There are, perhaps, but few people in this country, as well as in many other parts of the world, who are not familiar with the name of Wallsend and it is possible that the celebrity which the Tyneside village has attained has been due rather to its association with the coal-trade during past years, than to its connexion with the great engineering work of the Romans, to which it owes its name.

It is hoped, therefore, that a short account of the history of Wallsend colliery may not, at the time of its re-opening after many years of disuse, be uninteresting.

The closing years of last century saw the winning of the Wallsend coal. It was at a period in the history of the Newcastle coal-field when mining operations, which bad hitherto been principally confined to comparatively shallow pits near the outcrops, were beginning to creep gradually eastwards along the banks of the Tyne, where the famed High Main coal lay at greater depths, requiring increased capital and increased engineering skill for its winning and working.

The difficulties attending the mining of this deep coal were in those days very considerable. Sinking through and stopping back the shaft-feeders, with the wooden tubbing and the insufficient pumping appliances then in vogue, was of itself a long and costly business. The large number of shafts then required is very striking (at Wallsend, 8 shafts were sunk on a royalty 1,250 acres in extent), due chiefly to the presence of fire-damp, which was met with in considerable quantities, and, coupled with the inadequate means of ventilation, presented further risks of a very serious nature. To these Wallsend was no stranger.

The winning was commenced in 1778 within the western boundary of the Roman fort of Segedunum. The first pit was lost in a quicksand, through which the A pit was eventually sunk by piling, and the coal was won by this and the B pit at a depth of 666 feet, in the year 1781. The piling was eventually secured by Mr. John Buddle, sen., in 1792, by cast-iron tubbing, which is believed to have been its first application for the purpose.* The C and D pits were commenced in 1786, the E pit was sunk in 1791-3, the F pit completed in 1802, and the G pit subsequently sunk as a separate winning. In all these shafts more or less heavy feeders of water were found (in the C pit as much as 1,700 gallons a minute), generally near the surface. They were, in each case, successfully stopped by means of plank and oak-crib tubbing, so that ultimately one engine with a pumping-set 1 2 inches in diameter drew the whole of the water-feeders which were principally confined to the shafts.

Glancing at the records of Wallsend colliery, admiration cannot but l)e felt for the patience and perseverance with which its early difficulties were overcome ; for it was not long before the ever-present fire-damp brought disaster upon it. The first explosion occurred in 1783, but was not of a serious nature, one life only being lost, although the workings had to be drowned in order to extinguish an underground fire caused by it. On October 9th, 1785, an explosion took place at the B pit ventilating-furnace, unattended with loss of life, but necessitating the closing of the shafts and a second flooding of the workings, owing to the coal being on fire. The damage done to the B pit shaft was, on this occasion, so great that coal work could not be resumed until after a lapse of 9 months. During the work of re-opening this shaft, 3 separate explosions occurred, causing the loss of 9 lives. These were due to the use of the steel-mill, up till then believed to be safe, and, in consequence of its failure, work was continued in the shaft without it and with the greatest difficulty. For some time it was performed in total darkness, aided only by light reflected from the surface by means of a mirror during periods of sunshine.

After this accident the working of the colliery proceeded without any very serious catastrophe, although explosions occurred in 1786, 1787, and 1803, attended with the loss of 26 lives.

When the coal was first won, there was no intention, owing to the difficulties of ventilation, of removing the pillars, which constituted about 60 per cent. of the seam, though subsequently they were enlarged with a view to their possible extraction in the future.

About 1795, a plan of robbing the pillars was adopted, the workings were divided into districts round which barriers were formed by stowing the boards and walls, the pillars inside being partially worked. This method secured a larger produce, but, as may be imagined, it led to great difficulties and expense through the numerous creeps which it brought on. In 1809, panel-work was introduced, where possible, solid barriers being left round the districts within which the pillars were removed.

