The mines had been abandoned long before 1861 since by this date the Ordnance Survey maps show an established woodland on the site. Mining was resumed, however, in the later 19th century when a deep mine, known as Woodside Colliery, was sunk towards the north east corner of the wood. This was abandoned on 1896. The mining remains include at least 76 shaft mound, including Woodside Colliery, remains of a drift mine, and evidence of opencast extraction directly on the coal outcrop. The greatest concentration of workings lie in the central and western part of the monument where the coal seams are situated close to the surface. The shaft mounds, 28 of which are now waterlogged, generally survive as inverted cones measuring from 3 metres to 12 metres in diameter and up to 2 metres in depth. Many are surrounded by a spoil collar surviving up to 1 metre in height. A series of trenches running north to south on either side of Mally Gill are thought to be the remains of opencast working on the coal outcrop and are also thought to represent one of the early forms of coal extraction at the site. The monument also includes the earthwork remains of a small drift mine driven north eastward into the north side of the ravine of the Mally Gill, as well as other shallow depressions thought to be associated with mining activities. Scheduled. The features described are visible as earthworks on air photographs although tree coverage obscures the detail.
English Heritage

The entire 'Rainton Royalty' was owned by the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral and leased to Frances Anne. At the time that she inherited the Rainton complex incorporated six main pits and many small ones covering an area of some 9 square miles. The main pits were the Nicholson's, Rainton Meadows, the Plain Pit, Woodside, Hunter's House and Resolution. The smaller pits, some of which were worked directly by Frances Anne and the others leased out to independent operators, included the Quarry Pit, Annabella, the North Pit, The Knott, Old Engine and Pontop Pit. The Rainton and Penshaw collieries were complemented by workshops at Chilton Moor. The coal was pulled by horses from the Rainton pits on a wagonway (which had probably existed since the opening of Rainton Colliery) to the staiths at Penshaw (via Colliery Row, Junction Row and Shiney Row), from which point the Wear was navigable. There it was loaded on to small vessels and taken to Wearmouth where it was transferred to larger vessels for the onward sea voyage. Wages for this and the local port tax of six shillings a chaldron amounted to £10,000 per year. A port at nearby Seaham, linked to Rainton by a wagonway, would have enabled Frances Anne to save paying this and gain an edge on her competitors.

Coal Mining in County Durham ( Part 3 ) - Monks and mining
by George Muncaster
In his paper “Coal Mining by the Monks” J B Simpson gives us an insight into the revenue derived and the expenditure incurred by the monks of Finchale and Durham. In doing so he gives information whereby some idea of their mining methods can be deduced.
As stated in an earlier part, the mines worked by the Finchale monks were mainly at Softley, Lumley, Moorhousefield and Baxtanford.
Softley is in the extreme southwest corner of the Durham coalfield. It is west of Evenwood and north of Cockfield Fell and therefore a long way from Finchale. Here the monks obtained a revenue of about £7.00 a year from 1355 to 1510. their expenditure was negligible – an average of only £0.40 a year. One cord, three picks and two ‘vangas’ (wooden spades) were among the items mentioned. No information is given about the methods of working but this district is at the western outcrop of the coal seams so they may have been mining by drifting into the seam but the cord suggests they were drawing coal out of bell pits using a windlass.
At Lumley, from 1360 to 1427, the mines gave them an income of about £6.00 a year. Again expenditure was very little except for £2.33 for the sinking of a pit in 1372. This rather large expense, more than a third of a years revenue, and the words ‘sinking of a pit’ suggest a shaft has been sunk rather than a bell pit. The term ‘shaft’ however, did not come into use until the end of the 16th century.
Mining at Moorhousefield appears to have been on a large scale and very profitable. Between 1402 and 1528 there was an average income of £18 a year. Some years produced over £50.00 with an expenditure of only £5.00. In 1360, £0.10 was paid out as compensation for surface damage, whilst in 1373, £1.13 was paid to Thomas Hardwych for damage caused by the mines. Are these some of the earliest payments for subsidence?

Whilst the Finchale monks worked the mines at Moorhousefield the Durham monks worked the nearby mines of Rainton. Moorhousefield was a little south of Leamside and Rainton just north of it and it is interesting to note that Adventure Colliery, at Leamside, is still working today (1972). How many collieries are still working where the monks worked six hundred years ago?
It appears that the monks had drainage problems at Rainton. Simpson tells us that at Rainton in 1351, making a new waterway cost £39; a watergate in 1368 cost £8.87; making an aqueduct in 1375 cost £37.36; in 1419 an aqueduct cost £33.48; in 1434 an aqueduct cost £5.18; in 1436 an aqueduct cost £5.18; in 1436 another aqueduct cost £11.99. In comparison with other expenditures these costs are large – even huge.
To fully appreciate the problem of draining the pits at Rainton it is necessary to remember that whilst the upper seams outcrop on the steep banks of the river Wear just west of Rainton, the seams slope downwards to the east. In order to drain their Rainton workings they would have had to drift through stone to convey the water to the river.
The first reference to a joint drainage scheme was in 1407. This involved driving a waterway in the district of Hett. The parties to the contract were the sub-prior of Durham, the Commoner of Durham and Sir William Blakeston.

North Pit Tyne & Wear Sitelines

An unnamed pit is shown at this location of a plan of 1777 (NRO 578/321) served by a waggonway (HER 3196). It is shown as a pronounced shaft mound with two long blocks of buildings aligned north-south on the westhand side, probably forerunners of the later pit cottages. There is no indication of an engine house. The collieries at East Rainton were in the possession of Sir Henry Vane Tempest and were let to Robert Blakiston & Company on 9th March 1797 (NRO Bud 5/58). High Main Seam coal was sold under the name of "Old-Ducks" and was in great demand in London (NRO Bell 18, p. 404). The name may derive from Sir John Duck who lived in West Rainton in the late C17 {Mackenzie and Ross 1834, 367}. In June 1797, the workings of North Pit were viewed by Charles Dixon, John Smith, William Stobbart and John Buddle Junior who reported that they were "in a Regular and fair State for the entry of an Undertaker, except on the South Side of the Pit, where there is a Quantity of Water, and several falls come on" {NRO Bud 21, p. 15}. The pit is shown on a late eighteenth century plan of Rainton Colliery Grounds (NRO 3410 Wat 34/18) and on Greenwood's map of 1820. By 1804 the High Main Seam was completely worked out. In 1807 the Rainton Collieries were let again to focus on the Hutton Seam. Borings were made at North Pit in 1817 and 1821 {TWMTL 1996 and NRO Wat 2/27, p 118}. In 1825 the Marquis of Londonderry leased a timber-yard at North Pit to William Russell (DRO D/Lo/E 300-319}. In 1827 there were two engines at North Pit, but North Pit is not listed as working and so the engines may have been used for pumping not winding {DF/WF/28/1, p 479-520}.On the tithe map of 1834 {DRO EP/ER/27/2} North Pit is marked as "old colliery, gardens and waste" suggesting that it had been laid in or abandoned. There are cottages to the east. The pit is still shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map but the workings had been abandoned. In 2001 a trench was excavated across an eastern range of buildings associated with North Pit. A sandstone wall and a brick feature of uncertain function were recorded, along with a timber drain and a timber capped brick drain. North Pit Cottages were cleared and recorded. The original form of the building had been an open, roofed storage area, before being rebuilt in brick and being converted to residential use. Four fireplaces were inserted into the partition walls. The building was divided into two separate properties.

www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/PDF/.../LPS22_1979_44-50.pdf

Coal Miners of Hetton-le-Hole Michael Sill