SHERBURN is often described as a former colliery village, but in truth the village reveals rural origins predating the days of mining.

In fact, Sherburn, or North Sherburn as it seems to have been known in an earlier age, has a history going back to prehistoric times.

Neolithic axes have been found in and around the village and a Bronze Age burial was once uncovered near Sherburn Grange just to the west.

Sherburn village itself dates back to medieval times, but if you are looking for medieval remains you should head southwest to Sherburn Hospital, featured last week, where some buildings and a nearby bridge date in part from the 1300s.

Back in the village, some buildings date to as early as the 17th century where we find old stone houses clustered along the Front Street and the remnants of a village green that betray this village’s agricultural roots.

The most obvious reminder of Sherburn’s rural past is Sherburn Farm, on the south side of Front Street near the green. The farm and neighbouring houses predate the age of extensive colliery development.

However, it is arguable that the feature of greatest antiquity in Sherburn is one created by nature, rather than man. Here, we refer to the Blue Stone that stands near the roundabout that was once the village crossroads.

The stone is sunken into a pavement near a bakers’. A few years ago, it was, for some unknown reason, painted white and no longer shows the dark blue colour that gave it its name.

It is about 2ft high and of glacial origin and in the past was situated in more than one location in the village centre.

The stone served many purposes, being used as a seat, a meeting point for miners and a pick-up point for horse-drawn wagons.

According to one local legend, the stone was a meteorite that landed here centuries ago. This is unlikely to be the case, though perhaps it is worth keeping a close eye on the sky when visiting Sherburn.

Another prominent historic feature at the centre of Sherburn village has sadly gone. This was Sherburn Hall, a gentleman’s house resembling a small castle that was occupied over the centuries by well-known Durham families such as the Tempests and Pembertons.

The last resident was a doctor who used the lower floor as a surgery.

After he vacated the premises, it was used during the war for civil defence purposes and, like many old halls utilised for the war effort, fell into ruin and was, rather regrettably, demolished in 1952.

Coal mining came to Sherburn in the 1840s with the arrival of local railways.

Large-scale collieries simply could not exist without a means of transporting coal to port and such railways provided the answer.

One of the earliest railways in the vicinity was the Sunderland Dock Railway that opened in about 1831.

Starting at Sunderland, it eventually terminated at a passenger station in Shincliffe village by 1839 and was linked to the pits around that village at Whitwell, Old Durham and Houghall.

It did not bring colliery developments to Sherburn, but the line initially terminated at Sherburn Hospital, where a railway station was built in 1837.

Originally called Sherburn Station, it was confusingly one of two stations in the area with that name. For clarity, it was renamed Sherburn House Station in 1874 and then rebuilt on an adjacent line in 1893.

Sherburn Hill Colliery, east of the village, was the first big mine in the Sherburn area and opened in 1835, but this colliery belongs to the history of another village.

This colliery gave rise to the birth of the village of Sherburn Hill village, which we will leave for another week.

Nearer to Sherburn village itself were Sherburn House Colliery and Sherburn Colliery, which both opened about 1844.

It was the year in which the main north to south passenger railway of the time opened and Sherburn Colliery was built alongside. Although no longer the main line today, this line, known as the Leamside line is still in use today. It runs along the western edge of Sherburn village.

Although Sherburn Colliery opened alongside the line, the railway that really served the colliery was a separate wagonway called the Lambton Railway.

This line had its origins back in the 1700s as a wooden, horse-drawn colliery railroad in the Penshaw area, but was later extended and converted to iron.

Its extension to Sherburn Hill in the 1830s resulted in the opening of the colliery there, and a further semicircular extension south of Sherburn village resulted in the opening of the Sherburn House and Sherburn Collieries.

Coal from these collieries was transported to Lambton Staithes on the Wear, near Penshaw.

The initial owner of the three Sherburn collieries was the Earl of Durham and it is notable that Sherburn Colliery was named the Lady Durham Pit after the earl’s wife. The earl was, of course, a member of the Lambton family. Later in the century, the Earl’s colliery concerns became Lambton Collieries Limited.

Lady Durham pit closed in 1919. It stood west of Sherburn alongside the Leamside line, where industrial units now stand close to Sherburn Sports Centre.

Sherburn House Colliery was half a mile south of the village, opposite the isolated terrace of houses called Grand View.

As might be expected, these houses enjoy good views of the surrounding countryside, including the distant cathedral but they came into being after the closure of the colliery.

However, in the woodland opposite the houses, there had stood a Victorian pit terrace at right angles to the main road.

Sherburn House colliery was situated just behind, but the terrace was removed at about the time the colliery closed in 1935.

Apart from this terrace, there was no actual Sherburn House Colliery village and most miners at this colliery came from Sherburn.

Sherburn Hospital, the institution that had been at the heart of Sherburn’s history since medieval times was a lessee of Sherburn House Colliery and was entitled to royalties.

Coal from the mine was provided free to the hospital and, from 1872 until the 1920s, a gasworks operated in the hospital grounds, utilising coal gas from the colliery to provide light for the building. It neatly married together the most signifcant ancient and modern institutions that have shaped Sherburn’s history.