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

Lats/Lons:

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