Holywell Reins Wagonway

HER Number:
1941

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Holywell Reins Wagonway

Place:
Newbiggin

Map Sheet:
NZ16NE NZ16SE

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Post Medieval

Specific Period:
C18

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
A map of around 1770 (Watson 24/29) superimposes the underground workings and surface features of the Earl of Carlisle’s Hollywell Reins Colliery in Newbiggin. Approaching from the south-west, the waggonway serving the colliery is shown branching to the dispersed Brunton, Anne, Unity, Liberty and John Pits. A number of other pits and four pumping engines (The west engine, old west engine, the little engine and the great engine) lie in the area. The waggonway took a curving line, on a fairly gentle slope, down to the River Tyne at Lemington. It is shown on a 1767 plan of the Duke of Northumberland’s Newburn Estate (NRO: ZanBellM17/197/A plan 24). The colliery, much equipment and four miles of waggonway were advertised and sold in September 1780 (Turnbull 2009, 129).

Easting:
2005

Northing:
6926

Grid Reference:
NZ20056926

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1941 >> I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 8; Alan Williams, 2012, Waggonways North of River Tyne: Tyne and Wear HER Enhancement Project; North East Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineering: NRO/3410/Watson 24/29; NRO: Plan of the Duke of Northumberland’s Lordship of Newburn 1767 Zan Bell M17/197/A plan 24; Turnbull, L. 2009 Coals from Newcastle: An Introduction to the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield, p 129