NEHL - Felling Colliery was the lynchpin of the areas growth through the 18th and 19th century. Alongside the iron, chemical works and quarries it fuelled the development of the housing rows around the railway. The colliery was linked by a short waggonway from the site to drops on the river Tyne at Felling Shore - there are surviving photographs of this megastructure. The waggonway was single track, but branched out into multiple sidings at the colliery and also served the huge chemical works.

Felling Colliery was dominated by an Irish migrant population, which supported the growth of this area having a sizeable catholic congregation. A Roman Catholic chapel was constructed adjacent to the waggonway, and continues to be one of the Catholic hotspots along the river.

It is well worth noting the colliery was sunk adjacent to Brandling's own seat - Felling Hall, which had to be knocked down ironically because of mining subsidence in 1820.

Somehow, the shaft remains. I set the drone above it to see if it was still open, however it's too dark to confirm. However, given the fact it's bricked up about 15ft I can only imagine it still remains. Astonishing given it has been closed for nearly 100 years and the site of an awful disaster.

"Opened 1779 and closed 1931. There were three pits - John Pit NZ 273 622, Venture Pit NZ 228 627 and William Pit. The colliery was opened by Charles Brandling. It was subsequently owned by Messrs John and William Brandling, Henderson and Grace. In the 1850s it was owned by Messrs Carr, Potts & Co, then Carr & Co, then Elliott & Co, then Sir George Elliott, Bart. In 1883 John Bowes and Partners LTD bought the mine.

This is one of the oldest colleries in what was County Durham. Coal was first wrought in Felling Manor in the seventeenth century. Boring operations in Felling started in 1758. In 1840 a borehole was sunk from the Low Main seam at John Pit to the Beaumont seam. In 1842 the High Main seam was abandoned and tubbed off at Tyne Main Colliery. The owners of Felling, Walker, Wallsend, Willington and Heaton Colleries all then contributed to the running cost of the large pumping engine at Friar's Goose (HER 1019) which prevented water passing into the dip. In 1849 the engine raised 1170 gallons of water a minute.

On 24 May 1812, an explosion killed 92 people. There is a memorial in St Mary's Churchyard, Heworth. On 24 December 1813 22 miners were killed, another 6 in an explosion on 23 October 1821 and another 6 on 22 January 1847. In 1894, Whellan reports that the colliery employed 685 men and boys." - Sitelines