22.3.23

Cramlington Co-operative Society Pioneers

In the early nineteenth century there was a rise in industrialisation and urban environments. The working-class poor, some believed, took a long time to realise the benefits of capitalism and remained poor. Groups of workers, such as the Luddites took part in burning, pillaging and rioting as a protest against their living conditions. "Better classes of the working people were opposed to these methods", wrote W. Simpson (secretary of the Society in 1911) in the Jubilee Souvenir:  A Short History of the Cramlington and District Co-operative Society Limited 1861-1911,  "which received at the hands of the military little mercy. they longed for peaceful reform - public meetings, parliamentary petitions and trade unionism."

Robert Owen had introduced profit sharing schemes at his textile mills in New Lanark as part of a Utopian vision which included improving his factory working conditions by promoting experimental socialistic communities. He was also to take a lead in developing and promoting co-operatives. He was an inspiration to the Rochdale Pioneers of 1844 whose co-operative became the prototype for societies in Great Britain.

By 1861 many collieries had sprung up in the parish of Cramlington, which had a population of 3,301 persons. "The miners, especially the more thinking section of West Cramlington, were chafing under their conditions, which were far from satisfactory. Their wages were low, the prices of provisions high and their homes were poor." Some of the West Cramlington men were inspired by the reading of a little book - Self Help: The History of Co-operation in Rochdale. The difficulties of establishing a business were immense, as was pointed out by friends of these would-be Cramlington  pioneers. But they had "ardent spirits".

On the 5th January 1861 these would-be pioneers arranged a public meeting in the Blue Bell Inn (now the Blagdon Arms) towards the formation of a co-operative store. Most present did not understand the theory of co-ops but despite this subscriptions were raised to the tune of 5s 6d. Subsequent meetings were held. More members were enrolled until £23 had been raised. A provisional committee was formed consisting of:

  • John Bennett, chair
  • Joseph Bell, secretary
  • William Nicholson, treasurer
  • James Richardson
  • Thomas Armstrong
  • William Urwin
  • John Auld
  • Matthew Lowther
  • John Johnson
  • Christopher Gregory
  • William Rutherford



They rented a room in Cramlington village from Richard Fynes, a great advocate in the formation of the society. £7 was spent on fixtures and fittings.

Fynes was the leading figure in establishing the Co-operative Society. He was a pitman who as a very young man in 1843 joined a union. The men soon entrusted him to organise meetings. In 1844, during a bitter and long strike, he was the head of a household at Seaton Delaval Colliery having two working younger brothers than himself. He was evicted from his cottage along with the rest of the men. He was clearly seen as an agitator as he was not taken back to work until 16 weeks after the strike ended, and this was only because an older viewer named Mr Oliver persuaded his younger colleagues to allow him back. The coal owners had tried to break up the unions. Only three collieries in Northumberland had unions in the late 1840. Barrington, where Fynes next moved in search of employment, was one of the collieries without a union, but despite this Fynes was one of 30 men to be blacklisted by the coalowners. He moved to Scotland. 



He returned to Northumberland in the 1850s where he found work at Seghill Colliery. Union activity was stamped on here by the bosses. Fynes tried to keep out of union activity but found when a wrong had to be righted he couldn't help himself. He would organise informal meetings in Backworth Back Lane. The manager, Mr Layock said, "He knew too much of politics for him" and dismissed Fynes, who went briefly to Benton pit before ending up at Cramlington by 1861. There was no unionism in the county by this time as the mineworkers had been "cowed". The coalowners were trying to re-introduce the yearly bond and a reduction in the rate of pay. Fynes was organising meetings, often obtaining the loan of a farmer's field for the purpose. He would try to do this anonymously, but his activities once again soon came to the attention of the bosses.  The chairman of the Co-op Society speaking at a dinner held in Fynes' honour recalled the first days of the co-operative venture: "Their great difficulty was their inability to procure a place to carry on their operations. At length Mr Fynes got possession of some property and he at once went to them and said 'let us start now lads for I will find the place. If he had not found a place for them at that time he did not think there would be a Co-op in Cramlington to this day." Fynes was once again blacklisted, but went on to have an even more eventful life as a theatre owner, campaigner for the miners and author.



On the 21st March 1861 two members of the committee were dispatched to Newcastle with a cart lent by a supportive farmer, Mr Bell, to buy provisions with the remainder of the money. There was much scepticism, especially from other shopkeepers who said that merchants would not deal with them. Others doubted whether the cart would return.

By 1861 the society had sixty-six members, capital of £564 and goods to the value of £400. They voted to take out insurance. Business was carried on when the miners had spare time from work. Usually this was two to three hours at night and all day Saturday. However, they needed to compete with other established traders so a manager, Mr H Crisp, was appointed. He was given executive power that was normally reserved for certain members of the committee - ie to buy freely in the best market.

In January 1862 the whole of Richard Fynes property was bought for £60. The society expanded by adding boots and shoes to the stock. A shop assistant and a boy were added to the payroll. This year and the following saw a steady flow of business.

At the end of 1863 a special meeting of members was held to consider branching out into butchering and drapery.  Joseph Gray, the landlord of the Fox and Hounds Inn and a sympathiser with the Co-operative pioneers, was approached and was able to offer a kitchen, hearse house and a stable for the butcher business. The offer was accepted and a manager appointed. However, the sales from the drapery business were poor and butchering only made 7d in the pound profit. They were considered to be unsuccessful ventures.


Current view of former Fox and Hounds Inn and Fynes' Shop

A cart for delivery had been purchased to save shoppers miles of dreary walking to the store. The society were supplying the surrounding colliery villages, sometimes miles away. This increased sales, which necessitated the purchase of a safe in June 1863 and the arrangement with Cramlington railway station for warehousing space. Once again, not all the progress was smooth as the minutes of meeting frequently report trouble buying from hostile merchants "who saw in the movement signs of the decline and fall of the of the old-established order of trading". This had been the norm since the earliest days of the society.  Traders often combined to offer opposition to the society, or would only trade half heartedly. One merchant agreed to trade, but only on the condition he remained anonymous. By 1865 the difficulty of obtaining flour was such that in co-operation with a federation of other Co-op societies they opened their own mill at Crofton in Blyth.

