Crawcrook Way to Holburn Dene waggonway

Coal was shallow and fairly easily accessible in Crawcrook , only requiring efficient land-transport to get it to the tidal reaches of the River Tyne in the Ryton area for transhipment on to keels. The Crawcrook Way was in use by 1663. At this time, it ran between dispersed coal-pits near Crawcrook to a staith at Holburn Dene on the River Tyne opposite Newburn; the most westerly staith of the coalfield. Some of the coal was diverted on a line reaching the River Tyne to the west of Stella Hall by 1705.