Spital Tongues Colliery (Leazes Main)

Spital Tongues Colliery. Opened in the 1830s. In the 1850s the owners were Edward Richardson & Co. The Victoria Tunnel (HER 4091), an underground railway, was built for Porter and Latimer from Spital Tongues Colliery to the Tyne near Glasshouse Bridge. The lease for mining was granted commencing on 25 March 1835, but they were faced with the serious problem of getting the coal from the colliery to the Tyne to be loaded on to colliers. Other collieries had wagonways running to the river, but Spital Tongues was unfortunate in the fact that the city lay between it and the Tyne. In the end a tunnel was excavated from the colliery under the centre of Newcastle to the Tyne close to the Ouseburn. They could have chosen a shorter route, but they wanted to avoid having to pay keelmen's fees for taking the coal in keels to the river mouth, hence the tunnel was built to the Ouseburn. It was built in 1839-42. The colliery had a short working life due to financial difficulties, closing in 1858.