Chopwell Colliery

HER Number

6930

District

Gateshead

Site Name

Chopwell Colliery

Place

Chopwell

Map Sheet

NZ15NW

Class

Industrial

Site Type: Broad

Coal Mining Site

Site Type: Specific

Colliery

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Hanoverian 1714 to 1837

Form of Evidence

Documentary Evidence

Description

Opened in 1781, closed November 1966. There were several pits - Conclusion Pit (HER 6931 - opened 1799), Maria Pit, No 1 Pit (NZ 115 585, 1896-190), No 2 Pit (NZ 114 585, 1906-1926) and No 3 Pit (NZ 105 585, 1909-1959), North Pit (HER 6933 - opened 1800), Pennyhill Pit (HER 6932, 1802-1940) and Taylor Pit (opened 1798). Owned by Marquis of Bute, taken over in 1890 by Consett Iron Company Ltd until the National Coal Board took it over in 1947. Whellan [1894] says that coal was worked in Chopwell since the C14. This colliery produced 150,000 tons per annum in 1894. Firebricks were also manufactured - under the name of Bute.

Easting

411360

Northing

558600

Grid Reference

NZ411360558600

Sources

Durham Mining Museum www.dmm.org.uk; Norman Emery, 1998, banners of the Durham Coalfield; Whellan, 1894, Directory of County Durham; D. Temple, 1997, The Collieries of Durham Vol 2