Hebburn, B Pit Wagonway

HER Number:
2239

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
Hebburn, B Pit Wagonway

Place:
Hebburn

Map Sheet:
NZ36NW

Class:
Transport

Site Type: Broad:
Tramway

Site Type: Specific:
Wagonway

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Wagonway from Hebburn Colliery B Pit (HER ref. 2241) to the C Pit wagonway (HER ref. 2231) at NZ 3180 6570. A shaft was sunk at Hebburn in 1792, initially to the High Main seam at 129 fathoms deep. Hair notes that The Main Coal from the pit was always considered of excellent quality, bordering upon Wallsend colliery along the mid-stream of the River Tyne. Eventually, two more shafts were sunk at the colliery (B and C) and by mid-century, workings went as deep as the Hutton Seam at 180 fathoms. The coal was transported from the pits to the riverside on an inclined plane by horses to the Black Staith, ‘one of the oldest on the Tyne’ according to Hair. Certainly, the name Black Steath appears on Gardiner’s River of Tyne map of 1652, suggesting that there had been shallow workings at Hebburn from early times, presumably in the Monkton or Hebburn Fell Seam mentioned by Hair. One shaft (A Pit) is shown on Casson’s map of 1801 (which gives the depth as 132 fathoms) along with a waggonway curving slightly eastwards from pit to staith. Bell’s map of 1843 shows all three pits and branch lines running to the main way from A Pit to the river. This line itself divides, the branches both running to Hebburn Staith. The First Edition Ordnance Survey shows a similar picture.

Easting:
3180

Northing:
6570

Grid Reference:
NZ31806570

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 2239 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham, 3; 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 40B); Hair, T.H, 1844, Views of the Collieries p30, 33-34; Casson, 1801, Map of the Rivers Tyne and Wear; Bell, 1843, Map of the Coalfield