Gibside Estate, Snipes Dean Pit

Snipes Dean Pit (Coal) shown on 1st edition Ordnance Survey map {1}. MPP Site Assessment - References to coal working on the Gibside estate date from 1607 and ceased with the closure of a small drift mine in 1884. Surviving features include the mouth of a drift, two adits and a small concentration of shaft mounds. The workings appear to be relatively small scale, but may include undisturbed C17 underground galleries {2}. Drift mine entrance. The coal estate at West and East Gibside was owned by the Blakiston family. In 1608 there were 'colemynes as well opened as not opened' in Snipes Dene in West Gibside. This deep dene facilitated free drainage of upper seams. A millpond below it, used in the 18th century as a paper mill, must have worked a coalmill for the lower seams before that.