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PEGSWOOD’S COLLIERIES.
The mining industry is closely
allied to the development of Pegswood. And, most recognize this industrial
association as having lasted for around a hundred years. However, mining has
been going on in and around Pegswood far longer than a hundred years. Many of
those people who worked in the early coalmines, male and female as both sexes
worked in the coalmines, were the antecedents of much of the population of
present day Pegswood. It is important, therefore, to take a look at how the
mining industry grew in Pegswood.
One of the first ‘named’ collieries
in Pegswood was the ‘Banks’. Although there would appear to have been more than
one colliery in Pegswood that carried this name the first being mentioned in
the Bothal Parish Registers. This first coalmine was registered to Edward Verdy
and, was up for sale, under forfeiture of the Commonwealth around 1650. The
Banks Colliery was described at this time as: ‘A peripatetic landsale colliery
at Pegsworth. This Banks Colliery was to the west of Climbing Tree Farm, near
the top of what is now known as the Whorral Bank. A number of cottages were
also built on this area and known as the Banks Cottages from at least 1726 when
they were mentioned in the Bothal Parish registers. The local press, when
referring to local history, often passes this area off as the ‘Morpeth Banks’.
A misnomer if ever there was one as this area, its cottages and colliery, stood
on land owned by the Dukes of Portland.
The
Banks Colliery had always been in trouble. A letter to the Earl of Oxford
stated that all rents had been gathered with the exception of Pegsworth
(Pegswood) Colliery. From 1797 the Banks Colliery was being worked by the
partnership of John Wake, Thomas and Roger Bowman. The coalmine being described
as a landsale colliery named Bothal Bank Colliery near Morpeth and situated at
the top of Quarry Bank. However, things were clearly not right. A new winning
had been found but had caused much difficulty as well as much unexpected
expense. In fact, it caused expense to the tune of £2,000 and the partnership was in trouble.
By
1802 the trouble had escalated and the partnership had suffered severe
financial loss. One of the partners, Roger Bowman, had died insolvent and
leaving behind two infant children. His wife, Jane Brown who was described as
being the administratrix of Roger Bowman, took his place on the partnership. A
letter dated March 13th 1802 was sent to the Duke of Portland via
his land agent, asking for relief of rent. As well as financial difficulties
the partnership had to admit the quality of the coal was poor. The Banks
Colliery was facing disaster and closure.
A
further site for the Banks Colliery is given as a couple of hundred yards to
the south west of Cookswell House. This site is shown on the maps of 1860 and
1866 pointing to the fact that there may have been two collieries named the
Banks. A separate plan of the banks Colliery shows that this colliery was just
to the west of Cookswell House. The workings from this coalmine passed under
the Pegswood to Morpeth lane and moved up towards the Pegswood Quarry. This may
well have been the colliery operated by the partnership of Mitchell and
Thompson who leased a colliery from the Duke of Portland.
These
early attempts at forming a coal industry were hampered from the start. Mainly
this was due to the market, or lack of it. The main market for Pegswood
Colliery had to be Morpeth. However, the Netherton Colliery also had Morpeth as
its main customer. The town of Morpeth and Netherton Colliery already had one
thing in common: both were on land owned by the Duke of Carlisle, The Netherton
Colliery known as the Carlisle pit. A waggonway was needed to transport coal
from Pegswood direct to the Morpeth market. However, the boundary of The Duke
of Portland’s land fell about a mile short of Morpeth.
The
Netherton Colliery employed its own carts to transport coal to Morpeth,
Pegswood relied on contracted carters to carry this out. By 1828, the Pegswood
Colliery was beginning to feel the pinch in the Morpeth market. After suffering
losses, Mitchell and Thompson applied to the Duke of Portland via his agent
Sample, for a rent reduction due to lack of business. They pointed out that
they had just made a new whining, opened a new seam. The rent was waived for
that year to allow them to build up trade.
