Wideopen Colliery

Wideopen Colliery appears on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey Map, with a shaft marked on the main site and a tunnel and shaft to the north west at NZ 2433 5730, which probably make up the secondary access to the mine. Begun in 1825, with initial sinking to 80 fathoms at the High Main, the first coals were drawn in 1827. It was linked to the Brunton and Shields Wagonway. The site was described by T.H.Hair in 1844 as having workshops, a saw mill and a "recently constructed" gasometer to provide gas to light the screens at night. The mine had three shafts, two coal drawing and one pumping. It was worked in 1844 by Messrs Perkins and Thackrah. The site is now a motor scrap-yard, the site boundary clearly discernible.