Burradon Pit Village Timeline 1916 - 1947

1919 Apr 22 - Electric cutters were first used in Burradon pit to drill holes.


1919 Oct 17 - Burradon pit heap was on fire causing the closure of the colliery. Work did not resume until into November.


1920 Mar 01 - The allotments at the rear of Burradon Terraces were acquired by the residents.


1921 - A war memorial was commissioned in the form of a cottage for a village nurse. 1921 was the year of a long-running and bitter miner's strike and saw a rise in self-help and benevolant schemes, although there had long been a tradition of the mineworkers pooling their resources for mutual benefit.


1921 Mar 09 - The Victoria Picture House, a small cinema,  was opened. This was located to the west of West Row.


1921 May 15 - Burradon Brass Band gave a concert in Gosforth Park in aid of the Soup Kitchen.


1921 May 16 - The Corporation bus route was extended to run from Newcastle to Seaton Sluice via Burradon. A steam bus had first started operations through the community in 1914, but this was the first proper, petrol-engined  bus service.  At first the buses were slow and uncomfortable, but the service rapidly improved.


1921 Jul 06 - Burradon Colliery was put back to work after a thirteen week strike by the miners.


1921 - Kelly's Directory of Northumberland

Burradon Commercial


1923 Jan 15 - The building of Ethel Street in Dudley was completed. This had been commissioned by Burradon Colliery.


1923 Feb 12 - Thomas Gray became the manager of the Co-op.


1923 Sep 15 - The gutter carrying water from the colliery going past Burradon Terraces to the burn at Annitsford was piped in.


1925 May 09 - Aged miner's homes in Dudley were completed and began to be occupied.


1925 - Kelly's Directory of Northumberland

Councillors of Longbenton UDC Burradon Ward

Burradon Commercial

Camperdown Commercial


1931 - Population 2273; 503 dwellings 4.52 person per dwelling. The population in 1901 was 2157.


1931 Jun - The road leading past Office Row was laid with tarmac.


1931 Jun - A road was constructed linking Annitsford with Seghill. This was opened by Stan Seymour the ex Newcastle Utd footballer and later to be the Chairman of the club.


1931 - Parliamentary Register, Borough of Wallsend, Burradon Ward

Photographs from the 1920s show Lane Row still extant, but it is missing from the above list and can be presumed to have been demolished shortly before 1931.


1932 Jan 08 - Colliery Guardian

"About 15 more miners have been restarted at the Burradon Old pit, owned by the Hazelrigg and Burradon Coal Co., Ltd. The pit, which normally employs about 600 men and lads, was closed down some time ago, but was partially reopened about six weeks ago. About 200 men and lads are now employed."

This was a time of a great recession. The Burradon Union Lodge meeting minutes throughout 1931 mention much discussion of how to help unemployed members including the supply of privilege coals and the complaint that some workers were doing overtime whilst others were on the dole. The  colliery also had an agreement in place with the Union for joint inspections of the workings. A Union official from Burradon had been forbidden from taking part in an inspection because he was at that time not employed by the colliery.


1932 Jan 31 - A small fire occurred at the Mechanic's Institute, reported in the Colliery Guardian to have caused damage worth £1000 [About £64,000 in 2018]


1933 Oct 03 - Lamps were installed and lit on Burradon Bank towards Annitsford.


1934 Apr 14 - The Science and Art of Mining Magazine: Seghill And Burradon Changes

"Changing to the grid electric supply service has involved the whole of the motors at Seghill Colliery being changed. Burradon Colliery having gone over from steam power to electricity, a new winding house has been built, and the most up-to-date winder installed with 575 h.p. motor."


1934 Aug 24 - The Colliery Guardian

The recession was still having a great effect.

"Notices served on 200 miners at the Lizzie pit, Weetslade (Northumberland) have expired, but, owing to a work-sharing scheme introduced by the management, 150 are being retained. Most of them were employed in the Gosforth Drift seam, which has been affected with gas. One hundred miners have been transferred to the Burradon Old pit, while another 50 are being absorbed in other parts of the Lizzie pit. Both collieries are owned by the Burradon Coal Co."


1935 - Longbenton Urban District Council start to build housing on a field to the south of Camperdown Front Street (Bell Grove).


1935 - Kelly's Directory of Northumberland. See 1938 entry for commercial inhabitants, as there was no change from this year.


