Tracing the origins of sea coal

Q: WHAT is the origin of sea-coal? Is it waste from mines such as Horden, Blackhall and others that returned to the beaches by wave action or is it in origin some coal-bearing seam that comes to the ground surface somewhere out at sea? - Willis Collinson, Belmont, Durham.

A: IN medieval times North-East coal was often referred to as sea-coal even if not washed up on the shore. For example, in 1298 there is a record of sea coal being mined at Hett, near Spennymoor, even though Hett is many miles inland. Sea- coal may have been so called because it often arrived by sea, often being shipped from Newcastle. However, it is more likely that sea-coal was named because it originally occurred in washed-up form on North-East beaches. There may be some confusion over how sea-coal might occur on the beaches along the Durham coast because the coal seams along this coast lie deep under the magnesian limestone escarpment and are not exposed to the shore. The mines that existed in the east of the county until quite recently have workings deep under the sea floor. This reduces the likelihood of coal from these seams being eroded by the sea and washed ashore. However, in Northumberland the coal measures outcrop along the coast, so that coastal erosion is likely to result in coal being washed up.

When coal was later discovered inland, it is clear that this black substance was already strongly associated with the sea. The coal discovered inland would thus also be designated sea coal. The meaning of sea-coal has changed over the centuries and even in the past its exact meaning was not always certain. Even references to coal in medieval times are uncertain as the term carbo was often used and this could refer to either charcoal or mineral coal. The Victoria County History of Durham (1907) suggests that by as early as 1313 the original meaning of sea-coal - in the washed up on the beach sense - had been forgotten and by that time it meant sea-borne coal. However the same publication mentions that as late as the 17th Century the terms pit-coal and sea-coal were both used in documents of the time. It is only in relatively recent times that the term sea-coal has once again become associated with coal washed up and collected from beaches along the coast. This however is now largely waste from former coastal collieries like those you mention, along the Durham coast, although I dare say that in some cases coal may actually be washed ashore in Durham which originated in naturally occurring outcrops along the Northumberland coast.

Published: Monday, July 23, 2001

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