Mining

Last updated: 21 March 2006

This is a short account of mining at Plashetts, compiled for the visitor who will take the morning in the village and the afternoon on the parish trail. Coal made Plashetts. The colliery is still the story we tell first, and the ground is still the best of it. The mining gallery will fill an hour if you like to read labels. The trail will take the rest of the day.

Chronology

The first sod of the colliery was cut on Whit Monday 1861, on the Duke’s royalty. J. F. Tone & Co. worked the early concern. Coal was reached by Christmas. A waggonway was laid from the winnings to the Border Counties Railway, whose station at Plashetts opened with the line in 1862. The first truckloads went north that summer. Drift workings by the Belling Burn were served by cottages at Seldom Seen. Those cottages stand by the lane still, and they are occupied.

Cutting the first sod, Whit Monday 1861, on the Duke’s royalty. Print in the mining gallery.

In 1889 a new partnership, with John Slater the principal name, took the concession. The Seldom Seen pit being worked out, two mines were opened at Bank Top and Far Colliery, and the rows were built along the waggonway: Stone Row, Shop Row, Wood Row and Tile Row. Slater’s Incline carried the tubs to the screens and the brickworks. The village school was already established. A chapel stood at the west end of the rows, and it is used.

Stone Row, looking west toward the chapel. The four rows remain lived in.

Employment reached a little over one hundred men and boys about 1914. The coal was of manufacturing and steam class. It was never the great coalfield. It was enough to hold a village here, some way from Bellingham and further still from Hexham, with a school, a chapel, an inn, and a station of its own.

In the stoppage of 1926 the pumps were kept running by agreement between the lodge and the colliery office. The meetings were held in the school. Work resumed before the headings were lost, and the pit continued. Thereafter the concern remained a small one. Evening instruction was offered in the schoolroom — reading, drawing, and the elements of the work. A training heading was driven at Bank Top for use when a county class could be assembled. Lamps and other apparatus were sent up from Newcastle to be tried in that heading. The parish has always called this the Class.

Water in the Bank Top drift in the early 1930s fixed a local rule that no examination should be made without a deputy and a flame lamp. Joseph Slater, then owner, remained with the concern. The family name continued on the office; Mrs E. F. Slater was among those with an interest. James Beckett lived at the White House as general manager. In 1933 a brass plate was set in the school porch recording the arrangement of 1926 and the beginning of the evening class.

The brass of 1933, in the school porch. The porch is open to the lane. The school is in use.

Under nationalisation the pit was held as a licensed mine, with the Bank Top heading kept for instruction. Output was modest. The rows remained occupied. From 1946 the Forestry Commission took men on throughout the upper valley, among them men lately returned from service. The school kept its roll. A timber hut was built behind the school for the Class, the schoolroom being required in the day. It is known as the Institute. Forestry, the pit and the stone have since been the ordinary work of the place.

Passenger trains ceased at Plashetts in 1956. The station building passed to goods and then to the Commission. The platform face may still be read from the old yard. The Welfare Hall, left incomplete between the wars, was finished in a modest form and has since served the Gathering, the Class supper and the parish notices.

In the 1990s the White House was opened to the mining collection. Canaries are kept at the back of the house, as they were about the pit. The office papers were lodged in the drawers at the Heritage Centre. The heading continues on a licensed basis. Walkers on the parish trail pass the memorial garden. Booked parties, arranged at the Centre on mornings when the men are not in, may stand at the gated mouth of the training heading.

1861

First sod, Whit Monday, on the Duke’s royalty. J. F. Tone & Co. Coal by Christmas.

1862

Border Counties Railway. Station and waggonway in use. Cottages at Seldom Seen for the Belling Burn drift.

1889

John Slater’s partnership. Bank Top and Far Colliery opened. The four rows built. Slater’s Incline to the screens and brickworks.

about 1914

A little over one hundred men and boys. Manufacturing and steam coal.

1926

Stoppage. Pumps kept running by agreement. Meetings in the school. Work resumed; the pit continued.

early 1930s

Water in the Bank Top drift. Local rule: deputy and flame lamp. Joseph Slater remained owner. James Beckett at the White House.

1933

Brass in the school porch: the arrangement of 1926 and the evening class.

from 1946

Licensed mine. Forestry taking men on. The Institute built behind the school.

1956

Passenger trains ceased. Station to goods, then to the Commission.

1990s

White House opened to the mining collection. Heading continues, licensed, for the Class.

The memorial garden

The stone names the dead of the pit and of the two wars. It does not attempt a full roll of the works. The parish trail comes through the garden and turns with it. Walkers pass it as Stop 3. It is a small garden, and it is kept. It can be seen from the gravel if the ground is dry, and that is a good view of it.

