Beyond the Blaydon Races

WAGGONWAYS and RAILWAYS

of the

SOUTH-EAST NORTHUMBERLAND COALFIELD

PART ONE

BEYOND THE BLAYDON RACES

A History of the Waggonways and Railways which served Industries in the Hinterland of Lemington Staiths

by

Alan C. Clothier, C.Eng, FIMechE, FNEIMME

Published by

An Imprint of Melrose Press Limited

St Thomas Place, Ely

Cambridgeshire

CB7 4GG, UK

www.melrosebooks.co.uk

FIRST EDITION

Copyright © Alan C. Clothier 2014

The Author asserts his moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover designed by Melrose Books

ISBN   978-1-909757-40-0

epub    978-1-910792-34-6

Mobi   978-1-910792-35-3

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PART ONE

CONTENTS

MAP OF THE AREA

NOTES

PLANS and DRAWINGS

PREFACE

1.THE GREAT NORTHERN COALFIELD

2.A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE WAGGONWAYS OF SOUTH-EAST NORTHUMBERLAND

3.FEATURES OF THE DISTRICT COVERED BY PART ONE

4.THE RIVER TYNE AND LEMINGTON STAITHS

5.THE TRACK OR WAY AND ITS WAGGONS

6.ROUTES TO THE RIVER

6.1From Wylam Colliery

6.2From pits at Heddon-on-the-Wall

6.3From pits at Throckley

6.4From pits at Walbottle Moor

6.5From pits at Holywell Mains and Black Callerton

7.THE RAILWAYS

8.WHAT REMAINS?

9.SUMMARY

A GLOSSARY OF SOME OF THE MANY TERMS USED IN CONNECTION WITH WAGGONWAYS AND MINING IN THE NORTH-EAST OF ENGLAND

APPENDICES

A CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF EVENTS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

MAP OF THE AREA

NOTES

Endnotes

These are provided at the close of each chapter.

Money

This is quoted as it appears in any source document used and the following table can be applied to obtain an approximate metric equivalent if required.

The points of the compass

These have been mostly reduced to capital letters thus:

Other abbreviations

Where not given in the text are as follows:

Locomotive manufacturers and locomotive details:

Other:

Railway Companies:

Measurements

In respect to these, again they are quoted as in use at the time and it is hoped that the following table will be of some help in establishing the metric equivalents when needed. The depth of pits was usually given as fathoms (1 fathom = 6 ft) but I have thought it to be more convenient to quote the depth in feet.

Keels passing beneath the old bridge at Newcastle, which formed the major hindrance to upriver development, c1840

This book is dedicated to my wife, Ruth, without whose selfless forbearance it would not have got written. Also, I owe a debt of gratitude to Sue Wood of the Northumberland Collections Service and her very helpful Team as is the case, too, with Liz Rees and her Team at Tyne & Wear Archives. I would also like to express thanks to my editor at Melrose Books, Gwyneth Law, for her patient help and attention to detail at the production stage which was greatly appreciated.

PLANS and DRAWINGS

Drawing 1. This depicts the type of winding gin that William Brown would have been familiar with in his work and which he later put to one side in favour of the type of gin used at Whitehaven Colliery.

Drawing 2. This shows the type of gin in use at Whitehaven Colliery and which had so impressed William Brown that he constructed a number for use in his Throckley Colliery forecasting that they would soon displace the cog type. It will be noticed that Spedding constructed his sink or pit to an oval shape measuring some 10 ft by 8 ft.

Drawing 3. Taken from The Steam Engine, by D.K. Clark (London, 1890). This engine was the first of its type erected in the North of England and was constructed and installed at the Throckley Colliery by Messrs James Simpson & Co. of Pimlico in 1886 at the top of the winding shaft. It had cylinders of 35¾ in and 51 in diameter with strokes of 6 ft 1½ in and 9 ft respectively. The pump was double-acting of piston and plunger type fixed to the sump situated 360 ft below ground. It was able to deliver 2,500 gallons of water at its normal speed of 14¼ revolutions per minute. The colliery’s own coal was consumed at the rate of 2½ lbs per horsepower per hour.

