"Betsy Pit (Coal), also known as Belsay Pit became part of Blaydon Burn Colliery, eventually closing in the 1950s. This small pit belonged to Joseph Cowen who owned the brickworks (HER ref. 1646 and 3434) in 1896. On the 1st edition Ordnance Survey plan this is marked as the Belsay Pit. At that time there was no range of buildings, but two structures on either side of the mouth of the mine had been constructed by 1896. This formed part of what became known as Blaydon Burn Colliery." Sitelines

NEHL - Betsy Pit became the main working of the upper Blaydon Burn collieries. It was situated within a tight nook above a culverted burn and the valley edge, and had a number of sidings circulating from the private railway down to the Tyne. It featured a substantial overhead brick building, perhaps hosting a pumping engine, and a drift directly connected to the railway. Access to the pit was obtained via a footpath from Burn Road.

There are significant remains including the drift entrance, retaining walls and lots of brickwork.

History of the upper brickworks and railway:
I do bang on about bricks a little bit (a lot), but it's certainly warranted down at Blaydon Burn. These buildings you see were part of one of the most famous brickworks in the region.

What you're looking at is Cowen's Upper Brickworks on the Winlaton end. Joseph Cowen, who we've discussed extensively, used clay dug out locally to produce the famous "COWEN" bricks.

Cowen first built up the works here in the 1810s, with their own brick gas retort works standing up here alongside the brickworks near the river. A second site was eventually added at this site. For clarity, a gas retort works is literally where the coal is heated for gas. Cowen set it up here to light his own factory, but ended up building around it for further brick production.

It ended up being a vast and intricate complex of railways and coal mines all the way down to the Tyne. These bricks became well known for their resistance to high temperatures, and became well known internationally. They were exported across the empire and can still be found around the world, but more notably here in local buildings and terraced rows with their distinctive light buff.

Operations continued into the 60s when the clay eventually dried up as well as cheaper competition. The halcyon days of Blaydon Burn can still be remembered through these ancillary buildings as well as the partially preserved drift mines, scattered bricks and railway trackbed down the valley.

The railway you see on those maps was opened in 1842. It only took 6 months to build and was thought to be incredibly impractical by others but by Cowen a necessity to link colliery and brickworks to the depot on the Tyne. It was designed in part by a Mr G G Bell (a man I can find nothing on), and built with no accident whatsoever.

It was built on the lands of PE Townley who was, surprisingly, accommodating - probably because of Cowen's prowess.