Memorial garden, from the mining gallery. The print is taken from the original held at the Centre.

The original print is not lent. Stand in the garden itself before the trees close in. The training heading is not this stop; parties for the gate are arranged at the desk.

The Heritage Centre (the White House)

James Beckett lived here as general manager. In the 1990s the house was opened to the mining collection. The collection occupies the front rooms: plans of the Plashetts seam, a flame lamp of the pattern used under the local rule, the office day-books, and a portrait of J. Slater on the stair. The tourist information point is inside. Trail leaflets and the church card are sold when stocks allow.

The White House from the yard. The Board plate is on the wall to the right of the back door.

The canary room is a working room at the rear. The birds are kept as they were about the pit, and they are not a display in the gallery sense. The drawers are shown when they are out; enquiry should be made at the desk. Numbering of those drawers was not continued after the third. The yard wall bears a Board plate, dated after 1947, naming the licensed mine and the training heading. The yard is the back way into the house.

The canary room, rear of the White House. A working room. Ask at the desk if you wish to see it.

Flame lamp of the pattern used under the local rule. No examination without a deputy and a lamp of this sort. Gallery, front room.

The school porch

The brass of 1933 records the pumps, the stoppage, and the evening class. The school is in use. The porch is open to the lane. Visitors are asked to read the plate from the porch and not to go further in while lessons are in hand. The school building has the look it has always had.

The Institute

The hut stands behind the school. The board reads County Mining Class (Plashetts), in lettering of the 1950s. Instruction is given on winter evenings. Benches, a blackboard and a section of pipe are what the doorway shows. The Class supper is held at the Welfare Hall. A longer note is under the Class.

The Institute, behind the school. County Mining Class (Plashetts). Winter evenings.

Seldom Seen

The cottages of the early waggonway stand by the lane and are occupied. They served the drift by the Belling Burn before Bank Top and Far Colliery were opened. The name is the name the cottages have always had. There is no turning place. Drivers should reverse at the hall and come to it on foot if they come at all. Dogs on leads along the row. See Seldom Seen.

Seldom Seen from the old approach. Cottages of the early waggonway. Occupied.

Bank Top and Far Colliery

The four rows remain lived in: Stone Row, Shop Row, Wood Row and Tile Row, along the waggonway. The chapel at the west end is used. These are private houses. The way through is the lane, not the gardens. The gallery has the older photographs, which are the way to see the rows as they were when the screens were running.

The chapel at the west end of the rows. In use. Bank Top beyond.

Slater’s Incline

The line of the tub road may be seen from the parish trail as a cut in the bank. The incline itself is a working way and is not a walk. It carried the tubs to the screens and the brickworks. At the foot, where the waggonway met the railway yard, there is a turning place. Parties already in the forest who take rides that fall toward the shore will come out at the shore, which is a fine thing in its own right and is administered separately.

Slater’s Incline, seen from the parish trail as a cut in the bank. Not a walk. The turning place is at the foot.

The training heading, Bank Top

The mouth is gated. The Class still uses it. Parties stand at the gate by arrangement with the Centre, on mornings when the men are not in. Write in advance; letters are collected twice a week. A request sent the day before will not be seen in time. The local rule still holds: no examination without a deputy and a flame lamp. Visitors stand at the gate. They do not go in.

The training heading, Bank Top. Gated. The Class still uses it. Parties stand here by arrangement.

The station yard

The running-in board is kept under the eaves of the old station building, now Commission storage. The name photographs clearly. The platform face may still be read from the old yard. Passenger trains ceased in 1956. The story of the line is told in the gallery, with a copy of a working timetable. See the railway.

Running-in board, kept under the eaves of the old station building. The name photographs clearly.

The Welfare Hall

Indoor boards for the Gathering and a framed list of lodge secretaries in the porch. The hall was left incomplete between the wars and finished in a modest form. It has since served the Gathering, the Class supper and the parish notices. Sunday tea, when it is served, is the ordinary weekly offering of the village. See the Village Hall.

The Colliery Inn

The house on the green. Opening is as given on the current notice. Rooms in the village may be had at Forest View while that notice stands.

The brickworks

Marked on the sketch map by foundations and a length of siding bed. The ground is wet after rain. Slater’s Incline brought the tubs here as well as to the screens. A longer note is under the brickworks.

The brickworks, from the sketch-map point. Foundations and a length of siding bed. Wet after rain.

Path notices for the present season are under path closures. For the water in the valley, which is a later chapter and a different attraction, see the water.