Drawing 4. The provision of a waggon-stop at the head of an incline was an essential safety requirement to prevent waggons running amain and called for a strict adherence to the incline operating instructions

Drawing 5. Bob Engines – This sketch copied from the Colliery Memorandum book of the viewers the Barnes Bros, is one of the few drawings which depict the manner of installing a water-powered wheel underground for the purpose of draining water from a pit. NEIMME ref: FOR/14.

Drawing 6. This drawing is of the four-coupled engine to Trevithick’s design as built by Whinfield in Gateshead for the Wylam Colliery in 1804 but which Christopher Blackett decided not to use. The main text is shown on the following page.

The Original Drawings of the first Locomotive Engine made in the North of England are presented to the South Kensington Museum by Mr. Thos. Smith of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. These drawings were given by the person who made the Patterns for the Engine, William Thomlinson, and his employer was Mr. John Whinfield, of Pipewellgate, Gateshead-upon-Tyne, Engineer and Iron Founder.

The drawings were lent by Mr. Smith to Mr. Francis Trevithick, and are illustrated on Page 185 in his work The Life of Richard Trevithick, with an Account of his Inventions.

Mr. Robert Wylie, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was an Apprentice with Mr. Whinfield at the time these drawings were brought into the North, and he is of opinion that John Steel obtained them from Richard Trevithick, while in his employ, and that they are the work of Richard Trevithick.

John Steel came from Colliery Dikes, near Gateshead, and was brought up as an Engineer in the North, but migrated to Wales, and there worked for Richard Trevithick.

Having a love for change, he turned his back on Wales and brought with him the Drawings, and entered into the employ of Mr. Whinfield, as his Foreman. Steel at once started with construction of the first Locomotive in the North of England, and the whole of it was made in Pipewellgate. The Boiler was of cast iron, and was about 1½ inches thick. The Engine was originally made for Mr. Blackett, of Wylam, who thought it too light for his work, and it was, therefore, never removed from Pipewellgate. It was utilized by being converted into a Stationary Engine. Mr. Wyllie, during his apprenticeship, very often had the charge of the Engine, and did various repairs to it.

Some time after the Engine had been working, the Cylinder cracked from end to end, and it was discovered to have worn down to three-eighths of an inch in thickness. It was, however, hooped and worked until a new Cylinder was cast, a more difficult matter in those days than now.

The Drawings were offered by William Thomlinson to Mr. Wylie after Steel left Mr. Whinfield, but as he placed no value on them at the time, he declined the present, and several years afterwards they came into Mr. Thos. Smith’s possession. On Steel leaving Mr. Whinfield, he went to Paris for the purpose of putting Engines into the first Steam Boat built in France. On getting up Steam the Boilers burst, and Steel, with others, were killed on the spot.

A full description of the first Locomotive is given in the Life of Trevithick, Page 185, Vol. 1.

The Cylinder was 9 inches diam., 3 feet stroke, fixed in the Boiler; 4 Driving Wheels, 3 feet 1 inch diam., 4 feet 8½ inches from centre to centre; Cast Iron Boiler, 4 feet diam., 6 feet 6 inches long.

No. 1 Drawing – a well executed perspective view. – no date.

No. 2 do. Regulating and Throttle Cocks, Half Size. – Sept. 17, 1804.

No. 3 do. Waggon Engine. – Scale, one inch = one foot. – Oct. 4, 1804

Drawing 7. This shows a General View of Engine and Cross Section of Boilers etc. for the Tyne Iron Co. at 24th March 1801 at Lemington Ironworks. (From the Boulton and Watt Collection courtesy of the Birmingham Public Libraries).

List of Plans

1.Lemington Estate belonging to John Rogers, 1748

2.East Denton Estate and a farm at Lemington, 1754

3.Waggonway routes in the Newburn – Lemington District, 1754 (assumed)