Co-operative federations also considered diversifying into a wholesale society and in April-May 1872 George Fryer and Messrs Patterson attended conferences in Newcastle with the objective of establish a Co-operative bank. George Fryer later went on to be the secretary and then President of the society. He was said to have frequently walked the twenty mile distance from Cramlington to Newcastle and back to attend meetings and conferences on behalf of the society. In later life he was the first, and long-standing Chairman of the Cramlington Urban District Council, a JP and inaugurated a St John's Ambulance brigade in the town. He remained active in all of these activities until his death in 1924 at the age of 85.



Cramlington and District Co-operative Society opened branches in Annitsford, Dudley and Sleekburn, Westmoor (1867), Shankhouse (1868), Burradon (1871), East Cramlington (1891), West Cramlington (1893) and later on at Seaton Burn.

A branch was also opened at Ashington in 1875 but discontent among members led them to ask to separate. This happened in 1878 largely unopposed by the committee as it was quite distant from Cramlington. Other societies were set up in emulation of the Cramlington pioneers, notably at Newsham in 1862.

6.3.19

Burradon Colliery Village Timeline 1820-1828

See www.burradon.info for more on: 1829-1859, Mining Disaster 1860, 1861-1872, Our Colliery Villages 1872, Co-operative Store 1861-1900, 1873-1894, Self-help and Welfare 1894, 1895-1915, Colliery Village Recreation, 1916-1980


At the beginning of this period Burradon was a small hamlet of around thirty people. At the centre of the settlement were two farmsteads, but were often tenanted by just one farmer. The hamlet of Burradon was in the centre of a contained tract of land of some 540 acres. Camperdown had not yet come into existence. A road (Salter's Road), or more accurately a dirt track, ran through the area on exactly the same course as the main highway does today. It was bounded by the fields of Weetslade and Hill Head Killingworth farms.

A pit was sunk at Burradon in 1820 and would be the beginning of a new community, eventually leaving the previous centre of Burradon as an isolated farmstead. The colliery was described as "large" in one contemporary source, but this is a comparative term and was small in terms of what would come later.

By 1828 rows of colliery housing, of around eighty dwellings had been erected in Camperdown, or Hazlerigge as it was known then, which is a little distance away from the colliery and in a different parish, with possibly one pub and a shop, but the whole area would still have a largely rural feel to it.

1820 - A coal pit was sunk at Burradon. The Ridley family were landholders of nearby Blagdon and Blyth and their estate papers include a map from around 1802 showing boreholes drilled at various locations within Burradon Township which would indicate the mineral deposits lying under the surface. They didn't sink a coal pit but did quarry for building stone. Work commenced on the sinking of a coal pit in 1819. The pit was sunk by Lord Ravensworth and partners, who were known by the name of "The Grand Allies". They owned the nearby colliery of Killingworth, where they employed the soon to be famous engineer George Stephenson. He was to play a large part in installing an engine at Burradon Colliery. In a letter to his friend, and fellow engineer, Joseph Cabry (Dec 1819) he mentions that the engine at Burradon is "working satisfactorily". The continued development of the steam engine to pump water and the introduction of gunpowder in the sinking of shafts meant that by the beginning of the 19th century mines could be sunk to the coal seams that were at a greater depth away from the coast and the rivers. Transport costs to the shipping points on the rivers were also becoming less expensive with the introduction of cast iron rails. Previously rails were made from wood. A large amount of the coal was shipped to London by sea. Mining north of the ninety fathom dyke, where the coal seams are even deeper because of a geological fault, was achieved in 1802 on the sinking of Killingworth Colliery. Backworth and Burradon collieries were soon to follow.



Fryer Map of Northumberland 1820



90 Fathom Dyke at Cullercoates
Where the outcropping coal seam on the left of the picture abruptly ends having been thrown down by a geological fault.
Approx Line of 90 Fathom Dyke


1821 - The census of this year lists 52 persons living in the township of Burradon, a rise from 29 persons in 1801 which represented an increase of 79.31% compared to 26.36% in Northumberland and 34.93% in England and Wales an increase presumably due to increased quarrying. They consisted of nine families in nine separate dwellings. This was only an increase of four persons since 1811. It is not recorded how many workers were employed at Burradon Colliery at this time, but what is clear is that they were not living within the township and a settlement at Camperdown does not seem to have come into existence until after 1826. This was not unusual. It was often several years before a colliery village was established after the pit became operational. It was a similar situation at the Isabella Colliery near Blyth where the workforce travelled from Cowpen Colliery. The location of the Burradon Colliery workforce would most likely be at Killingworth Colliery, which was 25-30 minutes walk away and under the same ownership of the Grand Allies.

1824 - The land tax returns of this year, and of 1806 and 1812, lists the landowner of Burradon Township as William Ogle, paying £11 14s. 8d. William Ogle was of the Causey Park (near Morpeth) branch of the family. The family had held Burradon since the 16th century. The occupiers (farmers) were Thomas Spraggon and Robert Bell. In a later document Bell is named as the farmer of Hill Head, Camperdown.

1824 - The land tax returns for South Weetslade, of this year lists Charles Brandling esq. as the landowner. The land was mostly occupied by John Colbrook and others and were assessed at £5 15s. 3d. Charles Brandling occupied 5s. 6d. worth of land. In 1812 he had been listed as the sole landowner and occupier.

