Mothballed pit museum to reopen

April 16, 2002

An important monument to the North-East’s industrial heritage which was ‘mothballed’ as part of a cost-cutting exercise may re-open.

The Washington F Pit, which used to open to the public on Bank Holidays, was closed by Sunderland Council nearly two years ago to save less than £15,000.

The colliery became a target for graffiti artists after its closure, but the scrawl has now been removed and local councillors are hoping to get it reopened.

Local historian and councillor Bill Craddock said the Washington area committee would be applying to the council to allow it to open on bank holidays and, if the visitor numbers warranted it, at other times.

Original location

‘It's an important part of our industrial heritage as far as I am concerned. It's the only one of its kind in existence in situ,’ he said.

The colliery, which was formerly run by the Tyne and Wear Museums Service, has English Heritage status as an ancient monument of national importance.

The preserved winding house in Albany Way, Albany, joined seven other ancient monuments on Wearside when it was declared a site of importance in 1998.

The F Pit, which closed in 1968, is housed in a grade II listed building and the site includes the headgear, winding house and only steam winding engine - now powered by electricity - still in its original location.

The mine dates back more than 200 years and its demise came which it was producing some 500,000 tons of saleable coal a year - the most ever mined from the colliery.

The F Pit was the sixth sunk at the site, where the pits were identified by the letters of the alphabet after mining began in 1777. By 1778, the first coals were being transported to Sunderland, but the pit was closed and flooded in 1796 due to an explosion.

Shaft deepened

The colliery reopened a quarter of a century later and in 1856 the shaft was deepened to more than 200 metres. By 1870, the pit was the major coal producer in the area.

At the turn of the century the colliery was completely remodelled, with additional buildings and in the 1920s the J Pit was sunk just north of the F Pit.

They became part of the newly nationalised industry in 1947 and development work at the F Pit continued, with the shaft being deepened in the 1950s.

However, the National Coal Board closed the Pit on June 21, 1968, and the winding house and headgear were presented to the people of Washington as a monument.

The museum was opened in 1976 by the former Washington Development Corporation.

From Sunderland Echo

Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Sue Kelly