Sheriff Hill Colliery

Sheriff Hill Colliery (also known as Ellison Main Colliery) was established on Gateshrad Fell in the 1780s. The pits of Sheriff Hill Colliery were Ann, Bess, Centre, Dolly, Edge, Fanny, George, King, Bradley, Doll, Isabella, Kells, Stapple and Hope.[1] On the 19th July 1819 a fire-damp explosion at the colliery claimed the lives of 2 men and 33 boys[2]; many of the victims were buried at St. Mary's Churchyard in Gateshead. The Colliery closed in the 1890s.

Ellison Main, or Sheriff Hill Colliery, is situated on the summit of Gateshead Fell, and about 2¾ miles south from Newcastle. It is at present leased by Messrs. Lamb and Hutchinson under Cuthbert Ellison, Esq., of Hebburn Hall. The Isabella Pit was sunk between 50 and 60 years ago, and is 125 fathoms deep to the Hutton seam, which is here 5 feet thick. According to a table in Forster's "Section of the Strata," it appears that fifteen seams of coal, of various thicknesses, have been passed through here. The High Main occurs at the depth of about 60 fathoms, and crops out to the day in a quarry at the Low Fell.

The coals are drawn at two shafts by an engine of about 30 horses' power, which raises three corves at once. Another engine, of the same power, is employed in pumping the water to a height of 30 fathoms from the bottom, where it is discharged into a drift of about 1¼ mile in length, and is finally drawn out by an engine at the Low Fell. The waggon-way from the Isabella Pit to the Tyne is about 3 miles in length, and the waggons are transmitted along it chiefly by means of inclined planes.

Extract from Views of the Collieries (1844)