Houghall Colliery in brief:

1840  First trial borehole sunk

1842  First coal production 

1880  Further boreholes below the Hutton seam proved  lower coals to be            worthless     

1886  Colliery abandoned               

Above: Map showing position of Houghall pit to the west of Shincliffe Village and the extension of the Durham & Sunderland Railway line from Shincliffe Town Station across the river Wear to Houghall. The 'Old Wagon Way' to the west of Houghall pit had been a further extension of the mineral line to Croxdale Colliery. Note the 'Houghhall (sic) Houses' in Shincliffe Village which were built for the Houghall mine workers. There were no pit houses in Houghall at this time. Also note the absence on this map (surveyed 1857) of the school building which later became the Houghall Isolation Hospital, or the Mission Chapel.

OS map 1861, surveyed 1857. Durham sheet XXVII. (original scale 6 inches to 1 mile.) Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland. CC-BY-NC-SA (Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial- ShareAlike  4.0 International) licence.

Houghall Colliery Fatalities (Source: Durham Mining Museum)

The following 17 men were killed in mining accidents at Houghall Colliery:

Index of Monumental Inscriptions at St Mary the Virgin, Shincliffe:

Four burials listed in the Index to Monumental Inscriptions for St Mary's, including a father and son at the same site.

James Creswell  and Thomas Creswell  - Grave Site D77

Sacred to the memory of Ann Creswell, who died 9th August 1853 aged 7 years.

Also Eleanor Creswell, who died in infancy, 8th May 1854.

Also Martha Margaret Creswell, who died 19th April 1856, aged 7 years.

Also James Creswell, father, who died 30th November 1856, aged 39 years.

Also Thomas Creswell, died 30th April 1865 aged 13 years.

Also Eleanor Creswell died 1st December 1869 aged 14 years.

FindAGrave record for James Creswell & his children

William Martin Tindle - Grave Site D70

Sacred to the memory of William Martin Tindle, blacksmith, of Shincliffe Colliery, who lost his life by accident in Houghall Pit, Feb 8th 1872 aged 38 years. This stone was erected by 112 subscribers as a token of respect.
Also Catherine Tindle, daughter of the above, who died Sept 13th 1865, aged 8 years.

Also Robert and Peter, infant sons of the above, who died 4th April and May 16th 1866.

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William Willis - Grave Site C5

In memory of William Willis who was killed at Houghall Colliery by a fall of stone on Saturday, 15th February 1879, aged 45 years, and of his wife Ann Willis who died 9th February 1914 aged 82 years.

Also John and William Willis, children of the above who died in infancy.

We sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

FindAGrave record for William Willis

Durham Mining Museum - Houghall Colliery page  (External site)