Former Northumberland coal colliery operating from 1894 to 1981, now a scheduled monument and open museum retaining two original headframes, engine houses, winding machinery, and pithead buildings.
Woodhorn Colliery, located in Ashington, Northumberland, was sunk in 1894 by the Ashington Coal Company and operated as a coal mine until 1981. At its peak the colliery employed over 2,000 people and produced 600,000 tons of coal a year. The site is the most complete surviving example of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century colliery in north-east England, retaining two shaft headframes, winding houses, fan houses, engine houses, stables, a blacksmith and joiners shop, and the colliery office.
In August 1916 thirteen miners were killed underground by a firedamp explosion. The colliery was nationalised in 1947 and from 1966 coal was no longer raised to the surface at Woodhorn but was conveyed underground to Ashington Colliery. Production ceased on 27 February 1981.
The site opened as Woodhorn Colliery Museum in 1989 and was designated a Scheduled Monument in 1999. Following redevelopment from 2002 to 2006, a new building known as the Cutter was opened alongside the original pithead structures in October 2006. The museum is now known as Woodhorn and forms part of Museums Northumberland, housing the Northumberland Archives and the permanent collection of the Ashington Group, commonly known as the Pitmen Painters.
Woodhorn Colliery was sunk in 1894 by the Ashington Coal Company, which also owned the Ashington, Ellington, Linton, and Lynemouth collieries. The first coal was brought to the surface in 1898 and production was firmly established by 1901. The colliery buildings are constructed from local Ashington brick. The site included two shafts: No. 1, the Downcast shaft, and No. 2, the Upcast shaft, each marked by large two-storey brick-built engine houses fronted by steel girder headframes supporting the pulley wheels for the winding cables. The west headframe stands over the downcast shaft and is an unenclosed frame structure of steel girders supporting two pulley wheels; the east headframe, which encloses its structure to control the circulation of ventilation air, stands over the upcast shaft. The fan houses, stables, blacksmith and joiners shop, and colliery office were all part of the original pithead complex. A complex system of narrow gauge railways carried mined coal away from the pithead structures. By 1914 the colliery employed in excess of 2,000 workers. One of the winding engines is described as the most powerful winding engine in the region.
On 13 August 1916 a firedamp explosion occurred in the Main Seam at Woodhorn Colliery. A repairing shift of eight deputies and five other men was underground setting steel girders as roof supports. A pocket of firedamp was ignited, causing an explosion which damaged the ventilation doors and allowed afterdamp — a lethal mixture of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and carbon monoxide — to flood the mine. Eleven of the thirteen men working underground that day were killed. A subsequent inquest found that gas had accumulated through insufficient ventilation and had been ignited by a naked light. The investigation uncovered violations of the Coal Mines Act 1911 and legal proceedings were instituted against the manager and enginewright, though both proceedings were ultimately dismissed or overturned. A memorial to the eleven men killed stands near the museum entrance.
During the Second World War, the ventilation fan at Woodhorn took a direct hit but survived the German bombing of 1941. The colliery was nationalised in 1947. At its peak the colliery produced 600,000 tons of coal in a single year and employed over 2,000 people underground. From 1966 coal was no longer brought to the surface at Woodhorn; instead it was conveyed underground to Ashington Colliery where it was raised to the surface. The colliery went into decline in the 1960s as a result of thin coal seams and the availability of cheaper alternative fuels including oil and gas. Output and manpower declined steadily through the 1970s. Production ceased on 27 February 1981 and the remaining workforce was transferred to other pits. At closure Woodhorn had recorded 102 fatalities during its operational life.
The Woodhorn Colliery Museum opened in 1989 using the original pithead buildings. In 1999 the pit yard was designated a Scheduled Monument, recognised as the most complete surviving example of a late nineteenth and early twentieth century colliery in north-east England. Repairs to the east shaft headgear and its enclosing structure were completed in 2014, though significant corrosion has since reappeared and the east shaft enclosing structure is leaking; the roof to the adjoining Walker Fan House is also leaking, and consent was granted in late 2022 for roof and internal repairs to the Walker Motor Room, Walker Fan Room, and Capell Fan House. Construction of the new Cutter Building took place between 2002 and 2006; it opened in October 2006 following a major redevelopment with chief architect Tony Kettle, who was inspired by the form of coal cutting machines. The Cutter houses the main museum reception, café, exhibition spaces, and the Northumberland Archives. The original pithead buildings remain open to visitors and contain original equipment and mining exhibits. The museum holds a permanent collection of works by the Ashington Group — amateur painters who are also known as the Pitmen Painters — which is reputed to be the first collection of amateur art to go on permanent display anywhere in the world. The collection documents life in and around Ashington from the 1930s. The site is now known as Woodhorn and operates as part of Museums Northumberland.
