Elemore Colliery and the Hetton Coal Company

Abstract

Elemore Colliery in Tyne and Wear but formerly in County Durham (NZ 356456), now stands disused but earmarked for preservation (see Plate 1). The colliery surface buildings are to be preserved and opened to the public. To the industrial archaeologist the most interesting feature of the colliery is the early nineteenth century single cylinder vertical winding engine which stands in its original, though slightly modified, house. It is the only engine of its type known to survive in situ; the other mine buildings are predominantly Edwardian. The colliery, which before nationalization had been owned by the Hetton Coal Company, the Lambton and Hetton Collieries Ltd and the Lambton, Hetton and Joicey Collieries Ltd, closed in 1973/4. Elemore holds no special position in the history of coal mining in general nor indeed in the history of the Durham area, other than as a member of the prosperous and influential Hetton groups of collieries. However, its origins and its development make an interesting study which not only illuminates its own past but also sheds light on the development of the area and the industry as a whole.