1825 - The historian and publisher Eneas MacKenzie had this to say of Burradon in his History of Northumberland: “... It consists of two farmholds, and a few cottages for labourers and colliers. Adjoining on of the farmhouses are the ruins of a strong old fortress... Near the village are quarries of good freestone, and a brick manufactory. Persevering attempts have been made by the owners of Killingworth mines, during the last five years, to work the colliery here, but the intersections of dykes etc. render very difficult and expensive.” McKenzie also had this to say of the whole of Earsdon parish of which Burradon was one of eight townships. "...The surface is gently undulated; and the soil which is strong, is well adapted for wheat, turnips and potatoes. The farms are mostly let on leases, and the whole are well cultivated... There is a poor house at Hartley and another in the township of South Blyth."

1828 - The Parson and White directory, Burradon entry, of this year gives the following information:
"...some excellent freestone quarries belonging to Tate and Brown". [The quarry in 1811 had been owned by Matthew Ridley of Blyth to provide building material for the vastly expanding range of industrial and commercial buildings he was developing in Blyth].
"...a large colliery which was opened a few years ago by Lord Ravensworth and partners at great expense”.
"The whole township is the property of William Wallace Ogle esq."
"Thomas Spraggon, farmer".
"Robert Bell, farmer Hill Head". The Killingworth entry lists Thomas Bell as the farmer of Hill Head. He may have worked the southern part of the farm out of Killingworth village. Robert Bell was perhaps a relative. This indicates that at some previous time the Ogle family had purchased at least part of the Hill Head farm lands, a section that abutted Burradon, as in the 1850s when the Ogle property was sold part of Hazlerigg and Hill Head was included along with Burradon Township in the package. Hill Head was in Killingworth Township. Hill Head farm was at times probably worked as an extension of Burradon Farm and it is also possible that the farmhouse may have remained unoccupied at periods. The farmers of Burradon after 1851, the Younger family, worked this land in the 1870s from their base at Burradon.

1828 - Greenwood's map of this year has some inaccuracies and is at too small a scale to yield detailed information, but some features are worth noting:



Greenwood Map of Northumberland 1828 

Burradon Farm This has two areas of quarrying in its vicinity. Quarrying had probably been undertaken here, off and on, for centuries to provide local building stone. It had no doubt been expanded in recent years on the purchase of the quarry by Tate and Brown to provide stone not just for local usage, but to be sold commercially.

Burradon Colliery


This is marked as co. pit on the map. A wagonway (1820) runs from the colliery in a southerly direction joining on to an existing wagonway at Killingworth, which was constructed in 1764. The Killingworth wagonway had been made from wood but later reinforced with metal strips, especially when the wagonway became the venue for George Stephenson's early locomotive experiments. By 1818 the Backworth wagonway was constructed with short cast iron plates set on stone blocks and from their shape became known as fish-bellied rails. It can be presumed that the Burradon wagonway was similar. It was a horse-drawn wagonway at first. According to John Buddle, the famous mining engineer of the period, on the nearby Backworth wagonway a horse drawing two wagons would make three journeys per day and there were several horses employed. During the 1830s locomotives began to be introduced although horses were still employed when the engines broke down or for shunting in the pit yard.
Wallsend Coal Drops on the Tyne

Wideopen Colliery in the 1840s
A horse drawing four wagons on the Seaton Burn Wagonway
There does not seem to be any housing at Burradon Colliery, namely Pit Row, which we know by census returns was in existence by 1841. It could be that the map is simply not detailed enough to be able to distinguish Pit Row from the rest of the colliery buildings, but is to be expected that Pit Row was in existence having been built to accommodate the pit sinkers in 1819, which was the usual practice. Once the colliery was up and running and the sinkers had moved away the housing became occupied by ordinary pitmen, although later census returns indicate Pit Row was reserved for a while for the workmen who held some kind of maintenance position at the colliery. The housing was abandoned in the later 20th century and was used by the coal company for storing of lamps and other equipment.


Pit Row


Camperdown

Weetslade Township part on the north side of the main highway, shows from east to west:

Lane Row - Was probably built no earlier than the construction of the Seaton Burn Wagonway in 1826.
West Row - This again this is not before 1826 as the limit of building is constrained by the wagonway.
Chapel Row - It would not have been known by this name in this year, only later when a chapel was built close by.
Halfway House pub? or a shop later owned by Mr. Purvis
The 1841 census does not mention the Halfway House being in existence. The map clearly indicates some building at this location, but a shop was known to have existed beside the Halfway House.




Camperdown


Killingworth Township Part on the south side of the main highway

Only one building lines the road. It is impossible to say whether this is the Grey Horse pub or Railway Cottage, although there is definite evidence that the Grey Horse was in existence in the 1830s.
The Seaton Burn Wagonway (1826) is clearly shown on the map along with the engine winding house at Hill Head
Hill Head farm is also shown.

The Seaton Burn Wagonway


The Seaton Burn Wagonway runs on an east-west course through Burradon and Camperdown. It was not originally connected to, or for the use of, Burradon colliery - this had its own wagonway for transporting coals to the Tyne - but had a major impact on the landscape of the two settlements. Originally it was known as the Brunton-Shields Railway, having been built by the Grand Allies in stages (1826 and 1837) from Brunton Colliery to the staiths on the Tyne between Wallsend and North Shields.

It was a rope hauled wagonway being served by several stationary engines and self-acting inclines along its route. One of these stationary engines was in the west of Camperdown (Hill Head) and was permanently manned. A cottage was provided beside the engine house for the engine man and his family. The cottage was described by a resident, Bill Wardle, as small with only earth for a floor and no toilet in the early part of the 20th century. The ropes were guided by rollers set in the ground between the two rails known as sheaves.

Tunnels were dug which allowed the wagons to travel underneath the main highway and the Burradon wagonway. A cutting was made to keep the wagonway at lower than ground level between these two obstacles.

The wagonways in 1858 indicating tunnels at crossing points and cutting


The wagonway proved to be a boon to the ever increasing number of collieries that were in its vicinity. They would join on to the line saving them the expense and logistical problems of constructing their own wagonway. The last colliery to connect to the line was Seaton Burn in 1837, which was owned by the Grand Allies. In 1878 a change of ownership of the line occurred and the Brunton-Shields railway finally became known as the Seaton Burn Wagonway.

