English
Français
Ellington Colliery
Ellington Colliery (also known as The Big E), was a coal mine situated to the south of the village of Ellington in Northumberland, England. The colliery was the last deep coal mine in the north east of England (also known as the Great Northern Coalfield). At one time, the deepest part of the mine was 800 metres (2,600 ft) and it extended 15 miles (24 km) under the North Sea. During the 1980s, the pit (along with Lynemouth Colliery) was known as the biggest undersea mine in the world and produced 69% of the mined coal in Northumberland. Ellington had several faces for mining and was known for winning coal from under the North Sea, before flooding caused the early closure of the mine.
Nearby Places View Menu
625 m
Ellington, Northumberland
Ellington is a small village in the civil parish of Ellington and Linton, on the coast of Northumberland, England. Ellington is 4 miles (6 km) from Ashington, 6 miles (10 km) from Morpeth and 20 miles (32 km) north of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Ellington was the site of the last remaining operational deep coal mine in North East England. Ellington Colliery closed on 26 January 2005. It was the last deep mine in the UK to extract coal from under the sea.
The name of the village is thought to derive from the Saxon meaning descendants of Ella.
Today, Ellington is made up almost exclusively of private housing. It has one school, village shops, and one public house, the Plough Inn.
1.2 km
Lynemouth
Lynemouth is a village in Northumberland, England, 3 miles (5 km) northeast of Ashington, close to the village of Ellington to the north west. It was built close to coal mines, including Lynemouth Colliery.
Lynemouth and the surrounding industrial area featured in the 1985 docudrama Seacoal about the seacoalers who made a living from collecting waste coal from the beach. A series of photographs in the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award–winning book In Flagrante (1988) by Chris Killip shows the work and life of the seacoalers; more were published in 2011 in the book Seacoal.
To the south of the village is the former Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter, now closed, and Lynemouth Power Station.
1.9 km
Lynemouth Colliery
Lynemouth Colliery was a coal mine in Lynemouth, Northumberland, England. It was in operation between 1927 and 1994. According to Historic England, "it was one of Britain's largest collieries until it was closed due to an underground fire". The colliery was demolished in 2005.
Its number 1 pit was the downcast, and its number 2 was the upcast.
In 1960, the mine employed 1,734 people (1,390 above ground, 344 below).
2.0 km
Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter
The Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter was an industrial facility near Ashington, Northumberland, on the coast of North East England, 0.65 mi (1.05 km) south of the village of Lynemouth. The smelter was owned by the Canadian aluminium company Alcan, which is part of Rio Tinto. The smelter was opened in 1974 at a cost, which exceeded its budgeted estimate of £54 million, of $156 million. The plant ceased production in March 2012, and demolition of the facility was completed in March 2018.