Q WHERE was the first place in the North-East to mine coal? - Jeff Wilkinson, South Moor, Stanley

A THE date of the first incidence of coal mining is lost in time but the Romans may have mined coal in the region.

The first coal to be used by North-East people was probably coal washed up by the sea on the beaches of southern Northumberland. For this reason, coal was known as 'sea coal' even when it was later discovered further inland beneath the banks of rivers like the Tyne and Derwent.

The earliest written records of coal mining do not occur until well after the Norman Conquest, when a collier is mentioned at Escomb near Bishop Auckland in 1183. According to the Victorian County History of Durham this record may refer to the making of charcoal from wood rather than coal itself.

More definite references to coal or 'carbo maritonum' occur in records of the 1200s and 1300s. In this respect the area north of the Tyne and particularly Newcastle seem to have the earliest records in the region.

Newcastle's coal trade seems to have expanded considerably during the 1200s and in 1256 there were already references to derelict mines in the neighbourhood of the town, suggesting that mining was well established.

The first record of coal shipped from Newcastle was in 1291 when coal was transported to Corfe Castle in Dorset, but there are records of coal being shipped to London from Plessey near the River Blyth well before this time. However, it is likely that there were many shipments for which records do not survive and Newcastle's export trade may go back to much earlier times.

The mining was not confined to Tyneside however and could be found at several areas in central County Durham, where the monks of Durham Cathedral were often closely involved with its exploitation. Early mines existed at Rainton, Lumley, Ferryhill, Thrislington and at Hett near Spennymoor.

The deep mines of East Durham were not opened until the 1820s and 1830s. It was also in the 1820s and 30s that widespread mining started to occur in and around Bishop Auckland. This development was primarily associated with the establishment of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

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Published:14/04/2003