Bewicke Main Colliery

Shown on OS map of 1890. Site now occupied by caravan site. Was served by wagonway (HER 5051) and linked by a tramway (HER 5052) to a coal drift (HER 5053). Opened in 1862 by Charles Perkins and Partners. Employed 300 men and boys. The village was built close to the pithead. There were 83 houses in five groups - Cross Row, Short Row, Long Row, High Row and The Square. Gas lighting was not installed until 1910. A colliery school was erected in 1873 by Birtley Iron Company to accommodate 120 children. The school closed on 13 November 1931. The Primitive Methodust Chapel opened in 1901, built of bricks and corrugated iron. At the laying of the foundation stone, members and friends bought bricks for a shilling and had their initials inscribed on them. The chapel burned down on 5 November 1938. The colliery was owned by Hunt, Perkins & Co, EM Perkins and Partners, Charles Perkins and Partners, Birtley Iron Company, then Pelaw Main Colliery. Mill Drift closed in 1915, Riding Drift in 1921 and the main colliery seams in 1932. The village disapperaed with the closing of the colliery.