Wednesday 24/6

Terry screwing signboards together .....

Springwell Colliery Railway Bicentenary

The Bowes Railway section from Jarrow staiths to Springwell Colliery became 200 years old in January 2026.   An interesting article about this bicentenary has appeared on North East Bylines.

The kip at the head of the balanced incline from Springwell towards Jarrow
Click Ray Casey's photo for the article

The Springwell Railway was extended past Mount Moor, Kibblesworth, Marley Hill, Byermoor & Hobson to Dipton by the 1850s.   It became known as the Pontop & Jarrow Railway, & was renamed the Bowes Railway in the 1930s.   Marley Hill shed was built by 1854 to serve the loco-worked westernmost 6 miles from Birkheads to Dipton.

Sunday Spring Gala

 

Luke checking the waggon train passing No 10 signal.

Tuesday 2/12

Barry dealing with NP rubbish
(photo courtesy of Dave Dixon)

Wednesday

Barry, off to mow Causey platform

Friday

Delivery of 30 tonnes of coal
(photo courtesy of Jonny Charlton / David Watchman)

Thursday

Rob drilling a repaired gusset plate for HC 38

Early Days at Backworth

Backworth A Pit with a PW gang & set rider on a rope hauled incline
(artist unknown, TWAM collection)

The rope incline may connect to West Allotment or Shiremoor - if you know more, please comment.

The painting is currently displayed in the Romance to Realities exhibition at the Laing.

Andrews House Colliery Remains

Andrews House Colliery, as re-established alongside Marley Hill Colliery by Bowes & Partners in 1840, was 200 yards south west of MH shed & would be connected to the Pontop & Jarrow Railway.   However, like Marley Hill, it originally spanned several pits in the same area, with coal being taken down the Tanfield Waggonway (read Sunniside History Group web).   AH Colliery closed in 1920.   Remains of the colliery have recently become more evident - photos below.

Stonework from AH Colliery winding house revealed

The Common Room - Marley Hill Colliery

The records previously held by NEIMME (North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers) together with the grade 2* listed Neville Hall at the bottom of Westgate Road, Newcastle, were transferred to the Common Room of the Great North (charity no.1179546) in 2017.   With HLF funding, the Common Room secured the future of Neville Hall & started an online catalogue of NEIMME's records dating back to the 1500s, & digitising these.

Searching the Collections for Marley Hill currently gives 38 results, including:

A document from 1778 looking at the future viability of
Marley Hill Colliery - which was closed in 1815.
In 1700s MH was known as North Banks & worked via several pits.

Bowes & Coals to Windsor

The plaque below led me to look at the Bowes family tree, which I found to be very large with many branches;  I've picked a chain to link the Royal Family to Durham coal, based on details in geni.com

By convention the first-born male took the forename of his father.   If that son died before another was born, the new son also would be named after the father.   Because of repetition of names I've appended dates to differentiate.   Note that the first legitimate male heir would inherit titles, estates, etc, from his father.   Daughters, wives & widows could still be powerful & influential beyond bearing many children.

Sir William Bowes 1656-1707 of Gibside  &  Streatlam Castle  married Elizabeth Bowes 1651-1736.

Plaque commemorating Dame Elizabeth Bowes, John Bowes’ great-great grandmother,
"a pickaxe-wielding firebrand who fought to build the family’s fortune in coal".
She's interred in the chapel of St Mary the Less, on the opposite side of' South Bailey, Durham.
In the family tree, you could start with Dame Elizabeth .....

Thursday

Dennis completing his work on the forklift

Shields, On the River Tyne

The Tate's JMW Turner's paintings are on country-wide tour, with "The Fighting Temeraire" recently on display at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.   In support of this, JMW Turner's "Shields, on the River Tyne" is featured at TWAM's South Shields Museum.   The painting is interesting in showing coal handling & its transition from shovelling from keels to using waggons with bottom doors on drops (lowering waggons out over the hold) or spouts (chutes to aim coal around the hold).

Shields, on the River Tyne
This painting from the mid 1820s belongs to & is fully described by the Tate 

Wednesday

Terry glazing a window frame for the new crossing hut
(photo courtesy of Geoff Lowe)

Tuesday

Ian loading the dumper .....

Tuesday

Colin sawing wood for AH bookcases

Thursday

Roger adjusting the window cill for AH ticket office
(photo courtesy of Geoff Lowe)

Tuesday

Steve starting to clear a van body .....

Joicey Collieries around Tanfield

The following is a short extract from a facsimile of A History of Coal, Coke, Coalfields znd Iron Manufacture in Northern England by William Fordyce, published in 1860.   At the time, the NER was newly established, the Tanfield Branch was an iron railway without locomotives, colliers worked 12-18 hours a day (unionisation was in its infancy), wooden brigs predominated - but could not pass beyond the Georgian bridge at Newcastle, & the TIC had barely started to improve navigability of the Tyne.   The book may have been written for the general knowledge & interest of educated Victorians who would have understood the importance of coal & iron to the NE economy.

A coal mill used to pump water from mines, similar to that at Bobgins
(I believe drawn by TH Hair about 1830)

Coal Delivery

Coal being dropped on MH coal drops
(photo courtesy of Jonny Charlton)