Williams Pit

Williams Pit was probably part of Dinnington Colliery, dating from the 1930she British Geological Survey show two shafts Williams 1 and Williams 2. An engine house, which held an electric winder probably dating from the opening of the mine, now converted to a dwelling, survives on the site. The engine house is the better preserved of only two colliery winding engines surviving in the Newcastle district. The engine house is typical of inter-war and immediately post war design of colliery buildings in general and engine houses in particular. The tall rectangular building would have been built to house an electric winder, the mountings of which can still be seen on a brick platform within the house. This house is built of colliery brick, stamped HMC for Hartley Main Colliery Company which came into being in 1929, amalgamating a number of declining coal companies in the area north of Newcastle around Seaton Burn, Cramlington and Dinnington. The winding house now stands isolated, but there were previously mine buildings to the east of the structure, notably one long building on an east-west axis which survived until recently.