The Hollinside and Riding Field coal estates were owned by the Harding family. The Hardings were non-freemen, barred from the Hostmen's Company. They could work coal but could not sell it. The Hardings shared boundaries with coal-hungry entrepreneurs and so their Riding Field became a virtual extension of the Whickham Grand Lease. By 1606 Grand Lessees had acquired part of the easily accessible hilltop coal and had two pits extracting about 200T a year. By 1617 the Whickham Grand Lease Colliery was a vast adventurous project. In 1623 half of the Riding Field was granted to John Clavering, at a rent which suggests an output of 500T. By 1625 the Harding estate had become a major colliery but was out of their hands. At Riding Field the coal was easily won, transport was the main cost. In 1629 John Clavering added to his Riding Field lease with a share of the Hardins' Hollinside coal. He was in partnership with Henry Maddison, greatest coalowner of the time. The whole area was drained by an adit in Clockburn Lane by the 1630s. Whickham's resouces was producing over 1000T. Throughout the 17th century coal on the Harding estates continued to be exploited by leading Hostmen partnerships. By 1692 the aged Sir James Clavering gave way to a partnership of the heirs of his Puritan circle, who had given Hollinside a waggonway (the Riding Field).

The Axwell pits were free draining and so were worked very early. The earliest known date is 1320. There is then a long period of inactivity at Axwell. In 1599 Sir John Lumley leased his coal property to William Jenison, Hostan, and Timothy Draper. Output began at 500T and may have reached 700T. Old free-draining pits were reopened in 1609 but were unprofitable and abandoned a year later. In 1617 the Lumley coal estate was lost by mortgage. The pits may have been drowned or coal may have ran out. Output by then may have only been 100T. By 1622 the pits had disappeared. In 1669 James Clavering paid a fee to empark Axwell and so mining must have ended there. Dated C14th.

Part of the Whickham Grand Lease. In 1603 Nicholas Tempest of Stella held a vend quota of 250T (tens of chaldrons exported) and that is likely to represent the output of the outcropping seams. This figure rose to 900T in 1605, a quantity impossible to extract just from Stella alone. By this time Sir Nicholas Tempest and his son Thomas were active all along the River Tyne, and had acquired a full share in the Grand Lease, possibly that formerly held by William Selby. By 1636 the output at Stella had been in excess of 650T, its peak. Later production declined. By the early 18th century the vend was around 200T and had disappeared by the 1720s. A view of Stella in 1712 gives a good indication of the stages of development of 17th century mining. The upper seam had been drained by an adit opening further down Blaydon Burn. A mill shown on a plan of 1633 was used to raise water to allow the extraction of coal from the next seam. This mill survived until 1895 with different functions as Path Head Mill. A 350 yard long leat gave enough fall for a second mill, the Low Mill. For the Five Quarter seam, 14 yards lower again, Low Mill was paired with a Chain Mill. This must have been inadequate because Low Mill was converted into a bob gin (a beam engine working twin sets of pumps lifting water to the free drainage level). Bob gins are not documented before 1705. In 1712 the whole system was worn out and abandoned.

In the last two decades of the 16th century the Whickham Grand Lease group had pits in Axwell Morrisfield. This was free draining. A Grand Lease watercourse running to Swalwell Bank may date from this time. The pits continued in production until the 1650s. They were not exhausted until 1712. Dated C16th.

In the last two decades of the 16th century the Whickham Grand Lease group had pits on Sir George Selby's Peal Flat overlooking Swalwell. Water in the pits must have had to have been raised to the surface by the gin at Ginn Close on Market Lane. Peal Flat is not documented after 1610. Dated C16th.

Accounts of 1582 show that the principal partner at Winlaton Colliery was coal magnate James Lawson's daughter Barbara Blunt-Scrivener. While most Winlaton coal went to Blaydon Staiths, she had a river port of her own on the River Derwent at Swalwell Ford. Her staiths were located on the Swalwell side. Total output for 1581 was given as 23,602 fothers, over 100 wainloads a day, making 7,867 Newcastle chaldrons, some 20,800 tons. The Whickham Grand Lease had staiths immediately those of Barbara Blunt, which brought coal from their Axwell and Swalwell pits to the Derwent. Dated C16th.

