Rainton, Rainton Waggonway, branch to Stubley Moor Pit

HER Number:
17105

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Rainton, Rainton Waggonway, branch to Stubley Moor Pit

Place:
Rainton

Map Sheet:
NZ34NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
By 1697, the Wharton’s Rainton Waggonway carried coal from their Rainton Ducks Colliery across Dubmire and Hall Moors and over Sedgeletch from where the line took up an old waggonway route used by Sir John Duck through Newbottle, Penshaw and down Waggon Hill to the south bank of the River Wear. Branches were added to the waggonway from Newbottle Colliery for the Earl of Scarborough’s coal in 1723 and another from Smith’s Colliery in Morton but the route that these branch lines took has not been established. In 1730, following Jane Wharton’s death, the colliery passed by marriage to the Tempest family. Over the middle years of the 18th century, the course of the main way around Dubmires was altered because of wayleave problems and for a time the line became circuitous. By the late 1760s, the line had reverted to its former course. Branch lines were later added to deep collieries including Eden Main (HER 17101) and Penshaw (Wharton Main) Collieries (HER 17102). The branch to Stubley Moor Pit was added before the mid-18th century. Archaeological excavations at Redburn Row, Chilton Moor in 2016 revealed part of an early wooden waggonway. There were two parallel lines of track. One lay directly on the natural ground surface and had surviving rough wooden sleepers (oak and ash) between 1.7m and 2m long, some with wooden pegs. Most of these were simple unworked lengths of tree branches, not finished timbers. This line is almost certainly a continuation of the route shown on the 1777 Mowbray plan. A repaired area on the trackway produced a copper alloy penny of George III dating to 1806-8. The line went out of use before the mid-1850s. The other line, which was possibly contemporary, had been built immediately to the west on an earthen embankment. Sleeper impressions were preserved on its crest. This line continued in use after the lower line was abandoned, and must have formed part of the Red Burn branch mentioned in John Robson's mid-1820s notebook. The embankment was presumably built to cross the Red Burn (which passed under the southern end of the embankment presumably in a culvert) or to raise the track level above the low-lying marshy ground. By 1855-87 the line was at the end of a complex zig-zagging branch connecting to the Londonderry Railway. By this time the line had been relaid in iron. Three short sections of iron rail were recovered (not in-situ).

Easting:
3227

Northing:
4950

Grid Reference:
NZ32274950

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Alan Williams Archaeology, 2013, Waggonways to the South Bank of the River Tyne and to the River Wear; Turnbull, L, 2012, Railways Before George Stephenson (entry 86E) p163 & 172; Archaeological Services University of Durham, 2013, Chilton Moor, Fencehouses, Tyne and Wear - archaeological assessment; Archaeological Services University of Durham, 2014, Chilton Moor, Fencehouses, Tyne and Wear - Geophysical Survey; Archaeological Services Durham University, Feb 2016, Redburn Row, Chilton Moor, Tyne and Wear - archaeological evaluation and earthwork survey; Archaeological Services Durham University, Feb 2018, Redburn Row, Chilton Moor, Tyne and Wear - post-excavation full analysis