It must be recollected that all this took place prior to Sir Humphry Davy's great invention of the safety-lamp in 1815, and that the difficulties of working with candles and steel-mills were at times found to be almost insurmountable. In place of the powerful ventilating fan of the present day and carefully arranged systems of ventilation, there were then only small furnaces, fed by the single current of air which had passed round the entire pit and was frequently loaded with gas almost to the firing-point. It was no uncommon occurrence for the sentry, stationed near the furnace, candle in hand, to give the alarm which necessitated the hurried withdrawal of man and beast from the pit and the opening of the main separation-doors in order to prevent an explosion at the furnace. On such occasions, the viewer had no easy task and experienced no little anxiety in relighting the furnace and restoring the ventilation of a mine which no man dared to enter. About 1810, Mr. John Buddle greatly improved matters by splitting the air, and by forming dumb-drifts which conveyed the air from the broken workings into the upcast-shafts without its passing over the furnace.

It was through such dangers and difficulties that the Messrs. Buddle, father and son, steered the course of Wallsend and enabled the colliery to attain the fame and success it acquired. Situated on the banks of the Tyne, the produce commanded ready shipment in the port which, at that date, practically gave the metropolis its coal-supplies, and with the further natural advantages of a thick seam producing coal of a quality which commanded the highest price in the house-coal market, it had a most successful career for many years. This was ended only by the exhaustion of the High Main seam, which was finally closed after the strike of 1831, having then been in operation for a period of exactly half a century.

Prior to this date, the A, C, and G pits had been sunk to the Bensham, and that seam had been opened out with a view to its subsequent working. This seam, however, being a gas coal, although of good quality, necessitated a fresh market, which was not at that time so fully developed as at the present day, or so lucrative as the house-coal trade had proved to be. Added to this were fresh mining difficulties owing to the fiery nature of the seam, bringing upon the undertaking the explosions of 1821, 1835, and 1838, with the heavy loss of 165 lives.

The colliery continued to be worked for some years later, until operations were stopped through an occurrence which affected it, in common with nearly all the surrounding collieries, and ended in the temporary ruin of this great field of mining. This was no less than the flooding of the Tyne basin, a short description of which may be of some interest. It was primarily due to the gradual exhaustion of the High Main seam, the feeders above which were either tubbed off at the various collieries, as they sank to the lower seams, or were no longer pumped at certain pits.

In 1811, Felling colliery ceased to work the High Main seam and stopped pumping. This compelled the abandonment, in the same year, of the Lawson Main colliery, the water passing also from Felling into St. Anthony's colliery. This water was subsequently pumped in 1823, at the Tyne Main colliery by an engine erected at Friars Goose, and the High Main seam was worked at that colliery till 1842, when it was abandoned and tubbed off, the lower seams being sunk to.

An arrangement was then entered into by the owners of the Tyne Main, Felling, Walker, Wallsend, Willington and Heaton collieries by which they respectively contributed to the cost of keeping the Friars Goose engine at work in case the feeders should pass to the dip. In the meantime, the majority of these collieries had inserted tubbing at the High Main seam in such of the shafts as had been sunk to, or were intended to be sunk to the lower seams, and gave notice of their intention to withdraw from the pumping arrangement. The engine consequently ceased to work in September, 1851, the feeder at that late being 800 gallons a minute.

In March, 1851, Percy Main colliery was laid in, and its feeder of 800 gallons a minute, derived from the eastern extremity of the colliery and from Burdon Main colliery, was also thrown against the dip collieries.

Of these, the first to feel the effect was Jarrow, having contended against the water to the extent of 300 gallons a minute, and having no tubbing.

Wallsend was the next to suffer from water, chiefly through the decayed nature of the tubbing in some of the shafts, and its absence in other shafts which were sunk to the Bensham seam. The water penetrated to this seam, and, through lack of pumping-appliances, the colliery ceased to work in June, 1854.

The neighbouring Willington colliery was next flooded, and, through a similar want of pumping-machinery, was abandoned in February, 1856, to be followed by Bigge's Main in August, 1857. Hebburn was the last to feel the effects of the inundation. In the A and C pits, the High Main water had been tubbed off, and the feeders reduced to 120 gallons a minute, pumped by one engine at the B pit which was only sunk to the High Main seam. In 1854, this feeder increased, and a second engine was applied at the B pit in 1857, the feeder being 520 gallons per minute. These engines were, however, unable to cope with the feeder, and were stopped. In the meantime the workings in the Bensham seam had been steadily prosecuted, and the feeders, which had been practically nil, gradually increased with the extension of the goaves. The end was now not far distant ; under the increased pressure, the tubbing in the C pit commenced to leak in 1858, part of the sheeting having given way, and in May, 1859, it succumbed in the A pit, resulting in the flooding of the colliery.

