Bigges Main Colliery
Bigges Main Colliery
HER Number
1133
District
N Tyneside
Site Name
Bigges Main Colliery
Place
Wallsend
Map Sheet
NZ26NE
Class
Industrial
Site Type: Broad
Coal Mining Site
Site Type: Specific
Colliery
General Period
POST MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Hanoverian 1714 to 1837
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
Bigges Main Colliery, served by Bigges Main Wagonway (SMR 1128). Not shown on 2nd edn OS mapping, 1894/5 survey. Opened in 1784 by Messrs Bells & Brown. Abandoned in 1809 when the High Main seam was exhausted. Re-opened 1836 to work Low Main seam. Closed shortly after flooding in 1857. Around 1782 three pits were sunk around the site and the village of Bigges Main developed taking its name from that of the pit. "A" Pit was situated at NZ 288 670, "B" Pit at NZ 286 668 and "C" Pit further north at NZ 285 677 (SMR 1127). Due to flooding the Bigges Main pits ceased working in 1857.
Easting
428680
Northing
566970
Grid Reference
NZ428680566970
Sources
<< HER 1133 >> 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1865, 6 inch scale, Northumberland 89
C.E. Lee, 1949, Tyneside Tramroads of Northumberland 1947-9, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, p.203
C.R. Warn, 1976, Wagonways & Early Railways of Northumberland, 1605-1840 p.11
L.G. Charlton, 1972, The Bigges Main and the Kenton and Coxlodge Wagonways; Turnbull, L, 2015, A Celebration of our Mining Heritage
C.E. Lee, 1949, Tyneside Tramroads of Northumberland 1947-9, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, p.203
C.R. Warn, 1976, Wagonways & Early Railways of Northumberland, 1605-1840 p.11
L.G. Charlton, 1972, The Bigges Main and the Kenton and Coxlodge Wagonways; Turnbull, L, 2015, A Celebration of our Mining Heritage