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At the beginning of this period Burradon was a small hamlet of around thirty people. At the centre of the settlement were two farmsteads, but were often tenanted by just one farmer. The hamlet of Burradon was in the centre of a contained tract of land of some 540 acres. Camperdown had not yet come into existence. A road (Salter's Road), or more accurately a dirt track, ran through the area on exactly the same course as the main highway does today. It was bounded by the fields of Weetslade and Hill Head Killingworth farms.
A pit was sunk at Burradon in 1820 and would be the beginning of a new community, eventually leaving the previous centre of Burradon as an isolated farmstead. The colliery was described as "large" in one contemporary source, but this is a comparative term and was small in terms of what would come later.
By 1828 rows of colliery housing, of around eighty dwellings had been erected in Camperdown, or Hazlerigge as it was known then, which is a little distance away from the colliery and in a different parish, with possibly one pub and a shop, but the whole area would still have a largely rural feel to it.
1820 - A coal pit was sunk at Burradon. The Ridley family were landholders of nearby Blagdon and Blyth and their estate papers include a map from around 1802 showing boreholes drilled at various locations within Burradon Township which would indicate the mineral deposits lying under the surface. They didn't sink a coal pit but did quarry for building stone. Work commenced on the sinking of a coal pit in 1819. The pit was sunk by Lord Ravensworth and partners, who were known by the name of "The Grand Allies". They owned the nearby colliery of Killingworth, where they employed the soon to be famous engineer George Stephenson. He was to play a large part in installing an engine at Burradon Colliery. In a letter to his friend, and fellow engineer, Joseph Cabry (Dec 1819) he mentions that the engine at Burradon is "working satisfactorily". The continued development of the steam engine to pump water and the introduction of gunpowder in the sinking of shafts meant that by the beginning of the 19th century mines could be sunk to the coal seams that were at a greater depth away from the coast and the rivers. Transport costs to the shipping points on the rivers were also becoming less expensive with the introduction of cast iron rails. Previously rails were made from wood. A large amount of the coal was shipped to London by sea. Mining north of the ninety fathom dyke, where the coal seams are even deeper because of a geological fault, was achieved in 1802 on the sinking of Killingworth Colliery. Backworth and Burradon collieries were soon to follow.
1821 - The census of this year lists 52 persons living in the township of Burradon, a rise from 29 persons in 1801 which represented an increase of 79.31% compared to 26.36% in Northumberland and 34.93% in England and Wales an increase presumably due to increased quarrying. They consisted of nine families in nine separate dwellings. This was only an increase of four persons since 1811. It is not recorded how many workers were employed at Burradon Colliery at this time, but what is clear is that they were not living within the township and a settlement at Camperdown does not seem to have come into existence until after 1826. This was not unusual. It was often several years before a colliery village was established after the pit became operational. It was a similar situation at the Isabella Colliery near Blyth where the workforce travelled from Cowpen Colliery. The location of the Burradon Colliery workforce would most likely be at Killingworth Colliery, which was 25-30 minutes walk away and under the same ownership of the Grand Allies.
1824 - The land tax returns of this year, and of 1806 and 1812, lists the landowner of Burradon Township as William Ogle, paying £11 14s. 8d. William Ogle was of the Causey Park (near Morpeth) branch of the family. The family had held Burradon since the 16th century. The occupiers (farmers) were Thomas Spraggon and Robert Bell. In a later document Bell is named as the farmer of Hill Head, Camperdown.
1824 - The land tax returns for South Weetslade, of this year lists Charles Brandling esq. as the landowner. The land was mostly occupied by John Colbrook and others and were assessed at £5 15s. 3d. Charles Brandling occupied 5s. 6d. worth of land. In 1812 he had been listed as the sole landowner and occupier.
1825 - The historian and publisher Eneas MacKenzie had this to say of Burradon in his History of Northumberland: “... It consists of two farmholds, and a few cottages for labourers and colliers. Adjoining on of the farmhouses are the ruins of a strong old fortress... Near the village are quarries of good freestone, and a brick manufactory. Persevering attempts have been made by the owners of Killingworth mines, during the last five years, to work the colliery here, but the intersections of dykes etc. render very difficult and expensive.” McKenzie also continued to say of the whole of Earsdon parish of which Burradon was one of eight townships. "...The surface is gently undulated; and the soil which is strong, is well adapted for wheat, turnips and potatoes. The farms are mostly let on leases, and the whole are well cultivated... There is a poor house [residence for paupers] at Hartley and another in the township of South Blyth."
1828 - The Parson and White directory, Burradon entry, of this year gives the following information:
"...some excellent freestone quarries belonging to Tate and Brown". [The quarry in 1811 had been owned by Matthew Ridley of Blyth to provide building material for the vastly expanding range of industrial and commercial buildings he was developing in Blyth].
"...a large colliery which was opened a few years ago by Lord Ravensworth and partners at great expense”.
