Wardley, Wardley Colliery

HER Number:
3813

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Wardley, Wardley Colliery

Place:
Wardley

Map Sheet:
NZ36SW

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Coal Mining Site

Site Type: Specific:
Colliery

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
Wardley Colliery. There has been a colliery on this site since 1855, when it was opened by John Bowes & Partners Ltd. It was later owned by Washington Coal Company Ltd until 1947 when it was taken over by the National Coal Board. Whellan reports that in 1894 the colliery produced 1000 tons and employed 800 men. A miner's village grew up around the colliery. Whellan describes the miner's houses, the "neat" primitive methodist chapel, brick with stone dressings, dated 1884 and the board school, 1878, which could accommodate 180 infants. The miner's hall and institute were built in 1889, in plain brick, at a cost of £960. The second floor was a large hall for 600 people. The floor below was two cottages for the checkweighmen, a reading room and library. In 1959 Wardley colliery merged with Follonsby Colliery (which became known as Wardley No. 1 Pit. Wardley Colliery closed in August 1974.

Easting:
3052

Northing:
6194

Grid Reference:
NZ30526194

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 3813 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, c.1855, 6 inch scale, Durham, 7; Durham Mining Museum www.dmm.org.uk; Norman Emery, 1998, Banners of the Durham Coalfield; The Archaeological Practice Ltd. 2008, Coats' Yard, Wardley, Gateshead - Archaeological Evaluation; The Archaeological Practice Ltd. , 2008, Coat's Yard, Wardley - Archaeological Assessment; Pre-Construct Archaeology, 2014, J W Coats, Wardley - Archaeological Evaluation