Rainton Bridge, coal pit

HER Number:
11338

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Rainton Bridge, coal pit

Place:
Rainton Bridge

Map Sheet:
NZ34NW

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Coal Mining Site

Site Type: Specific:
Colliery

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
An unnamed pit is shown on a plan of 1777 (NRO 578/321) served by a waggonway (HER 3196). On the tithe map of 1839 (DRO EP/ER/27/2) the pit is represented by a shaft a little to the north of that on the 1777 plan, and a large H-shaped building, possibly an engine house. By 1856 the pit had entirely disappeared, leaving only the fan-shaped field boundaries where the waggonway opened out into sidings in the pit yard. In 2001 there was a large overgrown mound close to the embankment of the Rainton to Seaham Railway in the location of this C18 pit. A trench was excavated at the base of this in 2001. A substantial cut feature was recorded, infilled with sandstone rubble and an earlier north-south aligned ditch and burnt deposits.

Easting:
3346

Northing:
4855

Grid Reference:
NZ33464855

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Northern Counties Archaeological Services and Timescape Services, 2001 "Rainton Bridge South, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland - Desk-Based Assessment and Geophysical Survey of the Archaeological Potential"; Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd for Geoquest Associates, 2001, "An Archaeological Evaluation at Rainton Bridge South, Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear"; Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd, 2003, "An Archaeological Excavation at Rainton Bridge South, Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear"; Gavin Glover, 2005, "Rainton Bridge South Waggonway", Industrial Archaeology Review, XXVII: 2, pp 235-244