Colliery

My Ryhope

By Mel Robson

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Ryhope Colliery

Ryhope Colliery in the 1950's,
note Tunstall hills top left,
Vinegar Hill top right

I dedicate this page to my father Robert (bob) Robson who paid the price for mining the black diamonds and also to over 100 men and boys who were killed at Ryhope pit and all the other miners who's lives were cut short through working down the pit like my fathers was.

History of the Colliery.

On 10th April 1855 Miss P. Nicholson broke ground for the sinking of the first shaft, the 'North Pit shaft', to reach the coal seams (black diamonds) deep beneath the magnesium limestone, on the 30th April 1859 there was the first 'set' of coal from the colliery, it consisted of 12 wagons each flying the Union Jack, a year later coal production started properly, the coal was taken to Sunderland dock on the specially built railway line which linked up with the Sunderland to Seaham railway line built by Lord Londonderry which also joined up with the former rope-hauled mineral line from Murton and Seaton, This line later went to Durham City, two stations Ryhope East on the east coast line and Ryhope West on the west line to Durham were built, two stations within 100 yards of each other.

With the coming of the colliery, housing was a priority and to cope with the expanding population of miners. The coal company built long rows of rough limestone cottages along the sides of the valley. Schools, churches, chapels, miners hall, the Co-op Society, shops and of course Public Houses sprang up about the same time.

In 1868 the Ryhope Waterworks was opened to supply clean water for the new community and the surrounding areas, and in 1895 partly due to the good rail communications, a large Mental Hospital was built to serve a large area of the country.

Ryhope Colliery closed 25th November 1966.