3123
Newbottle Colliery
Philadelphia
54.865027,-1.479457
Dorothea Pit
Opened:
Closed:
1816
1956
Entry Created:
3 Sept 2021
Last Updated:
22 Aug 2023
Reclaimed
Condition:
Owners:
Nesham Family (1700s - 1819), Earl of Durham (1819 - 1896), Lambton Collieries Ltd. (1896 - 1910s), Lambton & Hetton Collieries Ltd. (1910s), Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries Ltd (1940s - 1947), National Coal Board (1947 -)
Description (or HER record listing)
Newbottle Colliery was opened in 1816 and closed in 1956. There were several other pits - Dolly Pit (sunk in 1811), Elizabeth Pit (HER 3136), Margaret Pit (HER 3126) and Success Pit (HER 3127).
The colliery was opened by the Nesham family, then taken over in 1819 by the Earl of Durham, and in 1896 by Lambton Colleries Ltd, then Lambton, Hetton and Joicey Colleries Ltd and from 1947 by the National Coal Board. The colleries were linked by 18 miles of private railways. There were several disasters - an explosion on 2 June 1815 killed 57, a boiler burst on 7 August 1815, killing 11. There were explosions on 19 October 1821 (killed 6 miners), 19 November 1824 (killed 11) and 15 June 1832 (killed 12).
There is a plaque on a stone wall marking the location of the shaft.
NEHL - The Dorothea Pit is the most famous out of the several Newbottle Colliery operated in the 1890s. Philadelphia expanded around it, with at least a dozen pit terraces radiating from the pit as well as typical ameneties like Methodist Chapels and public houses.
Ordnance Survey, 1890s
Dorothea Pit, undated. Source: Searle Canada
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Headgear of the Dorothea Pit at Philadelphia, 1967. Source: Alan Murray-Rust, Geograph
Historic Environment Records
Durham/Northumberland: Keys to the Past
Tyne and Wear: Sitelines
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