High Shincliffe - History

History

During the nineteenth century High Shincliffe was known as Shincliffe Colliery, as shown on the Ordnance Survey map of 1856-1865. Most of the pre-twentieth century houses in High Shincliffe date from this period. William Bell & Co. commenced the sinking of the coal mine on 11th September 1837, and the first coal was raised to the surface on 8th November 1839. By 1840 the colliery was in full production, mining a seam of coal (the Hutton seam) 6 feet (1.8 m) thick at a depth of 400 feet (120 m), which was 100 feet (30 m) below sea level. By the mid-1860's, ownership had passed through a series of partnerships to Joseph Love & Partners, who also owned Houghall Colliery, and from 1867, the two mines were worked together.

In total, 18 people were killed at the mine, the youngest being a girl aged nine years who strayed onto the waggonway and was crushed by some waggons.

Dates of closure are given variously as 1875 and 1887, and from then the population declined substantially; this can be seen on the Ordnance Survey sheet of 1894-1899. The maps of 1919-1926, 1938–1950 and 1951-1959 show only a handful of rows of houses remaining. By the time of the 1960-1969 Ordnance Survey map there were even fewer houses, and the name Shincliffe Colliery was finally lost. The only cartographical indication that these dwellings were separate from Shincliffe (Village) is the retention of the name 'Bank Top' for the houses that clustered around the Post Office at the top of Shincliffe Bank.

Subsequently, policy changes by the County Council led to a major housing development and primary school, and the introduction of the name 'High Shincliffe'.

Most evidence of the nineteenth century colliery has long vanished but some houses of the period remain, such as in Quality Street, Pond Street and The Avenue. The school is built on site of the pit head, and the centre circle of the school's football pitch marks the spot where the coal mine shaft was sunk. The line of the colliery waggon-way can still be traced northwards past Manor Farm and on to Shincliffe Lane. To the south-east a waggon-way was extended to join what was once the main railway line from London to Edinburgh, now locally called the Leamside Line, at Shincliffe Station.