Thread: Coal Pits
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Old 23-04-2016, 01:57 PM
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Eglingham and Shipley.—South of Hagdon a cross-fault shifts the measures ¾ mile to the south-west, on to the outskirts of Eglingham Moor. From here onwards coal has been wrought for a distance of 2½ miles in the direction of Shipley. As in the ground to the northeast, two seams have been worked, the Blackhill and Main Coals the latter is the more important. They dip N. or N.E., the eastern boundary being marked by the great Bolton Fault, bringing up the Fell Sandstone. The field as a whole was of importance in past times and several pit sections are on record.

Beginning at the northern end, beyond Curleheugh, both coals have been wrought, the Main Coal in particular. Between the higher seam and the northern boundary fault a borehole is said to have been put down, near the stone wall running north-west, to the ' Main Seam,' but it is said ' to have been lost from water,' the probability being that the bore intersected the fault (down south) which lies a little to the north. The lower coal, which is most likely the Main, has been worked from bell-pits about 350 yds. north of Curleheugh. From the line of these the coal apparently dips N. and N.W. on the west side towards the boundary fault, but farther east the dip changes to N.E. The late Mr. Topley, in his original survey of this district, states that the horizon of these two coals is uncertain, but that they are probably lower than others wrought in the district. This must remain a matter of opinion, for we have no knowledge as to their relationship to the Dun Limestone or any other known datum line.
At Curleheugh the coals are repeated by a fault down south where the workings, as judged by the size of the pits, appear to have been on a larger scale. A soft sandstone, massive, false-bedded and whitish-buff in colour, forms a knoll overlying the two seams wrought north-west of the hamlet, where the dip approaches 8° to N.N.W. Most of the pits to the Main seam show small fragments of entomostracan limestone on their refuse heaps as well as buff-coloured planty sandstone ; one of the heaps, 350 ft. west of the house, contains pieces of greenish sandstone as well as fragments of a very hard sandstone. Reference to the section given on the preceding page confirms the presence of such strata overlying the Main Coal in the Houghterslaw area.
In some MSS. notes on Eglingham Colliery dated 1760 the following occurs :—

CROW COAL Limestone Roof ... 1 yard thick
Top Coal... 1 ft. 1 in.
Stone... ... 11 ins.
Foul Coal... 2 ins.
Coal... 10 ins.
... ...

The Crow Coal is 7½ fathoms above ye Main Coal and comes on with the bank about 200 yards west from ye Coal Houses.
The Main Coal has a black slate or mettle roof of 2 feet thick, and sometimes falls till it comes to 2 feet of limestone.

Coal (Fine)… 6 ins.
Mettle… 9 ins
Coal rather coarse ... 2 ft. 0 ins



The exact location of ‘Eglingham Colliery' is unknown, but the above section is in fairly close agreement with those from Tarry, Bannamoor and Shipley Collieries to the south.

About 300 yds. south of Curleheugh a strong E.-W. cross-fault moves the coals a mile to the west. South of this the principal working was at the Tarry Colliery, 500 yds. north of Eglinghamhill farm. This pit closed in 1896: no actual sections of the coals are available, but on a plan of the old workings it is stated that the depth to the top coal (called the Blackhill on the plan) was 19 fms., the coal being 2 ft. 6 in. thick, whilst the bottom coal (called the Main) was 2 ft. 9 in. thick and lay 27 fms. from the surface. The dip was N.N.E. at 1 in 7. Both coals were worked over the same area, approximately 1,400 ft. by 350 ft. Besides the large pit there have been innumerable smaller pits (bell-pits) sunk to both coals, but of these the most important are again to the bottom or Main Coal. About Tarry farm, on the east side of the road leading from Eglingham village to Eglingham Moor, the workings are stopped by a small branch fault which throws to the west. A drift appears to have been made, 250 yds. west of the road, in massive and micaceous sandstone to a coal (probably the Blackhill seam) close above : 9 ft. of sandstone is seen dipping north-east at 12°. No attempt appears to have been made to reach the Main Coal, which lies 45 to 50 ft. below.
Nearly 1 mile east by north from the village the Blackhill outcrop crosses the stream which flows south and south-east to Shipley. The coal itself is not seen but there are good exposures of an underlying bed of sandstone—hard, buff, blocky and micaceous—which dip slightly south by east at from 14° to 18°. The southern limits of this sandstone are disturbed by minor faults before being finally cut off by a larger one, passing by Eglinghamhill, which again throws to the south. This larger fault shifts the coal outcrops westwards for 800 yds. and thereafter they run, without interruption, for over a mile to the Bolton Fault, marking the eastern boundary of the field. In this undisturbed area there are, besides many smaller pits, the two important shafts of Bannamoor and Shipley, for both of which records are extant. The Bannamoor Pit lies 1,450 yds. east-southeast of Eglinghamhill farm. A full account of Tate's section of this pit is given in the Appendix (p. 120) but a condensed version is as follows :-

