NEIMME: History
Coal mining has always been significant in the North East. Romans probably mined coal here during their occupation. The town of Newcastle grew up along the river banks exporting coal.
In the early nineteenth century many lives were lost due to explosions in coal mines. Following an explosion at the Felling Colliery in 1812 in which 91 men and boys lost their lives a committee was set up to investigate any means of lighting mines safely. At the same time vast technological progress was made in colliery drainage and haulage through the development of the steam engine. In 1810 George Stephenson, working as an engineman at Killingworth Colliery (where Nicholas Wood was viewer), dramatically advanced the use of steam power to overcome mining difficulties: water and underground haulage; ultimately providing a means of transporting coal from the pithead to its point of shipment.
Steam power rapidly opened up countries formerly cut off from world markets through their remoteness or often impossible transport conditions. Through steam, channels of communication were opened up creating access to the most sequestered parts of the globe. Distant continents were reached by steam powered ships, their land masses traversed by railways and their wealth harvested. In turn railway systems evoked immense appetites for the raw materials of this new technology: iron, machinery, labour, capital, and above all COAL!Coal had been the principal supply of domestic fuel for the nation. With the advances created by the railway it also became the major source of industrial power for the Empire.
In 1830 there were only a few dozen miles of railways in the world - by 1850 there were over 23,500. In the two decades following the emergence of railways the output of iron in Britain trebled. In the same period the output of coal was raised from 15 million to 49 million tons.
The City of Newcastle with which we are familiar today developed at a time of great opulence, obtained through the best utilisation of mineral resources by local men of genius. Grainger Town, as it has come to be known, represents the grandeur and the aspirations of that age.
In the 1830s Newcastle city centre moved away from the river, the traditional seat of her commerce, in anticipation of its rival, the railway. The railway arrived by means of the High Level Bridge, begun in 1846, designed in part by Robert Stephenson. It crossed the Tyne gorge right into the centre of the city whose industry had been responsible for its creation. By means of a colossal feat of engineering the younger Stephenson had brought his father's invention home: a fitting tribute to the genius of them both. Dobson supplied the design for its terminus in the elegant classical curves of the Central Station.
No amount of coal could gratify the industry's insatiable appetite. Increased production at the pits brought increasingly dangerous conditions. In 1852 an explosion at Seaham Colliery again claimed many lives. A group of mining men got together and established an institute, the object of which was to "devise measures to avert or alleviate those dreadful calamities, which have so frequently produced such destruction to life and property... and to establish a Literary Institution ... applicable to the theory, art, and practice of Mining".
The Institute was established under the presidency of the man who was looked upon as the principal viewer in the trade, Stephenson's old associate, Nicholas Wood (president). It was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1876. Neville Hall, the building to house the Institute, was completed in 1872.
Click here to find out more about Neville Hall.