Braithwaite Colliery

This colliery, in Coverdale, was some 2.25 km north-north-west of Brown Beck High Shaft at Colsterdale. The Woogill Coal, in the Red Scar Grit, was worked from its outcrop by levels and a series of winding-shafts. Of the latter, the West Pit was 72 metres deep and the coal varied from 16 to 19 inches (0.4 to 0.48m) in thickness.

The first edition of the geological mapping for the Braithwaite area, in Coverdale, shows a coal with the following note “Estimated position of 15 inch coal found in [lead] mine shafts and worked on River Cover”. This appears to place the seam in the Three Yard Limestone which outcrops near the river where, on the opposite bank to the Braithwaite lead level, there is a small coal working associated with a limekiln. A second note on the map suggests that there was also a seam near the Underset Limestone. Unless it was worked from the lead mine, there is nothing to suggest that this coal was ever worked.

Gill, M.C. “Great Dales Coalfield, Eastern Areas” British Mining No.86 (2008), pp.68-108