Strata ... 38ft 8in
Limestone 1ft 3in
Strata 17ft
Limestone 4ft
Shale 3in
Crow Coal (with 2 to 3 in. of stone in middle) 2ft 0in
Strata 38ft 0in
Limestone 3ft 2in
Blue thills (shale) 2ft 6in
Coal 6 in.
Shale 6 in. MAIN or CANCER COAL ... 2ft 8in
Coal 20 in.

Shale —

This section is probably correct, for the distance between the two coals at Tarry Pit is 48 ft. and at Eglingham Colliery 49 ft. Another version of the Bannamoor Pit is given in the Survey Borebooks as coming from a Mr. Baird (Appendix, p. 120). According to this the two coals are only 28 ft. 2 in. apart : the record is pretty close to Tate's so far as the coals themselves are concerned, but disagrees seriously in the distance between them. It is ten years later than Tate's section and may have been only from memory : at any rate Tate's record seems the more reliable as it is in virtual agreement with those at Tarry and Eglingham Collieries.

Between Tarry and Bannamoor Collieries, on the right bank of the stream which flows south towards Shipley, at a point just north of Coalburn Cottage on the six-inch map, there is an old engine pit which is reported to have been 10 to 12 fathoms to the bottom coal ; here the higher seam is said not to be ‘on,' but the thickness of strata passed through shows that the higher coal outcrop must pass very close to the north side of the shaft. Between here and Bannamoor Pit two other sinkings are recorded ; the first (to the higher seam) was 9 fathoms deep, of which the top 6 or 7 fathoms were said to be in clay ' (? boulder-clay) ; the second, 400 ft. from the first and situated lower down the hill, is 10 fathoms to the bottom seam.
Farther to the south were the Shipley workings, but here there seems to be some confusion as to the exact site of Shipley Colliery itself. On the six-inch Ordnance map that name is given to an old shaft 1,200 yds. north-west of Smallburns farm ; this may be termed the ‘Old Pit.' There was a more recent working 1,100 yds. west of Smallburns which was also known as 'Shipley Colliery' and filed under that name amongst the Home Office plans. This was abandoned so recently as 1905 and may be termed the ' New Pit.' The ' Old Pit ' seems to have passed through both coals, being sunk 24 fathoms to the Bottom (or Main) Coal. A section of Shipley Colliery ' according to Stanley Smiths was :-

Limestone ... 3ft 0in
Blue metal 9in
Coal 10 in.
Band 6 in. [3ft 4in]
Coal 24 in.


The coal from this seam is described as fairly hard and a good gas coal ; it burned to a white ash, giving off a large quantity of black smoke. Dr. Smith terms this the Blackhill Seam,' i.e. the upper of the two coals wrought locally. There seems to be a mistake here ; the section agrees much better with that of the Main or Bottom Coal in Tate's section of the Bannamoor Pit, close at hand ; all the more so since on Mr. Topley's maps there is no mention of the Top Seam (the Blackhill ') ever having been wrought. Even so, we are still in doubt as to which of the Shipley Pits, the ' Old ' or the ' New ', the section belongs ; most probably it was from the 'Old ' one.
The ' New ' Shipley Pit, abandoned in 1905, was 18 fathoms deep to the Main Coal. The section of the coal, taken from the Home Office Plan (No. 4971), is as follows :-


Limestone 2ft
Shale 3ft 0in
Coal 5 in.
Band 5 in.
Coal 12 in.
Band 1 in. MAIN COAL 2 9
Coal 8 in.
Band 1 in.
Coal 1 in.

Hard grey post thill 6 0

The coal dips to the south-east at 8° and minor faults down south were encountered in the south-west area of the workings.
Between the sites of the Old ' and New ' Shipley Collieries several pits from 13 to 18 fathoms deep have been sunk to the Bottom Coal. Mr. Topley's map also shows that 250 ft. north-northeast of the new shaft a 14-fathoms bore, said to have been in soft yellow freestone, was put down some time before the opening of the new colliery. About half-way between ' New ' Shipley Colliery and where the coal outcrops cross the burn to the north-west there is an old pit said to have been 10 fathoms deep. The coal got here (fragments can still be seen on the pit-heaps) must lie well below the Main or Bottom Seam, and cannot be far from the base of the Scremerston Measures.
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