At a later date the line was connected to the Blyth and Tyne railway via a line running towards Backworth. In 1920 the Blyth and Tyne line had been taken over by the North Eastern Railway. By the date of the 3rd edition Ordnance Survey (c.1915) Hill Head engine house was already marked as disused, locomotives having replaced the rope haulage system.



Armstrong's Map 1769

Gibson's Map 1787




4.3.19

Burradon Colliery Village Timeline 1829-1859

Burradon Colliery 1850s


1830 - A Weslyan Methodist chapel was erected in Hazlerigge (the previous name for Camperdown) near the site of the Halfway House pub. The Methodist movement had been started by John Wesley (d1791) who was famous for his open-air preaching. Methodism stressed that both working class and upper class were equal in the eyes of God. It was widely adopted in the industrial, urban centres.

1831 - Population (Burradon Township only) 67.

1837 - A new pit shaft is sunk close to the 1820 shaft after problems winning the coal from this original pit. It is known as the Engine Pit.

1840 Aug 06 - A baptism recorded in the register of Longbenton, St. Bartholomew gives the first recorded reference to the name Camperdown as a settlement. "William to John and Mary Cockburne of Camperdown, pitman."

1840 March - Christopher Wanless lists his occupation as a publican on his child's birth certificate. He lived in the Grey Horse public house, but on the 1841 census and later baptism records he is recorded as a coal miner. Being a landlord was often a part-time occupation in the early days of these mining villages. The pubs were often family-run affairs and it is often a female name listed as the proprietor on trade directories of the time.

1841 Census (no addresses given)

Burradon

Population 97; Dwellings 18; Heads of Household 28.

Farmer, John Moor, age 80, Burradon Farm, employer of 5 servants
Agricultural Labourers 12
Stone Quarrymen 8
Dressmaker 1 (a cottage industry employing wives and young women)
Milliner 1
Blacksmith 1

Weetslade Township

Population 345.

Mostly Coal Miners, but...
Stone Masons 2
Blacksmith 3
School Master, Anderson Stoker, Weetslade Terrace?
Quarryman 1
Joiner 2
Engineman 1
Wagon Rider 4

Killingworth Township

Population 112; Dwellings 14.

Grey Horse Public House mentioned by name, but not the publican
Flour Dealer, Thomas Purvis in what would later be known as Purvis Buildings (behind Halfway House)
Publican of Travellers Rest, Alice Patterson
Coal Miner 7
Quarrymen 2
Railway Layer 4, indicating railway laying nearby?
Joiner 1
House Carpenter
Grocer's Shop, Swinton, on site of  what is now Station Road.
Farmer, William Brown, Hillhead, age 40


1842 Oct 22 - The Reverend Ralph Brandling is listed on a tithe map of Weetslade as being the main landowner for the Weetslade area.

1847 Mar 24 -  Fatal Boiler Explosion At Burradon Colliery
The Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury reported on what seemed to be a frequent event occurring with boilers at this period, both with stationary engines a locomotives:

"On Saturday morning, about nine o'clock, a fatal accident occurred at the above colliery, by the bursting of one of the boilers used in working the engine of the pit, by which three persons were, killed, viz., a man, a woman, and a boy. The colliery is situated about six miles north of Newcastle, and belongs to Lord Ravensworth and partners. The engine attached to the pit is of 90-horse power, and three boilers of large dimensions and of an oval shape are used to work it ; but on the morning of the accident only two were in operation. A few minutes previous to the occurrence, the engineman, on examining the float, found the water more than a foot above the working mark, but as the steam was low he gave directions to the stoker, Robert Thompson, to raise the fires ; soon after which the boiler suddenly burst with a tremendous noise, carrying away part of the engine house and chimney, killing three persons, and injuring, more or less, several of the workmen at the shaft. The boiler was torn into three pieces, and parts of it were blown a considerable distance into an adjoining field. On examining the place, the stoker was found almost buried in the ruins, dreadfully scalded and bruised, but quite dead; and a female, named Margaret Proctor, wife of one of the miners, who was at the place getting water, was lying a few yards from him. The other sufferer was a boy, about eleven years of age, named James Gordon, employed at the bank. The engineman escaped, though much scalded in the face, and injured in the head. Several of the workmen were also seriously injured by the flying bricks, &c. but are all expected to recover.


On Monday, an inquest was held on the bodies, before Stephen Reed, Esq., coroner, when the following witness was examined :—


Anthony Scorer said he had been engineman at Burradon Colliery for twenty-six years. Last Saturday morning, about nine o'clock, the boiler belonging to the colliery burst, by which Robert Thompson, Margaret Proctor, and James Gordon were killed. There were several others more or less injured by the explosion. The boiler had two safely valves, but only one was used, which was three inches in diameter. The other could have been used if necessary. The working valve was regulated with the steel-yard weight. About twenty minutes previous to the accident taking place, he examined the boiler, and found, at that time, about four and a half feet of water in it. The working mark was about three feet two inches. He ascertained that by the float inside of the boiler. It was possible for the float to stick, but on that occasion it was free and loose. The safety valve was also free and loose. About a fortnight ago they had a little caulking of the boiler. There were no rivets then put in. He considered, after these repairs, that the boiler was strong and sufficient to work. The plate at the boiler itself was three-eighths of an inch in thickness in every part, and he (the witness) considered it a very good one. The fact of the destruction of the engine-house, and other buildings, showed that the boiler was a strong one. About twenty minutes before the explosion, he perceived the engine going slower, and went to the safety valve, and worked it up and down, and, considered the steam to be low, he desired the stoker to raise the fire by putting more coals to it. From all is experience he could not give any opinion as to the cause of the explosion. The engine was about ninety horse power, and they worked at 50lbs to the inch. He thought the boiler plates were not heated more than usual, but believed otherwise, on account of the steam being lower than usual. It was stated to the witness after the explosion that the appearance of the field adjoining the engine house to 100 yards, exhibited sufficient proofs of a quantity of water having been in the boiler, so that he might be satisfied that the accident did not occur from the want of water. He was much scalded at the time on the face, and received a wound on the head. He could not tell how he escaped, and before the explosion he had not the slightest apprehension of any accident. There was always plenty of water at hand, and the man who lost his life would not have worked if there had not been plenty of water. The deceased was a timid man, and on that account he (the witness) worked the boiler always with a foot more water in it than he considered necessary. There was little possibility for the boiler being surcharged with steam while the engine was at work. The boiler was ten years old. One safety valve was quite sufficient to work with. The weight on the lever was calculated at 50lbs the square inch. The length of the lever was two feet.