The
year 1829 was to prove no better for the partnership. I fact it was worse and
once more the rent was waived by the Duke. To corner the coal market,
especially in the Morpeth area, Netherton cut the cost of its coal to the
customer. Pegswood also cut the cost of its coal in a race to gain the market,
as there were strong rumours that Netherton was about to build a waggonway to
get its coal direct to Morpeth. A further look at building a waggonway, from
Pegswood to Morpeth, was pondered over but rejected once more. Due to the
Duke’s land falling short of Morpeth by one mile, he would have had to pay a
rent for this waggonway. Further misery was heaped onto Pegswood Colliery as
Netherton, in a further bid to gain the market, cut its coal costs further as
well giving a larger measure of coal. This, Pegswood Colliery could not match.
As if
to add insult to injury, Netherton Colliery opened its own waggonway to Morpeth
in 1830. The year 1831 saw the Pegswood Colliery still struggling but having to
face the fact that Pegswood Colliery had lost all its business and was no
longer viable. Mitchell became ill during this year and temple had an accident
in which he broke his leg, a fact that was reported as ‘life threatening’. The
rent was once more due but there was nothing to pay it with. An application to
the Duke for a further waive of the rent was refused. Mitchell was to contest
the rent arrears, pointing out that he had just invested in a newer more
powerful pumping engine. And, if this was not discounted from the rent arrears,
then; ‘…it should be’.
Sample appealed to the Duke that closure of the Pegswood Colliery would
bring hardship not only to Pegswood but the whole area including Morpeth. Added
to this was the fact that, new machinery would be lying around becoming
derelict. It would have to be sold at a cut price. This would only help
guarantee that the Duke would not get his rent arrears from Mitchell and
Thompson. As such, it would be the Duke of Portland and his estates that would
be the loser. However, the Duke had had enough and Pegswood Colliery was to
close. In December of 1834, Sample was to write to the Duke; ‘I should also
make it known to the neighbourhood that it is your grace’s intention to abandon
the colliery at the expiration of the present lease’. The lease ran out on May
Day 1835 and for a while, Pegswood Colliery was no more.
A
further colliery was opened in the 1850s. It was certainly there and working by
1851. This colliery, known only as Pegswood Colliery, was opened in the
vicinity of the old Banks Colliery. Opened by Robert Anderson, who also doubled
as a farmer, along with James Temple: the colliery working under the name of
James Temple and Co. This colliery appears to have been a much larger colliery
than the Banks. Some one hundred and four men and boys were employed in the new
colliery. And, although it was to remain as a working colliery until the 1870s
it was known to have been closed for at least half that time due to strikes and
disputes by the workforce. Robert Anderson was still given as owner in 1861
but, by 1871, his son Thomas Anderson was owner.
Similar to the Banks Colliery was Howburn Colliery. Situated on the
north side of Quarry Bank on the road from Morpeth to Pegswood. In 1882 the
Duke of Portland was bemoaning the fact that there had been successive failures
and no one could make a go of the Howburn Colliery.
New owners, John Caisley, Robert Wood and Thomas Slinn took over the colliery from May 12th 1882. The fixed rental was to be £50 per anum with the coalmine being worked as a drift. As part of the lease the partnership had to agree to keep their workforce under control. Any poaching or trespassing had to be treated with instant dismissal.
The main customer for the Howburn Colliery was to be the County Council for supply of coal to the County Lunatic Asylum situated nearby. However, the partnership was soon to be in trouble. Slinn was to leave and the remaining partners were faced with trying to form a limited company; ‘to avoid conflict.’ The idea of a limited company was not forthcoming, however, and the company were faced with other difficulties
A new winning, the ‘Bessie Gray’ seam was proving not only difficult but also highly expensive. With royalties due, the costs of Howburn Colliery so far had been in the region of £8,000 – 9,000. All of the original capital available to the partnership was now completely exhausted and costs were exceeding sales. In other words, they were bust! As with the Banks Colliery, the partnership was forced to write to the Duke for rent relief. A letter of March 20 1897 apologised for asking again for relief after the Duke had so kindly granted relief the previous year. However, relief could not go on indefinite and the Howburn Colliery was once more doomed to failure as the machinery was sold off in an effort to pay the rent arrears.
James Johnson of the Wansbeck Colliery Company was to be the new owner of the Howburn Colliery. Taking over in 1911 they too were soon in trouble as the underground workings of the Howburn Colliery had caused damage to the Dukes farmland. The Wansbeck Colliery Company, in compensation for damage, paid damages to the Duke amounting to £742 11 shillings for damage incurred to Pegswood Moor Farm. One after another new owners took over the Howburn Colliery with the same lack of success. Eventually the Howburn Colliery succumbed to the same fate as the Banks and it was closed.
