I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your website. I grew up in the Durham coalfield and remain proud of the heritage and community many years after the mines were closed down. I now live in Canada. I really appreciated your work and your site. It’s great to see people taking an interest in our not so distant past, and the preservation of it. Good luck to you.

Mr F G Newman

Thanks

According to the Banners of The Durham Coalfield by Norman Emery, ISBN 0-75091-708-3; there were three pits associated with Sherburn. These were Sherburn, Sherburn HIll and Sherburn House, all sunk by the Earl of Durham between 1828 and 1840. The following is a description of Sherburn Hill.

Two shafts, the North and West, were sunk in 1830 and 1835 by the Earl of Durham to work the Hutton. It was purchased by Samuelson in 1914 and worked Low Main, Main and Busty. It was absorbed by Dorman Long in 1923. Surface drifting took place in 1951, serving as a downcast with the West shaft, while the North shaft was the upcast. There were four other shafts within the ‘take’, providing additional ventilation. The 1964 Manpower Profile indicated that geological problems would affect its economic position, thought output per man increased to 23 cwt, working Five Quarter, Harvey and Busty. Sixty-five men were subsequently transferred to east coast pits, and the colliery closed in August 1965.The Tutill damask silk banner at the 1939 Gala showed Conishead Priory on one side and the aged mines’ homes, ‘Eventide’, on the other. An NUM banner was purchased in 1953 and showed, on one side, the local aged miners’ homes. At the 1962 Gala it is clear that the other side carried a roundel painting of Conishead Priory. The banner was present at the 1965 Gala but was later transferred to Elemore lodge.

A low resolution photo of the banner can be seen at The Durham Miner Project and background information on the mine and the men who worked there is available at The Durham Mining Museum.

You may also be interested in Keep the Home Fires Burning ISBN 1-84683-059-1 by John Burrell and Kevin Stock, An illustrated social and military diary of events in the Sherburn area of County Durham 1914-1918 available at Woodfield Publishing.

Emma