The jury, at the conclusion of this evidence, signified to the coroner that as they were satisfied that the explosion was the result of an accident, their minds were made up, upon which they returned a verdict of "Accidental death."
1848 - The Carr family took over ownership of the Colliery from the founding owners the Grand Allies. By 1858 the Low Main seam had been won. The Carr brothers, John and Charles, were originally from Ford in Northumberland. Their father and had been the manager of the Ford Castle estates, which included a colliery. The family had skilfully built up a large fortune from their original humble beginnings. They owned the nearby Seghill, Cowpen and Hartley collieries, as well as having interests in a Newcastle bank and later the Blyth and Tyne railway. John Carr the elder of the brothers lived at Bath Terrace in Blyth. Charles Carr acted as the Chief Viewer to these collieries.

1851 Mar 31 Sunday - The ecclesiastical census give the following information for the Weslyan Methodist Chapel at Hazlerigge on Sunday School attendance: 56 in the morning; 30 in the afternoon; 20 in the evening. The chapel is enumerated as being a "separate and entire building used exclusively as a place of worship, except for a Sunday school". It had 80 free sittings and 50 other sittings. Edward Davidson is the steward of the chapel, but lists his occupation as a schoolmaster on the 1851 census. A schoolmaster, Anderson Stoker, is also listed on the 1841 census. When a purpose built school was being planned in 1861 the major funders spoke of visiting the schools in Burradon to "examine" the children in the "different" schools. Journals kept by children from mining communities often mention attending schools voluntarily when they were afforded the opportunity, the schools often being associated with a Methodist church. This was before the introduction of compulsory state education and the schools would have charged a fee.

1851 Census

Burradon Farm

Population 65; Households 9.

Farmer, John Younger, age 60, born Boldon, farmer of 254 acres, 3 labourers living in the house
Farmer, William Younger, age 30 unmarried, born Gosforth, farmer of 260 acres, 2 farm servants living in. [the two farmsteads were clearly being once again occupied as in the 18th century]
Quarrymen 4
Husbandman 1
Farm Labourers 6
Miner 1
Cartman 1

Burradon Pit

Pit Row
Population 39?; Dwellings 9 or 10.

Overman 1
Enginewright 2
Loco Fireman 1
Enginemen 2
Engine Fireman 1

[This would have been Pit Row (pictured above) which was close to the colliery. It could be inferred that the people with occupations mentioned above needed to be close to the colliery for maintenance etc.]

Camperdown (Killingworth Township

Population 72; Dwellings 14.

Farmer, John Brown, Hill Head; his brother William, a vet, also resided here
Grey Horse Publican, Christopher Wanless
Grocer, Mr Stoves, now a bookies shop on Front Street
Travellers Rest Publican, Elizabeth Blakey
Hill Head Engineman, John Nichol, 5 in family


Morrison Butcher's in 1920s. Front St Camperdown

Hazlerigge (Weetslade Township)

Population 459; Houses 105, uninhabited 5.

Schoolmaster, Edward Davidson
Halfway House Innkeeper, Richard Carr
Grocer, Robert Palmer, site of Station Road
Grocer, Thomas Purvis, x1841, behind Halfway House
Brickmaker, John Craven
Grocer, William Swinton, x1841, site of Station Road
Blacksmith, Abraham Boston and Son


1854 - Whellan's trade directory names Adam Tate as the sole owner of Burradon Quarry. Previously, in 1828, it was owned by the company of Tate and Brown.

1854 Jul 22  - Another boiler explosion
Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury
Local and District News

"An inquest was held on the 17th instant, at Camperdown, before Stephen Reed, Esq., coroner, on the body of Henry Stewart, aged 18, who was killed by the explosion of one of the boilers at Burradon Colliery. One of the jurymen was fined by the coroner for non-attendance."
1854 - The land of Burradon was in chancery. It was sold by order of the Court of Chancery, on June 9th 1857, for £29,800 at a public auction held at the Queens' Head, Newcastle. The land of 520 acres was jointly purchased by Mr. Joseph Straker of Benwell and his son, Mr. John Straker of Tynemouth and consisted of Burradon Farm, the Colliery, Hill Head Farm and a large portion of Burradon/Camperdown lands. The Strakers were to build up a considerable list of business interests including shipowning and mining. They purchased a large country estate at High Warden, near Hexham. The blurb to the sale mentions the farm yielding a yearly income of £700 from the "highly respectable tenants-at-will Messrs Younger who's practical husbandry offers a model of excellence" even though they did not seem to have a security of tenure at this time. The mine was let to Lord Ravensworth [Grand Allies] for an unexpired term of fourteen years at a minimum of £1000 per annum and a quarry of freestone being wrought for a reasonable profit.