4.Plan of proposed changes to Throckley Waggonway, 1755

5.Part of plan showing Brunton and Newbiggin Grounds, c1763–64

6.Waggonway Routes in the Newburn – Lemington District, 1767

7.The Lordship of Newbourn, 1767

8.The enclosed lands in the Lordship of Throckley, 1769

9.Part plan of Newburn Grounds, c1769

10.Waggonway Junction east of Newburn, c1769

11.Waggonway Routes in the Newburn – Lemington District, 1769–70

12.Waggonway Routes in the Newburn – Lemington District, December 1771

13.Part plan of Throckley Estate, 1774

14.Part plan of enclosed lands at Throckley, 1781

15.Part of Fryer’s Map of the Tyne, 1782, showing westernmost staiths

16.Rob. Bewick’s Close House Estate, c1785

17.Waggonway Routes in the Newburn – Lemington District, 1786

18.Waggonway Routes in the Newburn – Lemington District, 1786–87

19.Staiths arrangement at Lemington, 1790

20.Town of Lemington surveyed by Thos. Wilkin, 1802

21.Lands between Lemington and Newburn, undated but post 1802

22.Pits at Dewly Burn, undated but c1823

23.Tyne Iron Works, Lemington, 1834

24.Wylam Tithe Map, 1843

25.Wylam Iron Works, July 1844

26.Township of Walbottle, c1845 (Engine, Duke, Blucher and Coronation pits)

27.Heddon Firebrick Manufactory, June 1847

28.Wylam Colliery & Ironworks, 1857

29.Wylam Haugh Pit, 1857

30.Wylam showing Ann pit, from Deposited Plan of 1880

31.Lemington staiths, glassworks and Iron Works, from Tyne Improvement Act 1861

32.Map showing extension of waggonways into the Walbottle Moor area, c1785 to 1875

33.Part Newburn Steel Works and Premises, 1882

34.Close Lee Quarry bench waggonway, 1886 and 1889

35.North Walbottle Colliery, 1895

36.North Eastern Railway play, Scotswood to Newburn, 1895

37.North Eastern Railway plan, Newburn to West Wylam, 1895

38.Spencer’s Steel Works, Newburn, 1897, northern section

39.Spencer’s Steel Works, Newburn, 1897, southern section

40.Heddon Brickworks and Colliery, 1897

41.Throckley Isabella Colliery and its connections to waggonway and railway, 1899

42.Throckley Colliery, Firebrick and Clay Retort Works, 1919

43.Wylam, Horsley Wood and Prudhoe, 1919

44.Route of Throckley Colliery Waggonway to the staiths, 1951

45.North Walbottle Colliery, surface layout at closure, 1968

46.North Walbottle Colliery, incline layout at closure, 1968

47.North Walbottle Colliery, layout at Bankfoot at closure, 1968

48.North Walbottle Colliery, waggonway layout at Blucher and Coronation, 1968

Plan 1. Lemington Estate belonging to John Rogers, 1748. At this date we have no knowledge of there being any waggonways serving these pits, which are likely to have been small and close to their point of shipment. At this date it will be seen that solely John Humble is engaged in any mining activity.

Plan 2. East Denton Estate and a farm at Lemington, 1754. Again at this date there appears no reference to activity by either William Brown or John Blackett.

Plan 3. No plan from this period has been found and this one has been assembled from textual references. The length from X to Y was in the possession of Brown, whose waggonway was the first to arrive at the staiths.

Plan 4. The capital letters used here to explain some curious features of this plan do not appear on the original. It would seem likely that the draughtsman made a number of errors. We have used solid red lines to denote what are assumed to be waggonways then in existence; the draughtsman appears to have used waggon symbols. Dotted red lines have been used to denote those waggonways that are intended ways and for which permission is being sought. There appears no justification for the route from G to F as the new intended routes are clearly G, C, D and B, C, D. The route A, B, C is not marked ‘intended’ but clearly should have been otherwise the route would have joined the ‘Present Way’ where it crosses the route from the Thistle and Chance pits. It was the intention to close the section E, F, D after the new routes were opened. The Duke of Northumberland subsequently agreed to these proposals. The pits are not named on the original plan. Clearly William Brown was much respected by this time.

Plan 5. Few plans have been found of this area which show waggonways, but this one is by far the most comprehensive. Doubtless there were other WWs and there is indication of this by the way that branches from the main route are shown in Plan 7 at the point where the Hollywell Reins WW left the Duke’s grounds.

Plan 6. The waggonway from pits at Hollywell Reins has arrived at the staiths where it crosses that from Wylam Colliery. Output from Throckley Colliery at Brown’s Engine makes use of the Wylam WW to reach the staiths.