"The whole township is the property of William Wallace Ogle esq."
"Thomas Spraggon, farmer".
"Robert Bell, farmer Hill Head". The Killingworth entry lists Thomas Bell as the farmer of Hill Head. He may have worked the southern part of the farm out of Killingworth village. Robert Bell was perhaps a relative. This indicates that at some previous time the Ogle family had purchased at least part of the Hill Head farm lands, a section that abutted Burradon, as in the 1850s when the Ogle property was sold part of Hazlerigg and Hill Head was included along with Burradon Township in the package. Hill Head was in Killingworth Township. Hill Head farm was at times probably worked as an extension of Burradon Farm and it is also possible that the farmhouse may have remained unoccupied at periods. The farmers of Burradon after 1851, the Younger family, worked this land in the 1870s from their base at Burradon.
1828 - Greenwood's map of this year has some inaccuracies and is at too small a scale to yield detailed information, but some features are worth noting:
Burradon Farm
Burradon Farm
This has two areas of quarrying in its vicinity. Quarrying had probably been undertaken here, off and on, for centuries to provide local building stone. It had no doubt been expanded in recent years on the purchase of the quarry by Tate and Brown to provide stone not just for local usage, but to be sold commercially.
Burradon Colliery
Burradon Colliery
This is marked as co. pit on the map. A wagonway (1820) runs from the colliery in a southerly direction joining on to an existing wagonway at Killingworth, which was constructed in 1764. The Killingworth wagonway had been made from wood but later reinforced with metal strips, especially when the wagonway became the venue for George Stephenson's early locomotive experiments. By 1818 the Backworth wagonway was constructed with short cast iron plates set on stone blocks and from their shape became known as fish-bellied rails. It can be presumed that the Burradon wagonway was similar. It was a horse-drawn wagonway at first. According to John Buddle, the famous mining engineer of the period, on the nearby Backworth wagonway a horse drawing two wagons would make three journeys per day and there were several horses employed. During the 1830s locomotives began to be introduced although horses were still employed when the engines broke down or for shunting in the pit yard.
There does not seem to be any housing at Burradon Colliery, namely Pit Row, which we know by census returns was in existence by 1841. It could be that the map is simply not detailed enough to be able to distinguish Pit Row from the rest of the colliery buildings, but is to be expected that Pit Row was in existence having been built to accommodate the pit sinkers in 1819, which was the usual practice. Once the colliery was up and running and the sinkers had moved away the housing became occupied by ordinary pitmen, although later census returns indicate Pit Row was reserved for a while for the workmen who held some kind of maintenance position at the colliery. The housing was abandoned in the later 20th century and was used by the coal company for storing of lamps and other equipment.
Camperdown
Camperdown
Weetslade Township part on the north side of the main highway, shows from east to west:
Lane Row - Was probably built no earlier than the construction of the Seaton Burn Wagonway in 1826.
West Row - This again this is not before 1826 as the limit of building is constrained by the wagonway.
Chapel Row - It would not have been known by this name in this year, only later when a chapel was built close by.
Halfway House pub? or a shop later owned by Mr. Purvis
The 1841 census does not mention the Halfway House being in existence. The map clearly indicates some building at this location, but a shop was known to have existed beside the Halfway House.
Killingworth Township Part on the south side of the main highway
Only one building lines the road. It is impossible to say whether this is the Grey Horse pub or Railway Cottage, although there is definite evidence that the Grey Horse was in existence in the 1830s.
The Seaton Burn Wagonway (1826) is clearly shown on the map along with the engine winding house at Hill Head
Hill Head farm is also shown.
The Seaton Burn Wagonway
The Seaton Burn Wagonway
The Seaton Burn Wagonway runs on an east-west course through Burradon and Camperdown. It was not originally connected to, or for the use of, Burradon colliery - this had its own wagonway for transporting coals to the Tyne - but had a major impact on the landscape of the two settlements. Originally it was known as the Brunton-Shields Railway, having been built by the Grand Allies in stages (1826 and 1837) from Brunton Colliery to the staiths on the Tyne between Wallsend and North Shields.
It was a rope-hauled wagonway being served by several stationary engines and self-acting inclines along its route. One of these stationary engines was in the west of Camperdown (Hill Head) and was permanently manned. A cottage was provided beside the engine house for the engine man and his family. The cottage was described by a resident, Bill Wardle, as small with only earth for a floor and no toilet in the early part of the 20th century. The ropes were guided by rollers set in the ground between the two rails known as sheaves.
Tunnels were dug which allowed the wagons to travel underneath the main highway and the Burradon wagonway. A cutting was made to keep the wagonway at lower than ground level between these two obstacles.
Approx Line of 90 Fathom Dyke and Outcrop at Cullercoats
Coal Drops on the Tyne
Horse-Drawn Wagonway at Wideopen Colliery
Pit Row Housing
The Seaton Burn Wagonway Tunnels and Cutting
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