It was decided the future of coal lay to the east rather than the west of Pegswood. The new owner of Pegswood Colliery was to be Simon Henry Fraser, mining engineer of Southwick. A lease was drawn up between the Duke of Portland and Simon H. Fraser and, the new Pegswood Colliery was born May 13th 1868. As the new colliery grew, so did the workforce soon outstripping the old Anderson Colliery. New houses were to be built with the cost divided equally between the Duke and Simon H. Fraser. Both parties also sharing the costs of any upkeep on houses and any surface buildings including the school to be built later.
Social historian Engels has described miners: ‘A nomadic race’. This was mainly due to their wanderings from one colliery to another in search of better working conditions as well as better housing. And the people at Pegswood were certainly a cosmopolitan lot. They came from many parts of Britain as well as other collieries in the area including Netherton and Ashington moving freely from one to the other in search of better conditions. However, the new colliery was to prove no better than the Anderson colliery as far as strikes were concerned. The school logbooks bear witness to this as various Headmasters wrote of unrest and strikes at the colliery. Neither was the conditions helped b the actions of Simon H. Fraser.
The Duke of Portland was to blame the miners and their families for habitually trespassing on the paths in Bothal woods as well as around and near Bothal castle. Signs were continually ignored or pulled down with fences and gates damaged or destroyed. Anger erupted on both sides, which caused much bad feeling against the Duke. Eventually, this led to the courts where the miners of Pegswood were described as; ‘…a collection of the greatest ruffians that could possibly be got together from all parts of the United Kingdom.’ Held responsible by the Duke was Simon H. Fraser who, he described as; ‘…caring nothing what they may be provided they worked coal for him.’ The Duke’s representative, Mr Sample, also called the Pegswood miners; ‘…the most disreputable and lawless body of men in the district’. The courts were to find in favour of the Duke awarding him damages of £2.
Of interest in all the following leases between Simon H. Fraser and the Duke, is the provision that Simon H. Fraser of Pegswood Colliery remains responsible for his workforce. Any of the workforce of Pegswood Colliery caught and proved guilty of poaching, trespass or any lawlessness should be given instant dismissal. Is it a coincidence or an act of retaliation that Simon H. Fraser was to close Pegswood School for a year only two years after this episode? It was one of only a few tools that Simon H. Fraser had to combat the disruptive behaviour of the miners in his colliery in particular, those who were causing the strikes. Also in the newer leases was the fact that Pegswood Colliery had to supply the Duke with fifty tons of best Pegswood coal a year as well as twenty-five tons of best Pegswood coal to the occupiers of Bothal Castle.
With the beginning of World War One, it was initially thought that the colliery might have to close. A meeting was sought in Pegswood between Simon H. Fraser and representatives of the miners, September 4th 1914. Fraser stated that the price of coal had dropped by two shillings a ton and all recent work at the colliery had been carried out at a considerable loss. If this loss were to carry on, he would have no choice but to close the colliery. An ‘expert’ from Durham, stated that the colliery was in excellent condition. Fraser was also to state; ‘…that if the men had an impression that they would receive support from several funds, it was a mistaken idea.’ This was a clear warning against any strike action the miners may be thinking of taking. The miner’s representative then conveyed the message to those waiting outside, as they usually do, stating that the men would; ‘…treat the statement with the contempt it deserves’. It was, he added; ‘…an insult to their honesty’.
Of course, the miners were greatly needed and coal was in great demand, as the war got under way. Pegswood Colliery was to survive the Fraser years as well as another World War. Although a common held belief was that all coalmines were closed by a Conservative government, this was certainly not the case with Pegswood Colliery. News of an impending closure was released in the local press, Morpeth Herald, June 28th 1968, that Pegswood Colliery was to be made redundant the following year. And so it was. Pegswood Colliery after a long history with various collieries in the village was to come to an end. Not by the hand of the Duke’s of Portland failing to give relief, as they had in the past. Not at the hands of an incompetent management but at the hands of Harold Wilson’s Labour government.