There are links on our map to this website where we provide information about the development of the industry from the time coal began to be mined on Tyneside on an industrial scale in the early 17th century, until the heyday of the industry at the beginning of the twentieth century. The coal was taken from the pits to the River Tyne for export (mainly to London) first by pack horse, then by carts known as wains and then by rail. The first railways had wooden rails and were horse powered. Based largely on the works of G Bennett E Clavering and A Rounding (‘A Fighting Trade’) and M.J.T Lewis (‘Early Wooden Waggonways’) we show the development of the wooden waggonways in four time slices with links to this website, where we provide information about them and link them to the history of the trade.
We show on the map the coal mines recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey maps produced in the mid 19th century and the first revision series of the 1950s/60s. We have linked the collieries to the Durham Mining Museum’s website which provides a wealth of information. Finally we show the mineral railways which were built in the early 19th century. We will be updating our map soon to show coking plants and brickworks.
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