STELLA COAL COMPANY The history of coal mining in the Ryton area is complicated by the confusion and duplication of the names of collieries, pits, and royalties. The following tentative notes draw on Fordyce’s \\”History of Coal and Iron\\”, historical notes by John Bell Simpson (NCB 2/54), Buddle’s papers at the Mining Institute, Newcastle, the Company’s file at the Companies Registry, London, and the papers listed here. The Stella Coal Company records are outstandingly full, but there has as yet (1974) been little research using them. There are also 17th century papers relating to Stella colliery in the Northumberland Record Office, ZCO/IV 47/1-33 and ZCO/VIII 1 Coal mines in the Ryton area are said to have been worked since at least the late 14th century, under lease from the bishop of Durham. The name of the largest royalty – the Grand Lease – originated in the 16th century when the bishop made to Queen Elizabeth \\”a grant of an extensive district comprising Whickham, Winlaton, Ryton, and Stella, who sublet them to a powerful company under the name of the Grand Lease owners\\” In the 17th century, shares in the Ryton coal mines, including Stella Grand Lease, were owned by the Vane family: see the Londonderry Papers (for example, D/Lo/F 129-169) According to Buddle (D/Lo/C 142, in May 1822) Sir Henry Vane had held about 1/4 of the lease under the bishop, but sold his share to the Silvertop family in about 1813. At the end of the 18th century, the \\”collieries of Stella, Towneley, Whitefield and Chopwell\\” were carried on by George Silvertop of Minsteracres, but some time after 1800 he granted sub-leases to other parties. The sub-lessees of Stella, Towneley, and Whitefield collieries were George Dunn and sons of Newcastle ( 3/4 shares) and Matthias Dunn of Stella Hall ( 1/4 share) \\”realizing a handsome fortune\\” Their lease expired in the early 1830’s and, due to disputes over the inheritance of the share of Matthias Dunn (died 1825), it was not renewed, and the colliery lay dormant for several years. However, in 1839 the lease of the Grand Lease collieries was taken up by John Buddle, T. Y. Hall, and A. L. Potter, under the name of the Stella Coal Company. (There were apparently two co-partnership deeds in 1839, which have not been traced despite enquiries (1974) to Messrs. Dees and Thompson of Newcastle, the successor firm to Messrs. Stable and Dees, in whose office one deed was said to be in 1851, and to the National Coal Board Records Officer at Team Valley) In the meantime, the partners had also secured leases of the rector of Ryton’s Glebe coal and of the Stella Freehold royalty. An attempt had also been made to work the Crawcrook royalty, which was thwarted by legal problems and only revived by their successors in the Company forty or fifty years later. (The papers listed here include some records of these enterprises, from about 1810, which preceded the Stella Coal Company itself) Robert Simpson and his son, John Bell Simpson, later joined T. Y. Hall and the representatives of John Buddle and A. L. Potter in the Company, and played a leading role in it. In 1903 the concern was registered as a private company with limited liability (number 76258; files available at the Companies Registry, City Road, London) The documents then submitted show that hitherto it was a partnership firm consisting of Frank Buddle Atkinson (John Buddle’s heir) of Morpeth; John Bell Simpson of Bradley Hall; William Rutherford Lamb of Knaresborough; and Edward Granville Browne of Cambridge. With Sir Benjamin Chapman Browne of Newcastle, Frank Robert Simpson of Hedgefield House, mining engineer (son of J. B. Simpson) and Nelson Ashbridge Simpson of Hedge field, mining engineer, they now formed the new Company. The 3,500 shares of a nominal value of £100 each were allotted as follows, the consideration being the transfer of the collieries belonging to the former partnership: F. B. Atkinson (Director), Preference shares 975, Ordinary shares 1290 Sir B. C. Browne (Director), Ordinary shares 10 E. G. Browne, 139 Preference shares 139, Ordinary shares 176 B. C. Browne, junior, engineer, Ordinary shares 10 W. R. Lamb (Director), Preference shares 84, Ordinary shares 111 J. B. Simpson (Director), Preference shares 302, Ordinary shares 392 F. R. Simpson (Director), Ordinary shares 10 N. A. Simpson, Ordinary shares 1 (i) The principal royalties were Crawcrook, Ryton Glebe, Stella Grand Lease, Stella Freehold, and Bradley Freehold. However, apart from Crawcrook, one or more of these were sometimes referred to as the Towneley royalty, the Towneley family being one of the principal landowners (ii) The royalty names were sometimes also used as colliery names, for example, there are working and leading accounts for West Towneley, Stella Freehold, and Grand Lease \\”collieries\\” The Grand Lease royalty area was sometimes known as Towneley or Towneley Main colliery (iii) The principal pits were sunk as follows: Crawcrook pits, and later Crawcrook New Winning or Clara pit (Claravale colliery) in Crawcrook royalty; Glebe pit (sometimes known as West Towneley pit) and Comb Hill pit in the Glebe royalty; the A, B, C, Towneley, Emma, Stargate and Addison pits in various parts of the large Grand Lease royalty; Freehold pit in the Stella Freehold royalty. The workings from any particular pit were, of course, not necessarily confined to the royalty in which it was sunk. For records in this catalogue check the section below.