Ryton Woodside Way

A plan of Coomb Hills Farm at Woodside from 1795 shows a wagonway with 2 pits along its length. A late branch of the Crawcrook Way, the Ryton Woodside Way. Joined with the Crawcrook Way at Barmoor {1}. The Grand Lease Colliery continued to be important to the Bishopric at the end of the 17th century. In 1700, operations were extended into the area of Ryton Woodside and a new generation of partners saw the opening of a new era in the history of Tyne coal. The rebuilt Stella waggonway joined the Crawcrook Way in Bar Moor, sharing a joint track as far as Holburn Dene. In return, by being given access to Stella staiths, the Crawcrook owners were freed from the navigation of the Crummell Ford and a new way was built to join the Stella Grand Lease Way at Hedgefield. This fusion of the two waggonways may explain the omission of the Crawcrook Way from the 1728 plan. Stella Grand Lease continued as a major colliery for another 25 years, maintaining its quota of 1400T until at least 1713. In the second quarter of the 18th century Ryton was deliberately run down and abandoned to lesser producers. The waggonway disappeared until the whole area was redeveloped in the age of the iron rail.