Woodhorn Colliery Copyright © Chris Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Woodhorn Colliery
Copyright © Chris Allen and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

This coalfield has the widest geological range, with Namurian and Westphalian coals, but very little historical material has been published recently.

Geologically, Northumberland and Durham form one continuous exposed coalfield (the ‘Great Northern Coalfield’); some sources treat this as one, whereas others separate the two counties.

For the combined coalfield, Hair (1844) forms an invaluable visual record of 1830s-40s collieries, and Atkinson (1966) is a relatively recent introduction.1,2

There have been papers in Archaeologia Aeliana, by The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Industrial Archaeology Review. For Northumberland specifically, the recent literature includes Tuck (1993 and later volumes).3

  1. Hair (1844, reprinted 1987)
  2. Atkinson, F. The Great Northern Coalfield 1700-1900 (Durham County Local History Society, 1966)
  3. Tuck, J.T. Collieries of Northumberland: Vol.1 (Newcastle upon Tyne. TUPS, 1993)
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