1855 - Whellan Trade Directory, Camperdown (Hazlerigg)

Bell, Mary Ann; Grocer [Probably where Bookies is now on Front Street and occupied by Mr Stoves in 1851]

Blakey, Elizabeth; Beer Retailer [Travellers Rest x1851]
Carr, George; Vict. Collier Lad
Carr, Richard; Vict. Halfway House [Also present 1851]
Marshall, George; Joiner and Cartwright
Purvis, Thomas; Grocer [Also present 1841]
Wanless, Christopher; Vict. Grey Horse [Also present 1851]
Weetslade Part
Davidson, Edward; Schoolmaster [Also present 1851]
Palmer, George; Grocer [Robert Palmer in 1851]


1856 May - Mrs Elizabeth Short, general dealer with a shop on Front Street, Camperdown, stood trial accused of the deaths of three children through poisoning. The children: Robert Wood 7, Margaret Weston 5, and Matthew Humble 3, had died after being given sulphur and treacle purchased from Mrs Short's shop. This was to cure boils. Several other villagers had also became violently ill on taking the substance but recovered after a few days. Mrs Short had unknowingly purchased a batch containing arsenic. The seller could no longer be traced. She was after a long investigation acquitted. Verdict: misadventure. A full article on this topic is available here.


1856 Jul 12 - Reduction in Wages
Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury
Local And District News

"The owners of Seghill and Burradon collieries have intimated to their workmen that the position of the trade unavoidably compels them to make some reduction in the present rate of wages."

1858 Kelly's Trade Directory

Carr, John and Co; Colliery Owners
Tate, Adam; Quarry Owner [Also trading 1854]
Younger, John and William; Farmers [Also present 1851]
Blakey, Elizabeth; Grey Horse [in 1855 victualler of Travellers Rest]
Carr, Elizabeth; Halfway House [in 1855 Richard Carr]
Carr, George; Beer Retailer [Travellers Rest; in 1855 had been licensee of the Collier Lad]
Laverick, Eleanor; Shopkeeper [Probably site of Dixons Buildings just south of the Grey Horse]
Marshall, George; Joiner and Wheelwright [Also present 1855]
Palmer, Robert; Shopkeeper [Also present 1855]
Rutherford, John; Collier Lad
Short, Edward; Shopkeeper [shop between Travellers Rest and Collier Lad]



1858 - Joshua Bower of Leeds purchases the colliery at Burradon, but retains the services of Charles Carr as manager. Messrs Carr and Co sold all four their collieries by public auction in this year due to what is described in the Mining and Smelting Magazine Vol 1:"the disastrous effects the commercial panic of 1857 had upon their property". The purchase price was £50,000.


Ordnance Survey 6inch to mile c1858


1858 Ordnance Survey Mapping

Burradon Farm


The Farm - Two farmsteads are shown on the map. One is attached to the Tower House and has a courtyard. Both have round features at the rear which are almost certainly "gin-gans", which was an area for walking horses around attached to a mechanism which powered the threshing machines. The land of Burradon had throughout the 18th century been split into two farms. This was still the case in 1858 although only one farmer, John Moor, was the tenant farmer in the 1840s, working both farms himself.
Quarry - A large quarry has been opened up to the north-east of the farm buildings. Previous quarries are marked as "old" on the 25" edition map. Adam Tate was the quarry owner. The stone had been quarried since medieval times to provide the building material for the buildings around the farm and presumably in the 19th century for the buildings of the village. In the early part of the 19th century Lord Ridley, the landowner of Blyth, owned the quarry.
Burradon Terraces - First recording on this plan; sometimes known locally as The Far Rows.
Burradon Colliery
Wagonway - 1820; Running north to south. Privately owned by the colliery to take coals to the staiths on the Tyne at Willington.
Managers House - First recording of the building on this plan. The larger scale plan indicates a quite large formal garden attached to South of this house, which had disappeared in later times. The building still exists.
Pit Row - Definitely in existence by 1851, but possibly built for the pit sinkers c1820; 9 or 10 dwellings.
Brick Field - These are often found beside colliery sites to extract the heavy clay that pits are often sunk into. Brick was becoming commonly used as the building material in towns and cities such as Newcastle. Very little is known, however, of the clay extraction and brick manufacturing industry of Burradon. The Keys to the Past website describes a brickfield in their glossary: "A site where clays are extracted, crushed (and/or stirred), shaped (by hand or mould), dried and then fired to make bricks. These have their own kilns that may have run continuously for large amounts. Brickworks were often situated near collieries to use fireclays." John Craven is listed on the 1851 census as a brickmaker. He lived at Camperdown. Where the brick was being used is not known. At nearby Barrington colliery a mixture of brick, wood and stone was being used for their colliery housing but brick does not seem to have been used for building at Burradon until c1900, stone being the preferred material. Of course, a quarry existed within the township.




Hazlerigge NE-SW

Lane Row - In existence by 1828; back-to-back housing, opposite Collier Boy, of a one-room-and-a-garret type; 48 dwellings. The map also shows outbuildings next to the housing which are believed to be communal outdoor bread ovens, which were common in the early mining communities.
Wood Houses - First recording on this map, but possibly in existence 1841; to the back-to-back housing as Lane Row; 8 dwellings.
West Row - In existence by 1828; back-to-back housing as Lane Row, in fact probably identical; 32 dwellings.
Chapel Buildings - In existence by 1828?; 2 or 3 dwellings.
Weslyan Methodist Chapel - 1830.

Camperdown and Hazlerigge 1858

Camperdown NE-SW

Railway Cottage.
Grey Horse Public House. In existence 1828.
Norah Place, site of what would become known as - In existence 1841?; 2 or 3 dwellings.
Collier Boy Public House, On the site of the later Camperdown Hotel -in existence by 1855.
Carr's Buildings, site of - In existence by 1841.
Travellers Rest Public House - In existence by 1841.
Wood's Houses - In existence by 1841; 4 dwellings in 2 separate blocks.
Roughs House - First recording, but probably x1841; 25" Ordnance Survey shows an enclosure around the house with a formal garden layout. John Copeman, a West Indian shoemaker, was listed as living here in 1861.
Station Road, although not yet known by this name, N-S
Purvis Buildings - x1828?; shop and house.
Halfway House Pub - x1851.
Palmer's Buildings - First recording, although possibly x1851; house and shop?
Atkin Street, site of - x1841; grocer shop and house.

