Ford Colliery was worked for coal from at least mid-17th century. It was first mentioned in documentary sources when the property passed from the Carr family. A 19th century account of the workings of the colliery relates that originally the old pit tapped the Scremerston seam, a stony coal, but later the same shaft was sunk to the main coal. A report later in the 19th century, when the marquis of Waterford came into the property records, '...the works were carried on after the fashion of pillar work. At this time there was a pit called Ben Oxley's Pitt...There was a water wheel...supplied by Ford Moss...The pillar work is now a drowned waste, but there is a barrier between the pillar work and the drowned waste of about 107 yards thick.' The coal lay in four seams and was wrought at Ford and Etal. The colliery engine house chimney is a Grade II Listed Building protected by law. It is built of stone and brick with a square stone base and a round brick chimney. Other colliery buildings have been demolished, but the foundations can still be seen of the miner's cottages and other buildings. The colliery is a Scheduled Monument protected by law.