>I understand from a friend that there was a colliery in the vicinity of
Beadnell in Northumberland. I'd be grateful if anyone could tell me the
name of this colliery, and/or the dates it was worked.
>
>At the risk of starting a very long thread, I'll explain why it's of
interest. There is a traditional sword dance called rapper, done by pitmen
from the North East. It's at least two hundred years old, and two of the
teams- The Royal Earsdon Sword Dancers and The High Spen Blue Diamonds- are
still going. Of the fifty or so teams that were recorded historically, all
but Beadnell had a well documented mining background, and it is now being
suggested that perhaps Beadnell is the tip of a non-mining iceberg.
Personally, I doubt it.
>
Yes indeed, there was a coal mine(s) at Beadnell.
In 1735, John Wood of Presson, Northumberland bought the two largest
properties in Beadnell for his son Thomas, and in 1747 Thomas gave George
Turnbull of Cambois a 30 year lease at £5 per annum, to quarry limestone
from the cliffs and rocky foreshore between Delf Point and Ebbe’s Nook and
to erect limekilns. Two coal mines had been sunk between the shore-line
kilns and the village by 1759, and these were worked by Thomas Wood, who had
saltpans near Delf Point, but who also presumably supplied Turnbull’s kilns
with coals.
The coal mines may not have been continuously worked thereafter, but
Beadnell Colliery was working in 1887, when 4 tons of bunker coal were
exported from Beadnell harbour.
Stafford M Linsley
Lecturer in Industrial Archaeology
The University
Newcastle upon Tyne
England
NE1 7RU
Tel. 0191-222 6795
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