Burradon Mining Disaster 1860


1860 Engraving from Illustrated London News

Seventy-six men and boys were killed when the pit exploded on the 2nd March 1860. This is not the greatest pit disaster in terms of lives lost, which is why the incident has probably largely been forgotten about. But in 1860 Burradon was at the forefront of a campaign to make better the mineworkers' conditions.








"Appalling Accident at Burradon Colliery"
A summary of the events of the Burradon Mining Disaster - Friday, March 2nd 1860


At around nine in the morning one-hundred and eleven men and boys descended Burradon Pit to start their shift. Four men were entering the pit for the first time that day. John Carr was also returning to work for the first time since January 30th. He had left the pit on that day, with a colleague, complaining about the presence of explosive gases. On the morning of March 2nd, presumably by this stage nearly destitute, he informed his wife that he did not intend going down the pit ever again. When she asked how did he intend to earn a living, he realised there was no other choice than to put on his pit 'claes' and make his way to the colliery.

At around 2.30pm, William Urwin, a boy aged 14, was working in the southern part of the pit. This section was considered gaseous enough to warrant the use of safety lamps. Urwin was assisting Benjamin Nicholson, 43, a deputy overman. The pair noticed a sudden change in air pressure, which made their ears pop, and the noise of a small explosion. Nicholson shouted, "She's fired". Alarmed, Urwin started to run to the shaft. Many more young lads working in the vicinity also ran for the exit after having witnessed coal, props and dust being blown away. The air was becoming less breathable. The horses were also in a state of great agitation.

The boys who were running to the bottom of the shaft were met by overman William Alderson, who was making his way into the workings to assess the damage. He tried to persuade the boys to turn back, often forcibly, but with little success. At the bottom of the shaft they tried to attract the attention of the surface workers who had not yet realised an accident had occurred.

As Alderson made his way further into the pit, the surface workers were now becoming suspicious that all was not well down the mine. They had noticed a change in the air pressure coming from the shaft. One of the men went to inform William Kirkley, a senior overman of the colliery, who was busy putting up wages in the Colliery office. Kirkley immediately descended into the pit.

Kirkley met with the boys assembled at the bottom of the shaft and they proceeded to go back into the workings. About twenty minutes had elapsed since the explosion. Kirkley and the boys had made their way about one hundred yards into the mine. A massive explosion then occurred. Debris was blown right out of the shaft. Bratticing fell all around the miners and all the Davy lamps were extinguished. Kirkley took charge of the boys and helped them get back to the shaft. They were met by men and boys coming out of the North workings, which was largely unaffected by the explosion. The men in the North workings escaped with only minor injuries. By the time Kirkley was raised to the surface he was almost insensible because of the suffocating and poisonous air in the pit.

The force of the explosion had been felt on the surface and the residents of the nearby cottages ran to the pit head. Hastily, Thomas Fryer and Robert Jefferson descended into the pit to try and rescue missing sons. They only made it a couple of hundred yards before dying, having suffocated in the near oxygen-less air.

Some time later, other men had by now organised themselves into a rescue group and entered the mine. Quite quickly they started to find bodies. There were no more survivors. Each body was wrapped in a blanket, tied by a cord, and taken to the Colliery carpenter's shop, which was being used as a temporary morgue.

By late afternoon news of the disaster had spread further afield. Managers of nearby collieries and the Government Inspector of Mines had made their way to the colliery to lend their expertise to the rescue efforts. A reporter from the Newcastle Daily Chronicle was also present. He left the community at 8.00pm, with fifteen bodies having so far been recovered. Three were unidentifiable due to their dreadful injuries. Mix-ups in identification happened throughout the rescue process with corpses being taken to the wrong dwelling, only to be claimed later by the correct relatives. The Chronicle reporter stated how he was extremely distressed at having witnessed scenes of mothers weeping and wailing openly in the streets and to have heard the sound of wailing coming from the open cottage doors. Perhaps the loudest wailing may have been justifiably coming from the pit cottages of the Maddox family who lost five of their number.

At 1.00pm on the Saturday, at about three hundred yards into the southern workings, a breakthrough in the recovery efforts was made. After great efforts to shift debris, twenty-five persons were found. These had tried to make their way out after the first explosion, but their escape route had been blocked by debris. Thirteen of them were found hand in hand. Some were found huddled together in a capsized tub and two boys were found opposite each other in a crouched position with a dead mouse between them. All of the twenty-five had died by suffocation and displayed all the characteristics of this death - a pale blue bloated face. By late evening about fifty-six corpses in total had been brought to the surface. The manager of Seghill Colliery, John Fryer, had opened the door between Burradon and Seghill collieries to aid in the recovery of bodies in that district. George Maddox was recovered at the board of John Carr, the two of them being huddled together. Maddox's back was badly burnt.

Sunday was to be a day of great activity, although only one or two bodies were recovered. An enormous crowd gathered on the pit-heap, this being the day of rest, of course. Both the Daily Chronicle and the Shields Gazette thought the crowd to have been maybe twenty-five thousand strong. The Shields Gazette was very critical of the crowd, some of whom had taken picnics, reporting their behaviour to be not very befitting for such a sombre occasion. The Chronicle reporter said that they were just satisfying their "morbid curiosity". The public houses within the community were full to bursting point. The editor of the Daily Chronicle was taken underground on this day. He described a scene of utter chaos, with clothing and debris being strewn all around and the stench of decaying flesh being at times overpowering.

On Monday, March 5, what seemed like a continuous funeral procession took place. A large crowd of between three and four thousand people attended at Longbenton church. They acted with great dignity, wearing the correct black attire and "Sunday best". At 1.50am on this day the bodies of Thomas Fryer and Robert Jefferson were brought to the surface having being found looking peaceful.

On Tuesday morning the searchers found the remains of Benjamin Nicholson at the head of the twelfth pillar in the middle-south. This they concluded must be close to the source of the second explosion as Nicholson had been torn to pieces by the force of the eruption. His scattered remains had to be picked up on a shovel. He was completely unrecognizable and could only be identified by a peculiar mark on his cap.

