P3-Plain Pit

John Buddle’s Work

John Buddle, the distinguished colliery viewer was appointed viewer of the Londonderry coal concerns in 1819 in succession to Arthur Mowbray who was the viewer appointed by the trustees of Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest. Buddle remained in this position until his death in 1843. The Londonderry papers contain some of Buddle’s own working papers and two of these, produced in 1835 and 1839, relate to the cost of charges on a 13-keel ship loading at Seaham and Sunderland, and a valuation of the wagonway from Rainton Meadows to the Jane Pit. The use of the wagonway to the Jane Pit had been very much reduced from the opening of the Rainton to Seaham Railway in 1831 – this railway was operated by contractors. The line to the Jane Pit was then mainly used for sending coal from North Hetton Colliery to Penshaw staithes; however this ceased from 1840 when the Rainton to Seaham Railway was bought by Lord Londonderry. Buddle’s valuation does provide much useful information on the line to the Jane Pit as it includes much descriptive detail.

Later years.
In the 1990s the Rye Hill opencast coal scheme extracted the remaining coal in the four upper seams of the area previously worked by Nicholson’s Pit and Plain Pit. The area has been restored and now forms the Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve that has created an oasis of wildlife on the urban fringe of Sunderland.

A recent application to carry out opencast operations on an area of land at Wheatley Head, slightly to the west of Plain Pit, was to extract approximately 125,000 metric tons of coal remaining in the area in probably the same seams that were worked at Plain Pit, together with 500,000 metric tons of brickshale and 50,000 metric tons of fireclay. Although the application was rejected this illustrates that there is a large quantity of suitable brick-making material available and it is presumed the opencast activities at the Rye Hill site also extracted substantial quantities of brickshale and fireclay.

This therefore suggests that this activity may have been carried out at Plain Pit, and also at other Rainton pits, and it is possible that they may have produced quantities of seggar and/or fireclay for use in the manufacture of bricks. Indeed there were brickworks located to the East of Nicholson’s Pit which was worked as part of the colliery and the former clay pit for this now forms ‘Joe’s Pond’ at the nature reserve. This was an extensive brickworks and it is recorded that in a period of 5½ months in 1823 it produced 758,276 bricks and a total of 831,990 in the following year. There was also a brickworks at the Meadows Pit.

No evidence has been formed to show that seggar or fireclay was used in this way and this is purely speculation on my part.

Conclusions.

It will be clear from the foregoing that Rainton Colliery, of which Plain Pit formed part, had been a very important coal producer. There had been a wagonway from Rainton Colliery leading to the Jane Pit from about 1697 and the pit had been connected to the system from its inception. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map shows that the wagonway system had been a complicated one. In 1784 coal produced from Tempest pits, mainly from Rainton, and shipped from the staithes on the river Wear were the second largest tonnage, i.e. 31,001 Newcastle chaldrons or 82,153 tons, and this was only beaten by the output from Lambton Collieries. ** This was a few years before the Rainton pits really began to develop.

** The Newcastle chaldron is a measure containing 53 cwts. of coal

There had been a ‘steam-powered Machine for Drawing Coals’ in use at an early date as the 1814 valuation shows. Many years earlier, in 1724 there had been a ‘grant by Samuel Anderson of Penshaw staiths (NZ 314 541) to Jane Wharton of liberty to erect an engine-house at Houghton-le-Spring with machinery for pumping water. (D/Lo/F/341.)

Coal mining in the area had been developed by Jane Wharton, then by the Tempests and Vanes – each family being predecessors of the Londonderry’s.

There is now no trace of Plain Pit other than of the wagonway that led up to it. However, the adjacent pit, Nicholson’s, is still in use today as one of nine shafts used for dewatering the former County Durham coalfield. The line of the old wagonway can be followed in parts as far as the Jane Pit.

Time Line for Plain Pit, Rainton Colliery.

Date	Event

1697	Wayleave granted to Jane Wharton for a wagonway from Rainton Colliery to the Jane Pit.
Mid 1770s	Plain Pit opened as part of the original Rainton Colliery.
7 Oct 1776	Two men killed at Ovington’s Pit, East Rainton as a result of using gunpowder.
	This is the earliest recorded mention of the use of gunpowder in the north of England. Ovington’s Pit may have later been called Plain Pit.
1778	Rainton Colliery was owned by John Tempest, Esq., of Wynyard and Brancepeth Castle.
1794	John Tempest died and his estates passed to Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, Bart.
1813	Sir Henry Vane-Tempest died in 1813 and the estates passed to his 13 year old daughter, Lady Emily Frances Anne Vane-Tempest, and Trustees were appointed to manage them until she became of age.
1814	A valuation produced for Rainton Colliery, that listed the underground equipment at Plain Pit.
1814 – 1817	The trustees developed Rainton Colliery and sank the pit shafts to allow the lower seams to be worked.
Early 1820s	Rainton Colliery Hutton Seam coal selling for 22s 6d a ton against the 17s 6d of the Main Coal and Low Main seams.
18 Dec 1817	An explosion at Plain Pit by which eleven men and sixteen boys were killed.
1818	John Robson produced a valuation for Rainton Colliery that listed the underground equipment at Plain Pit.
c1822	A man named Cross killed after falling down Plain Pit shaft.
1823	Underground stowage of coal was begun at Plain Pit.
May 1823	The direction of the air in Plain Pit was changed.
3rd Nov 1823	An even greater explosion at Plain Pit. One report states that fifty-three men and six boys were killed, another report states that fifty-five were killed in the explosion and two died later which made a total of fifty-seven men and boys. Of the eighteen horses that were in the pit, twelve were killed.
Sept 1824	Coal was being worked again in the explosion district.
1824	Shaft repairs carried out at Plain Pit. It is possible that this was to repair damage caused by the explosion.
After 1824	A furnace was built in the Hutton seam at Nicholson’s Pit to draw air through Plain Pit
August 1825	A new system of ventilating the exhausted coal areas or ‘wastes’ was introduced.
January 1827	Plain Pit not working, the other Rainton pits were able to supply the vend with the Plain Pit’s men divided between them.
1831	A new railway line was constructed from Rainton Bridge to Seaham and from then on coals were shipped at Seaham instead of Sunderland.
1850	Legislation introduced requiring a full investigation of pit accidents.
9 Oct 1863	Thomas Gibson, age 37, a Deputy at Plain Pit, was killed as a result of a fall of stone.
12 Jun 1867	John Thompson, age 16, an Apparatus Boy at Plain Pit, was killed after being crushed by the apparatus tub when the chain broke.
1890s	The seams of coal at Plain Pit were worked out.
1990s	The Rye Hill open-cast coal scheme extracted the remaining coal in the four upper seams of the area previously worked by Nicholson’s Pit and Plain Pit.
Late 1990s	The area was restored and now forms the Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve.

Alan Vickers
30th April 2003
Updated 18th September, 2007