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Woodhorn Colliery: Coal Seams
Woodhorn Colliery sits on the Great North Coalfield, which extends across south-east Northumberland and County
Durham. The coal belongs to a series of geological strata called the Coal Measures, which also contain sandstones,
shales, and clays. Coal probably makes up less than five per cent of the Coal Measures.
A number of different coal seams were worked at Woodhorn. This diagram shows the seams in each of the two shafts.
They descended up to 296 yards (270 metres), through six different coal seams: Ashington, High Main, Main, Yard, Low
Main, Brass Thill, Hutton and Plessey.
The coal from each seam was unique in appearance and characteristics. Miners could identify which seam coal had come
from just by its appearance. Read
more about each seam in a new pop-up window.
Return to the working pit or browse the archive for documents.
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