Plan 7. This is based on plan 25 of Plans of Estates and Collieries in the County of Northumberland, collected by Willm. Brown, NCS ref: SANT/BEQ/9/1/1. It shows some slight changes in the waggonways as compared with those shown on plan 24 where the ‘offgate’ track from Throckley Staiths is much shorter and the passing loop of the Wylam WW south of Brown’s Engine is shown as a pair of diverging lines (probably in error). It is unfortunate that the plan adheres rigidly to the boundaries of the Lordship of Newburn as this deprives us from knowing details of the layout at the Wylam Colliery and Hollywell Reins Colliery staiths which lay in the adjacent parish of West Denton.

Plan 8. On the north side of the Military Road the waggonway has been extended from the New Engine as far NW as the Duke pit but within a few years was cut back to the New Engine. The Meadow pit is served by another long branch which a few years later was cut back to the Queen pit. A new line appears to be laid to the Rye pit although a later plan shows this pit served by a short branch off a line running northwards more to the west and extended as far north as the Success pit situated on the north side of the Back Bourn. South of the Military Road the sole waggonway, which joins that from the north and descends to the staiths via the western bank of Walbottle Dene, serves an unnamed pit lying between the Ash and Knab pits; regrettably its name has failed to show up on any plan seen by us. Interestingly the line serving the unnamed pit is no longer extended into the Heddon Estate, which presumably used the supposed route via Brown’s Engine. The plan is of interest in showing the drainage adit known as the Tyne Level which in later years was extended further to the NE.

Plan 9. The principal point of interest to be seen is the construction of the new route of the Partnership in an effort to avoid the conflictions of the previous layout. This would call for other changes to be made in the Sandy Banks area where the Throckley and Wylam waggonways approached one another.

Plan 10. This shows the new junction formed east of Newburn Village as a result of Throckley Colliery constructing a new line. The lower connection near the limekiln was necessary for the traffic coming from the Brown’s Engine branch.

Plan 11. This plan shows the completed Throckley Colliery Bye Way and Main Way arrangement of tracks which presaged bigger changes as a result of the Duke of Northumberland deciding to develop Walbottle Colliery.

Plan 12. This is based on a plan NCS ref: SANT/BEQ/9/1/1 which itself does not show any detail of the Wylam WW or of the connection to the Ann pit (of Walbottle Colliery). By this date the Throckley Colliery output was routed by way of the new connection just south of Newburn Grange Farm where the branch from Brown’s Engine also joined the Wylam WW.

Plan 13. Another useful plan of Throckley Estate. This no longer shows a waggonway to either the Thistle or the Chance pits (see Plan 4) or to the pits at Brown’s Engine (see Plan 7), which presumably are no longer justified. The waggonway to the Duke pit has been cut back to serve only the New Engine and that which formerly served the Meadow pit now reaches only as far as the Queen pit. The earlier line to the Rye pit has been extended to reach the Success pit just N of the Back Burn with a NW branch to the Pink pit and a NE branch to reach the Wardle pit.

Plan 14. A useful plan which shows most of the pits on Plan 13 from some 7 years earlier. Only the waggonway routes to the Success, Pink, Rye, and Wardle pits and the New Engine are now shown. The original does not show the earlier ways, in particular that from Brown’s Engine in the SE part of the estate where it and the East Engine are shown as ‘Old Engines’.

Plan 15. This extensive and very useful map of the River Tyne in 1782 shows those staiths furthest from the river mouth and hence those which had the furthest distance to keel their sea coals downriver to waiting collier brigs. The Blacketts would have been well acquainted with the earlier staiths at Stella on the opposite bank which may well have brought about their thoughts to emulate them. The manner in which the Wylam Waggonway is intersected by each of the other waggonways can be clearly seen too.

Plan 15A. Fryer’s extensive and very useful map of the River Tyne printed in 1782 here shows those staiths which had the greatest distance over which they needed to keel their coals to waiting collier brigs east of the bridge at Newcastle. The Blacketts would have been well acquainted with the earlier staiths at Stella on the opposite bank and which may have well brought about thoughts to emulate them. Note how the Wylam WW is crossed by all the other WWs.

Plan 16. Shows most of the pits in use by Wylam Colliery up to this time; however, it is surprising that the waggonway is shown only as far as the Chapple pit whereas we would have expected it to be shown at least as far as the Haugh pit.

