Rising Sun Colliery
The lads contemplate the steep descent of the old pit heap
The Rising Sun Colliery is a 20th century pit which opened in 1910 and was closed in 1969.
Name: Rising Sun Colliery
Closed:1969
Pit Names: Rising Sun
Owners: 1910s - Wallsend & Hebburn Coal Co. Ltd.
1947 - National Coal Board (N.C.B.)
Output: Coal
Max No of Workers: 1442 in 1967
The Rising Sun Country Park is now a site in Benton that once housed one of the world’s largest coal mines. It has been transfromed into a 400 acre natural green oasis. The Park is a site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) and the lake is designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR).
The Rising Sun Colliery opened in 1906, owned by the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Co Ltd, housed one of the world’s largest coal mines. In an article written for the "Colliery Engineering" publication (Dec 1935) the following was noted about the company and the site -
"At their Rising Sun pit the Wallsend & Hebburn Coal Co. Ltd. have erected what is probably the most complete coal preparation plant in the world. Wallsend has been in every sense a household word ever since, in 1756, the High Main seam was first exploited by the famous colliery which bears this name...... a colliery with such a tradition should take pains to preserve a reputation for quality by installing one of the most complete coal-preparation plants in the world. For not only does this plant provide for both the dry-cleaning and wet-washing of the product but also for the dedusting of the coal, the washing of the dust by flotation, filtration, thermal drying, water clarification, blending and mixing, and dry and wet screening."
Name: Rising Sun Colliery
Closed:1969
Pit Names: Rising Sun
Owners: 1910s - Wallsend & Hebburn Coal Co. Ltd.
1947 - National Coal Board (N.C.B.)
Output: Coal
Max No of Workers: 1442 in 1967
The Rising Sun Country Park is now a site in Benton that once housed one of the world’s largest coal mines. It has been transfromed into a 400 acre natural green oasis. The Park is a site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI) and the lake is designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR).
The Rising Sun Colliery opened in 1906, owned by the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Co Ltd, housed one of the world’s largest coal mines. In an article written for the "Colliery Engineering" publication (Dec 1935) the following was noted about the company and the site -
"At their Rising Sun pit the Wallsend & Hebburn Coal Co. Ltd. have erected what is probably the most complete coal preparation plant in the world. Wallsend has been in every sense a household word ever since, in 1756, the High Main seam was first exploited by the famous colliery which bears this name...... a colliery with such a tradition should take pains to preserve a reputation for quality by installing one of the most complete coal-preparation plants in the world. For not only does this plant provide for both the dry-cleaning and wet-washing of the product but also for the dedusting of the coal, the washing of the dust by flotation, filtration, thermal drying, water clarification, blending and mixing, and dry and wet screening."
The Shaft eventually reached a depth of 769 ft 5 inches making it one of the deepest in Europe at that time. The coal however, was found in several seams ranging in thickness from 1inch at the thinnest to 6ft 3inches at its thickest. If all the seams of coal where compressed together a major seam some 33ft 7 and 3/4inches would have been able to be mined, as it was, only the four major seams where mined. These where the High Main Seam, 6ft 3inches thick at a depth of 557ft, the Metal Coal Seam, 3ft 2inches thick at a depth of 594ft, the Yard Seam, 3ft thick at a depth of 702ft and finally the Bensham Seam, 5ft 3inches thick at a depth of 769ft 5 inches.