Blackhall Colliery railway station served the village of

Blackhall Colliery Blackhall Colliery is a village on the North Sea coast of County Durham, in England. It is situated on the A1086 between Horden and Hartlepool. To the south of the Blackhall Colliery's Catholic church is Blackhall Rocks. Built around the once ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

North East England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authorit ...

. It was located on the

Durham Coast Line The Durham Coast Line is an approximately railway line running between Newcastle and in North East England. Heavy rail passenger services, predominantly operated Northern Trains, and some freight services operate over the whole length of the li ...

, north of and south of .

History

The North Eastern Railway opened their new coastal line linking the former Londonderry, Seaham and Sunderland Railway at and the former

Hartlepool Dock and Railway The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway (YN&BR) was an English railway company formed in 1847 by the amalgamation of the York and Newcastle Railway and the Newcastle and Berwick Railway. Both companies were part of the group of business interest ...

at to passenger traffic on 1 April 1905. This line was built, primarily, to avoid the steep gradients of the inland route at Ryhope Bank and Hesleden but also provided access to the newly developed collieries along the

Durham Coast The Durham Coast is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in County Durham, England. Starting just south of Crimdon Dene, north of Hartlepool, it extends, with a few interruptions, northward to the mouth of the River Tyne at South Shields. Notab ...

. However, when the line was opened, the NER chose to build the station to serve the Blackhalls at what became

Blackhall Rocks Blackhall Rocks is a village on the North Sea coast of County Durham, North East England. It is situated on the A1086 between Horden and Hartlepool, and just south of Blackhall Colliery which it adjoins. It is sometimes referred to by locals ...

as sinking of the colliery at Blackhall did not begin until 1909 and thus the main traffic that was expected to use the station was that of tourists visiting the caves at Blackhall Rocks. This meant that the village that developed to serve the colliery was left some distance from their nearest railway station. Eventually, the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), who had absorbed the NER in 1923, agreed to open an additional station to serve Blackhall Colliery. Construction of the station began on 6 July 1936 and was opened, just 18 days later, on 24 July 1936 by the then manager of Blackhall Colliery and county councillor Ernest Chicken who then proceeded to purchase the first ticket from the station ticket office. The station was recommended for closure in the

Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...

and was duly closed on 4 May 1964 when all stopping services on the line between and were withdrawn. Passenger services continue pass through the site of the station but run non-stop between Seaham and Hartlepool.

References

External links

Disused railway stations in County Durham Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1936 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Beeching closures in England Former London and North Eastern Railway stations {{NorthEastEngland-railstation-stub