Algernon Pit ( Shiremoor )
The sundial on the site of the old pit heap of the Algernon pit which is now part of the Silverlink park.
By 1810 the Murton royalty was leased by a group of partners:- Maude, Lamb, Taylor, Plumer and Buddle. In the short term the partners began a new sinking east of Allotment farm which was to become the Algernon pit. Coal drawing began in June 1810.
In 1896 the workings of the Shiremoor Coal Company were absorbed into the Backworth company. The Shiremoor Coal company, formed in 1874, had opened the Blue Bell Pit just south of Shiremoor and had reopened the old Algernon Pit, to the south, for drainage purposes.
Upon taking over, the Backworth Company were quick to connect it to their own railway system. This was done by building a new line running north from Murton Row but on the east side of the Blyth and Tyne with a connection into the Algernon Pit en-route. The Blue Bell Pit was not however long lived as manpower shortages during the First World War caused its closure in 1915 never to reopen. The Algernon Pit though, was to last until nationalization.
In 1896 the workings of the Shiremoor Coal Company were absorbed into the Backworth company. The Shiremoor Coal company, formed in 1874, had opened the Blue Bell Pit just south of Shiremoor and had reopened the old Algernon Pit, to the south, for drainage purposes.
Upon taking over, the Backworth Company were quick to connect it to their own railway system. This was done by building a new line running north from Murton Row but on the east side of the Blyth and Tyne with a connection into the Algernon Pit en-route. The Blue Bell Pit was not however long lived as manpower shortages during the First World War caused its closure in 1915 never to reopen. The Algernon Pit though, was to last until nationalization.