Plan 17. We continue to indicate the line coming from Brown’s Engine although by this date it is unlikely that the pits in that immediate area were in production as Lamb was in the process of acquiring the lease of Heddon Colliery. It has to be remembered, however, that this was also the conjectural route from the pits in Heddon Royalty at that time.

Plan 18. This plan indicates Lamb’s reversion to the earlier route off Greenwich Moor. However, the traffic from the pits of Heddon Colliery were still using the line from Brown’s Engine until a new route connecting with the line serving Greenwich Moor pits was brought into use c1789–90.

Plan 19. This plan shows the staiths at their greatest concentration as by the turn of the century there remained only two in use – the Walbottle staith and the former Throckley staith by then in use by the Wylam Colliery.

Plan 20. The author wishes this extended further west and east. The new position of Wylam staiths is shown and demonstrates how much more convenient to Blackett this must have been now the move had been made to the most southerly position. It is unusual in having a common ongate and offgate arrangement.

Plan 21. This shows a much simplified layout and the newly constructed line from the Walbottle Co.’s colliery at Blucher via the Great Incline. However, dating is problematic as Nixon is known to have come out of the Walbottle Partnership in 1810 and the Great Incline is unlikely to have been constructed much before the Blucher pit was sunk, thought to have been in 1814. It seems likely from the layout that a main-way and bye-way arrangement was still in force.

Plan 22. A useful plan showing the various pits worked by Joseph Lamb and Company during their tenancy. Note the references to two of the pits ‘holing’ or breaking through into earlier workings. The plan would have been all the more interesting though if the waggonways had been drawn in too. The ‘new’ pit, the Coronation, enables us to date the plan to c1823.

Plan 23. The Tyne Ironworks at Lemington, 1834. Water-borne iron ore was brought to the quay from where it was moved over the engine-powered incline to furnaces and a storage area higher up the hillside. Coal and coke was received from the Wylam waggonway connection at the north-west of the site.

Plan 24. Part of the Wylam Tithe Map, 1840. The most westerly pit is the Peggy, then the Haugh whilst the Engine is located near the NW corner of the buildings located south of the waggonway below ‘Wylam Colliery’. The draughtsman has not shown the Wylam WW linked to Thompsons waggonway from his ironworks to the N&CR station nor all the lines in the ironworks and at the pits (NCS ref: DT 522 M).

Plan 25. This plan shows the situation after ownership of the ironworks passed to the Bell Bros. in 1842. Not shown is the SW connecting curve joining the two waggonways although it is possible that a waggon turnrail was situated where the ironworks line crossed the Wylam WW..

Plan 26. The Township of Walbottle c1845 showing locations of the Engine, Duke, Blucher and Coronation pits together with their four inclines. The linking incline fell from the Blucher pit to the Engine pit and was an unusual arrangement unknown to the author in its use elsewhere.

Plan 27. At this date the works was better known for its production of firebricks than its coal, which was for the most part only fit to be consumed by the processes in use there.

Plan 28. This plan, surveyed in January and February 1857 in all probability shows the waggonways of both Wylam Colliery and the Wylam Ironworks at the stage of their greatest development in the Township of Wylam. It will be seen that as well as the SW linking curve there is a turnrail connection on a second track S of the Wylam Waggonway. The ironworks line running N on the scoria heap went on for only a short distance. Part of NCS ref: SANT/ BEQ/5/3/18/3.

Plan 29. This is the portion of the preceding plan which lies immediately to its western edge and shows the waggonway layout in detail at the Haugh pit, Wylam. The westward connection to the Peggy pit appears to have been severed by this date (January and February 1857).

Plan 30. This plan shows the ease of access afforded by the Ann pit’s position adjacent to the Wylam Waggonway and the ready access available to reach the NER station yard on the opposite bank of the Tyne.

Plan 31. It is not clear whether by this late date the Wylam staiths structure was still sound, but for whatever reason, end-on coal drops have been laid in to the south side of this very large building. It seems highly probable that the single line to the quay, presumably in use by the Stephenson’s Throckley Colliery, was in fact connected to the Walbottle Colliery’s line near the point where the lines of the Wylam Colliery and the Walbottle Colliery diverge to reach their respective staiths. The Stephensons used the waggonway connected quay at the opposite end of the Walbottle staith where there was more room for their activities.

