The Prosperous Pit started life as a small working adjacent to Benton Square, operated by the Longbenton Colliery owners. A small pit row lay on site, with hewers also certainly residing at nearby Wapping Square, Benton Square and perhaps the houses at the Swallow Pit. Such square formations for pit houses were quite the staple for very early 19th century collieries.

The working originally closed before the 1850s and is noted in the Name Books as a short row of houses only. The aligned Ordnance Survey maps do not feature specific coal activity, only allotments for the houses and the old shaft itself. This corresponds with the 1890s maps also where the old coal shafts are still shown, alongside a new Benton Square Quarry adjacent.

It is noted in a Chronicle piece from 30/07/1904 that it was owned by Longbenton Colliery, and in 1772 Smeaton designed a Newcomen Engine for the site. This is shown here: http://industrial-archaeology.org/EarlyEngines/details.php?q=762~prosperous. This engine was moved in 1810 to drain the High Pit.

The working was reopened in 1906 by the Backworth Coal Co. and operated until 1960. In this time it grew as a fairly large enterprise, with its own pit head baths (opened in 1936) and canteen constructed on site. A new winding house, electric power house, magazine and other ancillary buildings were also incorporated.

The site was fully cleared in the 1950s. A ready mix concrete factory was approved for the site in the 1960s, but is now a housing development.