Weetslade Colliery

A shaft was sunk at Weetslade was sunk and colliery buildings constructed from 1900. The colliery is first shown on Ordnance Survey third edition of 1920 as 'Burradon (Lizzie) Pit'. A large deposit of spoil had already grown south of the pit, fed by a branch from a complex of sidings from the Seatonburn Wagonway (HER 1065). By 1951 the colliery and its associated features show signs of realignment, with the washery reservoir reduced in size, and the spoil heaps extended beyond their earlier range. By 1958 (OS seventh edition), the colliery has begun to take on its modern form. Development had begun on the north side of the Seatonburn Wagonway (now labelled Fawdon Wagonway) with a railway siding and associated track leading to a new building probably associated with the spoil trnasfer to the new northern spoil heap (HER 5446). The earlier complex of sidings west and south of the mine has grown further, with some lines terminating in engine sheds. Two washery reservoirs now occupy the spoil area west of these lines. A new pit head baths occupies the area formerly taken by the reservoir to the east of the mine. A further area of mining activity has developed in the south-west part of the site bordering Sandy Lane, with mine buildings present at the south end of a raised spoil tongue. On the 1962 Ordnance Survey map, the range of buildings north of the Seatonburn Wagonway has increased and this now appears to be the focus of mining activities, with the south-eastern area mainly concerned with washing, processing, storage and distribution. The number of sidings in this area north of the wagonway has increased to over a dozen parallel lines in places. Much of the south and central part of the site seems to have stagnated well before the cessation of mining in 1960 and was not involved in activities associated with washing and sorting coal from Burradon Colliery which continued until 1980.