Vane Tempest Colliery - Seaham, UK - Abstract Public Sculptures on Waymarking.com

The 3 pits

Seaham was a mining community heavily dependent on the coal industry. It was built by the Third Marquess Lord Londonderry for the winning and export of coal and its history is inextricably linked with the history of coal mining nationally.

The decline and the swift end of the industry hit the area hard.

Seaham was unique in the area in that it was a settlement which had three pits: Seaham, Vane Tempest and the largest of the three at nearby Dawdon. Seaham colliery or the "Low Pit" was the oldest, the shaft having been sunk in 1849.

Seaham Colliery - the 'mother ' pit - was known fondly in its early days as the "Nicky-Nack". this name, so it is said, came from the the 'nick-nack' sound made by a pulley wheel which wound the tubs on the surface.

Coal mining has always been a dangerous occupation, particularly in the early years when links between naked lights, coal dust and mine gases were less clearly understood.

There were seven explosions at Seaham Colliery - the first just six weeks after the colliery opened, when six men died. Several other explosions followed until 1871, when 21 lives were lost and the pit was closed for several months.

These were the forrunners for the worst explosion of all when on the 8th September 1880, 164 lives were lost and 181 pit ponies perished.
br> After the explosion fires burned underground and a decision was made to brick up the Maudlin seam.

Bodies of men and boys still lay in this seam and the decision helped to trigger industrial disputes and strikes.

Coal was extracted from the seams by miners called 'hewers'. Methods of working varied but were based on making a narrow slit in the seam at its weakest part. In the 19th century this often consisted of hand-drilling and then using explosives to break up the seam. A hand pick was then used to extract the remaining coal and the hewers then filled the tubs.

Miners known as 'putters' then pushed the tubs or they were pulled by pit ponies back to the shaft.

Vane Tempest Colliery

Over the road, opposite where you are standing, is the site where Vane Tempest Colliery was situated. Not so long ago the pit-head gear dominated this area and the pit yard woud have been full of men departing and arriving from Seaham and other colliery villages inland. The sinkng of the shaft was completed by 1928.

The name is a combination of two family names; the Vanes and the Tempests. These ancient families were united by the marriage of the Reverand Sir Henry Vane and Frances Tempest in the 18th Century. Their grand-daughter, Frances Anne Vane-Tempest married Charles Sewart, later the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. The couple lived at Seaham Hall and created Seaham Harbour.

The colliery was also known as the "New Winning Pool" as it was sunk for the purposes of working and winning coal inland and under the sea.

Under the sea bed there remains a maze of galleries; corridors which the miners spent up to an hour travelling along before they reached the coal face and began their shift.

In the East Durham coalfield miners worked in seams as thin as 18 inches (45cm) well into the 20th century. A hand hewer worked the coal lying on his side and his mate (marra) then removed it. Many men used a tiny slanted stool called a 'cracket' to provide themselves with support in different positions.

'Bait Stand' or 'Snaps' was the name given to the dinner break.

It was common for miners to have only 10 minutes in a working day to snatch some food.

Often miners simply grabbed their bait when and where they could.

It often consisted of water kept in a metal bottle and "bread & dripping".

Gradually many of the processes for coal extraction became mechanised - including that of coal cutting. These machines undercut the seam bottom and then explosives were used to loosen the seam above.

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