Walker colliery alone withstood the general disaster. It had been very securely tubbed at the High Main seam, and worked the Low Main seam at a greater depth below its drowned waste than the Bensham seam.

In the meantime schemes for the unwatering and re-opening of this drowned district were being formulated.

In 1855, Messrs. Losh, Wilson, & Bell, of the Walker Ironworks, took the Wallsend colliery with a view to working the Low Main seam, and commenced operations under the direction of Mr. T. E. Forster, by widening out the A pit shaft, originally piled through the quicksand, and thereby decreased to 5 feet 11 inches in diameter, inside which Mr. John Buddle, sen., had set his tubbing in 1792. The enterprise does not seem to have been successful, owing to difficulties with the water, and was abandoned.

In March, 1857, an attempt was made to form the Wallsend and Willington Coal Company, having for its object the re-opening of these collieries, but this proposal apparently was not received with sufficient favour.

It would appear that, by this time, the idea began to be entertained that the undertaking was greater than individual enterprise could hope to grapple with successfully.

Turning to the Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, it will be found that later in 1857, Mr. T. J. Taylor read a paper entitled "Suggestions towards a less Local System of Draining Coal Mines." ** In this he advocated a scheme for the establishment of three pumping-stations at various points in the Tyne basin, the initial cost of which, he proposed, should be borne by the lessors of the different royalties affected and the cost of maintenance and pumping by the lessees. The feeders to be pumped were then estimated at a little over 4,000 gallons a minute. The outcome of this paper was that in 1861, a bill, known as "The Tyne Coal Drainage Bill," was promoted in Parliament. Owing, however, to differences and objections by some of those whom it was intended to benefit, the bill was withdrawn and matters remained in statu quo.

Nothing further was done till 1863, when a proposal was set on foot for the formation of the Tyne Coal Company. This attempt was carried through successfully. and the new company acquired leases of the royalties formerly attached to Hebburn, Wallsend, Willington, and parts of Jarrow and Percy Main collieries. Operations were then commenced at Wallsend and Hebburn with a view to the unwatering of these collieries.

At Wallsend, two powerful temporary pumping-engines were placed on the G pit and commenced to pump in November, 1867. In 12 months' time they had succeeded in lowering the water to a depth of 330 feet, affecting to a considerable extent the levels of the water at Willington, Heaton and Walker, and, to a much smaller degree, those of Friars Goose, Lawson Main, Percy Main and Flatworth. A new pumping-shaft was also sunk to this depth and a large cornish engine erected on it. At Hebburn, water was drawn in tubs at the A pit, commencing in December, 1867, and reaching a depth of 444 feet within 12 months, while a large cornish engine was erected at the B pit to pump the High Main feeders. This work was directed by Mr. J. B. Simpson, who succeeded in freeing Hebburn from water and in establishing it once more as a going concern in the year 1870. From this date, Hebburn continued to be worked, the High Main feeders being pumped by the B pit engine and those from the lower seams by an underground engine, erected at a later date, the Wallsend pumps holding the water at the level reached in 1868.

No further effort was made towards the unwatering of Wallsend till the present company acquired the royalties in 1892, twenty-five years after the project was initiated. As an account of its proceedings is to be given by another writer, this memoir may fittingly terminate here.

The attached illustrations have been reproduced from Mr. T. H. Hair's Sketch's of the Coal-mines of Northumberland and Durham, 1839.

The writer feels that the general interest which appears to he entertained with regard to Wallsend must be his excuse for having entered at such length on its history, and can only conclude by expressing the hope that the patient and long continued efforts for its rewinning may be rewarded by its renewed prosperity in the future.

* Vide paper by Mr. John Buddle in Transactions of the Natural History Society, of Northumberland and Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1838. vol. ii., page 309, to which the writer is indebted for the early particulars relating to Wallsend colliery.

** Vol. v., page 135.