On Wednesday it was considered safe to light the furnace at the bottom of the upcast shaft to restore ventilation. The Colliery was put back to work and a shift was sent down at 8.00pm, even though there were three bodies still missing.

On Tuesday, March 20, 1860, the Bishop of Durham visited the community. He was greeted by the manager, Charles Carr, and stayed for over two hours. He visited the sick and bereaved in their cottages. Also on this day the last body, that of Thomas Wilkinson, was recovered. Wilkinson was interred at Longbenton churchyard the following day. He was the last of seventy-six victims.

.....

On a glorious day in May 1859 a large crowd of Burradon mineworkers and their families gathered in a field at Burradon farm. They were assembled to hear the editor of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle, J. Baxter Langley, address them on the subject of establishing a miners' provident association: an insurance scheme to compensate victims families in case of the all too frequent calamities which happened in mines. The mine owner was to be approached in supporting this. A reliance on charity was the degrading solution then in place for the bereaved.



Click here for a Biography of Baxter Langley

Langley predicted that by the end of another 12 months a large number of the men and boys in front of him could be dead. It could be presumed that Burradon Colliery was considered unsafe.
Langley had been given an underground tour of the colliery. He was impressed, and maybe surprised, by the leading mineworkers' representatives of Burradon Colliery. He came to have a deep respect for these men: William Urwin, the secretary; George Maddox and William Alderson, amongst others. He wrote, "We talked of politics and social economics [in a way] which would have astonished Lord Shaftesbury and the Conservative members of the Coal Trade. We speak with a complete knowledge of the men employed in the Burradon pit when we say that, for integrity, generosity and general intelligence, we have never met with their superiors among any class of working-men".

It was the case that working-class men could not exercise much influence in their quest for better conditions. Baxter Langley was to use his influence, through his newspaper and owner the radical Joseph Cowen, to give the miners a much-needed voice.

Joseph Cowen


On March 2nd 1860, as foreseen, the pit fired killing seventy-six, including Urwin, Maddox and Alderson. Langley and Cowen were good to their word and took up the cause with vigour. A relief fund was set up. The relief fund committee was dominated by coal owners and the well-to-do, despite the fact that most of the donated cash had come from working men. The miners campaigned for Langley to be allowed to sit on this committee. This was successfully rejected. The working men were annoyed and donated money to Langley and the Chronicle directly for distribution to the victims.

A coroner's inquest was immediately established. Langley and Cowen engaged the services of a barrister from London to represent the mineworkers.

The inquest was not concluded until April 18th. It was often a bad tempered, and sometimes farcical, affair. The coroner, Stephen Reed, often struggled to maintain authority in his courtroom. This was especially so when trying to silence Baxter Langley's attempts to suggest questions to the miners' barrister. The coroner had many years' experience in dealing with such inquests into mining accidents. But on this occasion he was facing a greater challenge than he could have expected. He was probably out of his depth.

The inquest failed to reach a conclusive verdict and Stephen Reed came under heavy criticism. The Coroner because of this criticism of himself in the newspapers, felt compelled to have a constable of the County Police Force summon together the jury to give him a certificate stating that he had conducted the inquest with impartiality. They refused to do this. This disclosure was made public by Baxter Langley who was very critical of the waste of police time.



Pictured is Charles Carr the viewer and part-owner of Burradon Colliery in March 1860, the time of the terrible explosion which claimed the lives of seventy-six. This photograph was taken in 1862 at New Hartley Colliery during rescue efforts at the infamous disaster which killed over two hundred men and boys (There is a theory that this photo was staged at a slightly later time). Charles Carr was also the viewer of New Hartley in 1862. A deputation of men, after the New Hartley tragedy, actually conveyed their commiserations to Carr on his double misfortune. But Roy Thompson, in his book "Thunder Underground", has the view that Charles Carr "walked on water".

"Thunder Underground is a fascinating read which examines the politics surrounding the mine disasters investigated by by Northumberland coroner Stephen Reed between 1815 and 1865. It also gives biographical accounts of the main characters involved with Stephen Reed being examined in some detail. The book describes the mining operations in place at the time.

Lawyers for the mineworkers tried to prove culpability on the part of the owners of Burradon Colliery. This was in the hope of being awarded compensation for the families of the victims.

Despite hearing scientific evidence that the mine was not adequately ventilated, all safety measures available not employed and that Carr had misled the jury, a verdict of accidental death was recorded at the conclusion to the inquest. Was the verdict because of class unity or a pragmatic decision on the part of Stephen Reed, who realised that many men relied on the output of the colliery for their livelihood. It was recognised, however, that having financial interests in a mining operations was a conflict of interest in the safe management of collieries.

After March 1860 Carr's involvement in Burradon colliery diminished and as previously mentioned went on to suffer an even greater loss in 1862.

The senior supervisory figures of Burradon colliery were often uneasy witnesses at the inquest. They did state that they had instruction to take whatever measures at whatever the expense to ensure the safety of the colliery. It was clear, however, that some miners had been fearful of the pit's condition for some time. It was proved that the management had altered colliery plans before production to the inquest to show that the colliery ventilation was better managed than it really was.

Many aspects of mining safety and miners' living conditions had come under scrutiny in the couple of years preceding the disaster. It was to campaign for these issues and the adoption of the Miners' Provident Association Baxter Langley addressed an open-air meeting on the Newcastle Town Moor in June 1860. The Association was formed without the coal owners support. The meeting, however, was poorly attended and Langley voiced his disappointment at this. The leading mineworkers had all been killed in the disaster. The momentum and opportunity for change was largely lost. The status quo was resumed. Lives had been lost in vain. The importance of the Burradon Disaster was soon forgotten.

To read the full account see:
The Burradon Mining Disaster 1860: A Detailed Account, 1996, Alan Fryer