1936 Oct 23 - The Colliery Guardian

"When summonses against 694 miners were due to be heard at the Moothall Police Court, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on October 13, for illegally laying the Burradon pit idle, it was announced that an amicable settlement had been reached outside the court. Mr. Frank J. Lambert, for the Hazelrigg and Burradon Coal Co., Ltd., said summonses against 15 men had been withdrawn, while it was agreed that damages due from 79 youths under 21 years of age should be borne by the adults. Each of the 600 men will pay 8s. 8d. damages and 4s. costs, making a total of £380, by instalments of 1s. 6d. weekly, which will be kept off the paynotes. Mr. Lambert explained that the men had been summoned following a stoppage over three men who claimed payment for work to which they were not entitled. The summonses were for breach of contract on September 5, 6 and 7. With the aid of Mr. F. M. Robinson (for the men), an amicable settlement had been reached. The men realised they were at fault and agreed to pay the amount claimed."


1936 Jul 01 - The United Bus Company (red buses) took over operations from the Corporation buses (blue buses). Services ran via Burradon from Newcastle and Longbenton to Cramlington and Seaton Sluice.


1936 Oct 26 - Construction was begun on a new road linking Burradon and Dudley. This was opened on June 21 1937.


1936 - New outside lavatories were installed at Burradon Terrace. These were flush toilets.


1937 Jan - The power sub-station and flats beside it, at the end of the farm track, were pulled down and a smaller power station built in their place.


1937 Sep 03 - Colliery Guardian

"Putters at Hazlerigg, Burradon and Weetslade Collieries had handed in notices in connection with a wage dispute, withdrew them pending negotiations"


1937 Oct 03 - Miss Margaret Fryer, the long-time mistress of Burradon school, died at Middlesborough.


1937 Nov 05 - The colliery started to pay its workforce every Friday instead of fortnightly, as had been the long-standing custom. The week without pay had been known as baff week.


1938 Feb 28 - A fire occurred in the billiards room of the Mechanic's Institute.


1938 Jun 18 - The back lane of Burradon Terraces was paved.


1938 Sep 17 - The community was fitted with gas masks in preparation for the expected war.


1938 Nov 23 - Dr. John Dagg was appointed as the community G.P. This came about because of the death three months earlier of Dr. Roberts. Dr. Dagg operated from a wooden structure on Burradon Road. He lived at Forest Hall. Dr. White had been an interim replacement.


1938 - Miners were given the right to their first paid holidays of three days.


1938 - Robson and Jessie Campbell bought the shop which became the long-standing and recently closed Post Office. Rington's tea could be bought from here as the usual method of supply, a cart, did not visit Burradon.


1938 - Kelly's Directory of Northumberland

Burradon Commercial


1939 - William Sanderson is listed on the Parliamentary register as being the farmer of Hillhead.


1939 Apr 20 - Work commenced on the building of the Welfare Hall. This finally opened on December 30 1939 and was opened by James Bowman and James Taylor the colliery manager. The cost was £40,000 [About £2million today].


1939 Apr - Tenants were given the keys for the newly completed housing of Allanville.


1939 - Miners were now to be allowed one weeks' paid holiday.


1939 Aug 21 - The older children from Burradon were now to attend the school at Dudley.


1939 Sep - The Co-operative "store" was altered. The offices that had previously been at the front of the building were moved to the rear. The first floor hall was given over to a furniture department as the newly-built Welfare Hall now provided recreational functions, such as dancing.


1940 Oct 05 - The chimney at Weetslade Colliery was demolished as a more modern means of pit ventilation was implemented. (See Disaster section for a description of how a colliery was ventilated in the 1860s.)


1940 Dec 31 - The chimney at Burradon Colliery was demolished.


1941 Jul 12 - The cage at Burradon Colliery was accidentally hoisted up to the pulley wheels, causing damage to the pit shaft. The underground workers had to escape via Weetslade pit.


1941 Aug 25 - A canteen for Burradon Colliery was opened in the pit manager's house. Mrs Saint was the manageress.


1941 Sep 01 - Bombs landed in Ethel Street destroying houses and killing two men.


1943 Feb 11 - Enemy incendiary bombs were dropped on a field at the end of Burradon Road, known as Gallow Hill, setting the farmer's haystack ablaze.


1946 - The blacksmith's workshop on Burradon Road was listed in the Parliamentary registers as a Cottage Filling Station. It was still known by this name in 1951, but by 1969 it was listed as a garage owned by John Cattle. Whether it still served fuel is not known. Charles Gill is the tenant of Hillhead Farm.

4th Edition Ordnance Survey c 1947

Burradon Colliery NE-SW


Colliery Housing

Burradon Road South-North

Camperdown NE-SW

New Housing Estate

Colliery and Office Row from Canteen Roof

Looking North along Camperdown Front St c1951

1946 Sign of the Times