4090
Spital Tongues Colliery
Newcastle
54.983146,-1.632002
Leazes Main Colliery
Opened:
Closed:
1830s
1858
Entry Created:
3 Sept 2021
Last Updated:
7 Feb 2023
Redeveloped
Condition:
Owners:
Edward Richardson & Co. (1850s)
Description (or HER record listing)
Spital Tongues Colliery. Opened in the 1830s. In the 1850s the owners were Edward Richardson & Co. The Victoria Tunnel (HER 4091), an underground railway, was built for Porter and Latimer from Spital Tongues Colliery to the Tyne near Glasshouse Bridge. The lease for mining was granted commencing on 25 March 1835, but they were faced with the serious problem of getting the coal from the colliery to the Tyne to be loaded on to colliers. Other colleries had wagonways running to the river, but Spital Tongues was unfortunate in the fact that the city lay between it and the Tyne. In the end a tunnel was excavated from the colliery under the centre of Newcastle to the Tyne close to the Ouseburn. They could have chosen a shorter route, but they wanted to avoid having to pay keelmen's fees for taking the coal in keels to the river mouth, hence the tunnel was built to the Ouseburn. It was built in 1839-42. The colliery had a short working life due to financial difficulties, closing in 1858.
NEHL - A shaft and a coal level were located nearby, presumably forming part of the complex of Spital Tongues Colliery. There is no trace of Spital Tongues pit left.
Ordnance Survey, 1864
Spital Tongues Colliery, date unknown. Source: The Chronicle
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Site of Spital Tongues Colliery today. There is no trace.
Historic Environment Records
Durham/Northumberland: Keys to the Past
Tyne and Wear: Sitelines
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