A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



The early use of mineral coal was undoubtedly 

 for industrial rather than domestic purposes, lime- 

 burning in particular, and probably the working 

 as distinct from the smelting of iron. But early 

 in the fourteenth century the introduction of the 

 iron chimney probably made the use of mineral 

 coal less open to objection, and it may be noted 

 that in 1 310 the monks of Jarrow had '^ two 

 iron chimneys in their hall [aula) ; thus it may 

 be no coincidence that in the earliest of their 

 accounts extant,^^ those for 131 3, we find men- 

 tioned a purchase of nine chaldrons of sea-coals ^^ 

 {carbonum mar'ttinorurn). 



We are unable to fix the exact date when 

 coal-mining began on the southern bank of the 

 Tyne at Gateshead and Whickham, and there is 

 little doubt that the men of Newcastle-on-Tyne 

 did everything possible to hamper the develop- 

 ment of the industry, but probably coal was being 

 worked in this neighbourhood and possibly shipped 

 in vessels moored at the wharves on the southern 

 side of the river in the early years of the four- 

 teenth century. It is certain that by 1356 the 

 industry had become well established at Whick- 

 ham, as Bishop Hatfield in that year granted '* 

 to Sir Thomas Gray, knt., and John Pulhore, 

 rector of Whickham, five mines on lease for 

 twelve years at a yearly rent of 500 marks, an 

 enormous sum for the time. Some conditions 

 of this lease are deserving of careful attention. 

 It is agreed that the bishop shall not allow new 

 mines to be opened in the neighbourhood which 

 might depreciate the value of the privileges of 

 the lessees. As to the mines of Gateshead, which 

 were then already open and at work, the bishop 

 promised that none of their output should be 

 carried or sold to ships, while the holders of the 

 Whickham mines should be allowed the option 

 of acquiring the lease of the Gateshead mines 

 also at the expiry of the term then existent. As 

 to the management of the Whickham mines, the 

 lessees were obliged to work them as far as they 

 could with five barrow-men, according to the 

 view and oath of the master forester and the 

 viewers, the rate of output being fixed at not more 

 than one keel '^ of coal per day. The master 

 forester on his part was bound to furnish a 

 reasonable amount of timber not only for the 

 timbering of the pits, but also for the staiths or 

 wharves. It is significant however that any 

 damage done to the bishop's tenants in Whickham 

 either by mining operations or the carriage of 

 coals had to be made good by the lessees. 



" Invent, of Jarrow (Surtees Sec. xxix), 3. 



" Ibid. 8. 



" Perhaps more correctly sea-borne coal. The 

 origin of the term carbo maris was being forgotten. 



" Dur. Curs. No. 30, m. \\ d. 



" About twenty tons. A measure taken from the 

 carrying capacity of keels which plied between the 

 riverside wharves and the sea-gomg vessels below 

 Newcastle Bridge. 



It is probable that the lessees of the Whickham 

 mines did ultimately acquire a lease '^ of those at 

 Gateshead, at least for a time, but the shipment 

 of the coals from this neighbourhood was not 

 effected without strenuous opposition from the 

 burgesses of Newcastle, and the appeasement of 

 the quarrel required the intervention of the king." 

 In connexion with a grant of mining rights at 

 Gateshead about 1364, we find the first specific 

 reference in this district to the use of the 'water- 

 gate ' or tunnel for the draining of the pit.^* In 

 respect to the working of the Tyneside mines 

 after the Black Death, it may also be mentioned 

 that in 1373-4 John de Belgrave and Nicholas 

 Cooke were authorized '^ to seize workmen and 

 coal-bearers within theliberty of Durham to supply 

 the lack of labour at Whickham and Gateshead. 



Another important colliery in this district was 

 in Winlaton, held by Lord de Nevill of the 

 bishop of Durham. In 1366-7 no less than 

 576 chaldrons of coal were purchased here by 

 order of Edward III for the works at Windsor 

 Castle,^" while at about the same time the earl of 

 Northumberland was holding the manor ^^ of 

 Fugerhous with a coal-pit for which he paid a 

 yearly rent of £26 13;. ^d. 



The importance of the mines along the south 

 bank of the Tyne during the fourteenth century 

 give them the first claim to attention, but coal- 

 working activity was not restricted to that dis- 

 trict. At Ferryhill, Hett, and Lanchester we 

 hear^^ of coal-pits before 1350, and in this year 

 some interesting technical details are preserved in 

 Hatfield's Survey ^^ of the opening of a fresh 

 mine at Coundon, when ropes, scopes, and wind- 

 lass were bought for the work, and the total 

 expense was 5;. dd. Furthermore the monks of 

 Durham were leasing a mine in the township of 

 Ferry" at least as early as 1354, and in 1 36 1 

 they possessed a coal-pit at Rainton.*'' From the 

 Bursar's Roll-* for 1376-7 we find them paying 

 £6 6s. 6^d. ' in sinctatione unius putei ' at He- 

 worth, together with the making of the necessary 

 picks, buckets, and ropes (cordis). Another pit 

 also was sunk there to a depth of 6 fathoms at 



'^ Dur. Curs. No. 31, m. yd. 



" Pat. 41 Edw. Ill, pt. i,m. 19. Later, in 1384, 

 Richard II granted a charter to Bishop Fordham for 

 the mooring of ships and the loading of coals on the 

 south side of the Tyne ; Galloway, op. cit. i, 50. 



'* Pat. 38 Edw. Ill, pt. 2, m. 26. It had cer- 

 tainly been used earlier in the colliery of the prior of 

 Tynemouth at Elswick, and also about 1354 in a 

 mine rented by the prior of Durham at Ferryhill or 

 its neighbourhood ; Surtees, Hist, of Dur. iii, 285. 



" Dur. Curs. No. 31, m. 5 </. 



'" Galloway, op. cit. 49. 



" Hatfield's Surv. (Surtees Soc. xxxii), 93. 



" Galloway, op. cit. 52. " Ut supra, 219. 



" Surtees, Hist, of Dur. iii, 255. 



" Hist. Dur. Script. Tres (Surtees Soc. ix), App. 



Dur. Acct. R. (Surtees Soc. xcix-ciii), 585. 



322 



