Coxlodge Colliery (c.1821 - 1894)

The present Coxlodge Colliery is situated about three-quarters of a mile west from that of Gosforth, and in the north moiety of Coxlodge township. The royalty of the whole township belongs to Ralph Riddell, Esq., of Felton; and the colliery is wrought by the Rev. R. H. Brandling and partners. The Jubilee Pit, so called in commemoration of the jubilee held on George III. attaining the 50th year of his reign, is 68 fathoms deep; and the Regent Pit, named in honour of the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., is 92 fathoms. The same seam of coal, the High Seam, is wrought here as at Gosforth; being further to the rise, it averages from 4½ to 5 feet thick, and is of excellent quality. An explosion occurred here on July 9, 1821, by which one man lost his life. The waggon-way from hence joins that at Gosforth, whither the waggons are drawn by horses. An attempt was made, on September 2, 1813, to establish a locomotive engine on this railway, the following account of which appeared in the newspapers of the time:-

"An ingenious and highly-interesting experiment was performed in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators, on the railway leading from the collieries of Kenton and Coxlodge, near Newcastle, by the application of a steam engine, constructed by Messrs Fenton, Murray, and Wood of Leeds, under the direction of Mr John Blenkinsop, the patentee, for the purpose of drawing the coal waggons. About one o-clock the new invention was set a-going, having attached to it sixteen chaldron waggons, loaded with coals, each waggon with its contents weighing four tons or thereabouts, making altogether an aggregate weight little short of seventy tons. Upon perfectly level road the machine, so charged, it was computed, would travel at the rate of 3½ miles per hour; but, in the present instance, its speed was short of that, owing no doubt to some partial ascents in the railway. Under all the circumstances, it was very highly approved of, and its complete success anticipated. After the experiment was finished, a large party of gentlemen connected with coal-mining partook of an excellent dinner provided at the Grand Stand for the occasion, when the afternoon was spent in the most agreeable and convivial manner."

The coals are called in the markets "Riddell's Wallsend", "Coxlodge" and "West Kenton."....

A Series of Views of the Collieries in the Counties of Northumberland and Durham. By T. H. Hair. With descriptive sketches and a preliminary Essay on Coal and the Coal Trade. By M. Ross. 1844