Coal was sent from Winlaton to Windsor Castle for lime burning in 1367. The deposit may have held half a million tons, which could have been quarried in a century. Clavering and Rounding state that the likely location of this deposit was Winlaton Hill, where old workings and corves were found during road building in the 1930s. Despite two divisions of the land at Winlaton among the lords of the manor, the coal was not shared out and was worked as a single 'Winlaton Colliery'. Winlaton Hill was split into two by a west-east fault. The northern half had further fractured into four blocks which had sunk irregularly, allowing only limited working from 'the dip', its lowest point. The breaking of the strata reduced the extent of the coal crown, bringing about early shaft mining. In 1425 there were two pits leased. These were probably on the western side of the hilltop, north-west of the church and north of the principal fault, sunk to the Hutton seam. The output may have been 2000 tons a year each. In 1551 Cuthbert Blunt, Richard Hodgson and others took a 30 year lease from the Earl. Coal was mainly worked on Snookhill, south of the fault, in the Westfield, west and south-west of the church, and in Upper Lands SE of the church. This is the first systematic development of a colliery on Tyneside, as opposed to multiple small mining enterprises. A large area of the Ruler was drained by an adit, the Watergate in Garesfield Lane. The route of the underground watercourse is not known. Accounts of 1582 show that the principal partner was coal magnate James Lawson's daughter Barbara Blunt-Scrivener. While most Winlaton coal went to Blaydon Staiths, she had a river port of her own on the River Derwent at Swalwell Ford. It is possible that in the colliery's heyday output may have approached the 1,000T (tens of chaldrons exported) mark. This is significant as the Tyne's entire export was in the order of 4,000T. William Selby took over from his aunt Barbara. New sinkings were made in the 1580s by Selby, most likely in the Horsecrofts on the north face of the hill. A map of 1600 shows pits on Blaydon Haugh and on the Derwent. In 1603 the output was likely to be up to 1200T out of a total Tyne export of 9000T. Selby also had pits in Whickham Grand Lease. He was an MP and the most important coalowner of his day. In 1605 he handed the business to his son George. He sub-let the Winlaton workings which maintained an output of 1200T. By 1622 there was development of the self-draining seams at the foot of the north or east faces of the hill. In 1627 exports probably reached 1500T, but Winlaton was being overtaken by Whickham Grand Lease and Stella Grand Lease. Sir George Selby died in 1625 by which time most of the coal had been extracted and decline was inevitable. The last sector of Winlaton Hill (now in Axwell Park see HER 13581) was exploited by William Selby III. Pits were sunk at Shibdon in 1643 and a shaft sunk at Stampley Moss on the south side of the hill in 1648. But Winlaton Colliery was never the same scale again as the coal was almost worked out. In 1675 Sir William Blackett, merchant and Hostman, acquired Selby's share of the Winlaton coal.The sale included 'all Mills Engines', which may refer to the east bank of the Blaydon Burn at Brockwell, where the shafts date to around 1670, together with a millrace and mill. In 1669 the Blacketts also acquired the Hodgson share of the coal. Blackett was working at Brockwell, 2 miles from Blaydon. The coal workings were dependent on William Selby's Winlaton or Brockwell Waggonway. Dated C14th.

Former police station. Now facaded with new flats to the rear.

Located on the floor of the chapel. The effigy is of the wife of George Carr (mayor of Newcastle, died before 1506), name unknown. Date about end of C15. She lay originally beside her husband on a high tomb beneath the east window of the church of St. Nicholas. The tomb was mutilated by the Scots and probably by earlier iconoclasts. It was sold by auction by the churchwardens in 1783. Parts of the tomb were bought by alderman Hornby and kept in his garden in Pilgrim Street, thence this effigy came to the Keep. Sandstone covered by gesso; traces of paint survive. The head is broken off and the gesso and paint have completely gone from it so the head is different in appearance to the rest of the effigy. A folded kerchief is over the forehead. The hair is netted in a square shape round the face. This is covered by a veil hanging in stiff folds at each side. There is a necklace and locket around the neck. The kirtle has tight sleeves. Over this is a narrow sideless cote-hardie edged with fur, falling loosely from the waist. The mantle hangs from the shoulders in formal folds to the feet and is fastened by cords over the breast from a brooch on each shoulder. There is a jewel at the end of the cords. The feet are destroyed. Dated C15th.

Two sandstone effigies of women. The first is now standing against the wall of the 'guest house'. It stood for some years in an arched and moulded recess in the north wall of the presbytery of the church. The woman is unknown. The effigy is end of C13 in date. It is probably of local sandstone. The figure is carved in low relief and is now weatherworn. The head beneath a trefoiled canopy is covered by a kerchief or veil falling upon the shoulders at each side. The arms are in tight-fitting sleeves. The hands, on the breast, hold an object, maybe a bird. The loose folds of the mantle fall voluminously over the feet. When new it would have been a very graceful and beautiful piece. The second effigy now stands in the corner of the 'guest house' to the south of the cloister. It had been used as a foundation stone in the south wall of the nave during excavations in 1905. It dates to the early C14. It is of fine grained sandstone, but is much decayed and weather worn. The head rests beneath a cusped trefoil-headed canopy and is covered by a kerchief falling in folds on the shoulders. A wimple is beneath the chin, fastened by pins to the veil. The kirtle has tight sleeves. The hands are joined in prayer. A mantle falls in loose folds over the feet. Dated C13-14th.