Westoe, Westoe Colliery

HER Number:
5110

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
Westoe, Westoe Colliery

Place:
South Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Coal Mining Site

Site Type: Specific:
Colliery

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Sunk in 1909, Westoe was heavily modernised in the 1950s with the construction of two tower mounted friction winders and a modern coal preparation plant. The site has recently closed and awaits demolition. Westoe Colliery was begun in 1909 as a man-riding shaft for the nearby St Hilda's Colliery. It became a producing mine when the old colliery closed in 1940. A major reconstruction scheme commenced in 1957. The early 1960s tall enclosed winding tower of the Crown Shaft dominates the site. An unusual but sadly lost feature of the mine was the electrically operated railway which connected the colliery with staiths at Harton adjacent to Mill Dam. The railway had been installed by the original German owned Harton Coal Company. Site now cleared for a housing development [2001].

Easting:
3740

Northing:
6686

Grid Reference:
NZ37406686

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 5110 >> I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 40 English Heritage, Monuments Protection Program, Site Assessment; "The Last Pit on the Tyne" - final report of the Westoe Colliery Campaign Group, March 1994; Durham Mining Museum www.dmm.org.uk; English Heritage, 2008, Hadrian's Wall National Mapping Programme, 1029785