Rainton, Rainton Waggonway, branch to Nicholson Pit

HER Number:
17107

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Rainton, Rainton Waggonway, branch to Nicholson Pit

Place:
Rainton

Map Sheet:
NZ34NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
With the development of more effective pumping engines to drain previously unworkable deep coal seams and the development of nucleated collieries, the Rainton Waggonway, especially its southern lines, was extensively upgraded and re-organised by the Tempests, to whom it had passed by marriage from the Whartons in 1730. A number of new branch lines to collieries were constructed between 1816 and 1826. The line to Nicholson Pit, to the north-east of Rainton Meadows, was opened in 1817.

Easting:
3205

Northing:
4908

Grid Reference:
NZ32054908

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 87C) p163 & 172; Bell, 1829, Map of the Coalfield (TWAS 2/421)