Plan 32. As no plan of the waggonway serving pits in the Walbottle Moor district has come to our notice this map has been compiled from a combination of the information shown on the first OS maps of 1858, information gleaned from site visits and documentary evidence. As such it cannot be dated but it does cover the era from c1770 until 1875. The WW marked in red is unlikely to have been in use after c1820. Over the years it is known that there were rather more pits than those shown. In regard to the ‘deviation’ at the Callerton No.3 Engine we cannot be certain that the more direct route of the two was in fact a WW, and the detail we have of the route via the Engine does not extend very far north of the Stamfordham road hence the red question mark.

Plan 33. This plan shows the full development that took place to Spencer’s steelworks prior to construction of the Lower Works south of the Scotswood, Newburn & Wylam Railway. Unfortunately the full extent of the waggonway lines within the premises are not shown.

Plan 34. It will be seen that the line serving the quarry connected with the layout at the colliery. The TIC’s standard-gauge line to their river works went off to the SE a short distance from the junction of the Heddon Colliery and Brickworks line with that of the NER but is not shown on the plan.

Plan 35. This plan shows just how basic the early collieries of the modern era were. The pits reading from the north were: the Fred, Mary and Betty. The road from Newcastle to Stamfordham continued to the NW.

Plan 36. A useful plan showing all the connections made by industry with the NER in the area under study, also for the distances given. However, on the original which is held by the author the NER draughtsman was in error by showing the private line from the TCC’s Isabella pit as remaining north of the NER until joining the Percy pit branch – it actually followed a route south of the railway. Even the railway’s own internal documents cannot always be relied upon fully.

Plan 37. The two plans shown above form the westward extension of that shown in Plan 36. With the Heddon Colliery’s adoption of the NER route for forwarding their traffic it will be seen that a reversal was required using the west side of the ‘triangle’.

Plan 38. Spencer’s Steel Works as shown on the 1897 OS map which shows very clearly the extent to which the works had grown. It also shows the route being followed by the TCC’s waggonway from their Isabella colliery to the staiths, and also that by which the Stephenson’s waggonway from their colliery and brickworks ran to the quay at Lemington serving Walbottle Brick Works en route.

Plan 39. Spencer’s Rolling Mills at Newburn as shown on the 1897 OS map. Surprisingly the works’ narrow-gauge tracks do not show up, the inference being therefore that they all lay exclusively within the rolling mills building. Note the narrow-gauge tubway layout of the Newburn Hills’ Sand pit which passes beneath the waggonway by means of a subway to reach its private siding on the NER line. Also the route being followed by the TCC’s waggon-way from their colliery to the staiths and that by which the Stephenson’s waggonway from their colliery and brickworks ran to the quay at Lemington serving Walbottle Brick Works en route.

Plan 40. Heddon Brickworks and Colliery as shown on the OS map of 1899. By this date the Margaret pit had been in operation for some twenty years mainly exploiting the Brockwell seam. The two tramroads running up the hillside to the road from Heddon-on-the-Wall to the station can also be seen; that to the west side now ends at a coal depot for landsale coal to the district.

Plan 41. We can trace quite clearly on the Second Edition OS map of 1899 both the alignment of the original connection to the waggonway as well as the later alignment which made connections with both the TCC’s waggonway and the NER line near the Newburn Water Works below the Newburn Grange Farm.

Plan 42. A part of the Third Edition OS map of 1919 showing much of the original route from the Meadow pit to the former Wylam Waggonway now in the ownership of the Throckley Coal Company. Note how the reopening and development of the Maria pit has necessitated the retention of some of the earlier route to the Meadow pit as a headshunt.

Plan 43. This portion of the Third Edition OS map of 1919 shows the ‘Old Waggonway’ which we assume was the siding laid in to accommodate the materials destined for the aerial flight which connected to the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Company’s railway serving various construction sites. The old route to the John pit can be seen too near the more modern Prudhoe Main Colliery.

Plan 44. This 1951 OS sheet extract is useful for depicting the NCB and TCC waggonway connections to both BR and to the quays and staiths still existing but little used by then at Lemington.

Plan 45. This plan of the North Walbottle Colliery complex at the time of its closure in 1968 affords an interesting comparison with that shown