This is the site which transformed this whole landscape, giving brushstrokes of red brick and iron pit wheels against the rolling hills.

Ushaw Moor Colliery was sunk in 1865, utilising land previously the reserve of grazing sheep and crops. It was opened by Ferens & Love - both very well known names across Durham. The former were a modest drapers family who married into the Love's, a dynasty with vast coal interests across Durham also owning Cornsay Colliery. Their bricks have become a bit of a collectors item these days - Pokemon cards for anoraks like me!!

The pit was predominantly extracting coal for industrial use - steel making, factories and for fireclay which produced their bricks. It only took a few decades for there to be over 500 people working at this site alone, which is why this whole area was developed with terraced housing.

As noted in previous posts, relations with and between workers were dire here. Strikes were constant, with allegations of assault and intimidation rife between the strikers and those who continued working. Strikers beat a man black and blue in 1882 leading to a sentence of hard labour for one of those who beat him. The wives of the strikers were also known to intimidate any hewer moving into the area to work. It's worth noting the roots of the strikes were in the appalling and wretched living conditions of the pitmen, while reducing their wages and evicting them due to job performance. All while the owner at this time, Chaytor, lived in comfort over at Witton Castle.

The pit was later owned by the Pease's who developed what we know as Ushaw Moor, and the National Coal Board at point of Nationalisation. They kept it going for around 13 years, until the pit closed in 1960. The settlements are in great nick compared to others in Durham, though you'd never know there was a pit here today.