Newcastle's Historic Environment Record dates Heaton Banks colliery's closure to 1745 but records no measured gauge for its waggonways

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Tracing the excavation report's "Heaton Banks" pointer (see claim-willington-excavators-decline-origin-claim-point-to-heaton-banks) to the colliery's own site record: Newcastle City Council's Historic Environment Record entry "Heaton Colliery to Wincomblee Waggonway" (HER 15338) identifies "one to the north known as Heaton Banks above the eastern slope of the Ouseburn," describes "a map of Heaton Banks Colliery, probably from the mid 18th century" showing "18 pits as well as four pumping engines," and states "The colliery closed in 1745, flooded out and superseded by Longbenton West Colliery." [unverified-quant — needs primary]: the HER is a Tier 3 compiler citing Les Turnbull's 2009 Coals from Newcastle (pp. 32-34) and M. Hope-Dodds's 1930 Northumberland County History Vol. 13 for this date; neither primary was read directly. If accurate, 1745 is forty years before Willington's 1785 construction.

The same HER record states plainly that the waggonways which must have served those pits are not directly documented: "What is not shown is the waggonways which ran to the pits. It is certain, however, that they existed and will have formed a branching pattern as was common at this time elsewhere" — an inference from a neighbouring estate map, not a measurement. No gauge figure for any Heaton Banks-era waggonway was found in this or any other source consulted. See entity-heaton-banks-colliery and question-verify-heaton-banks-colliery-1745-closure-date.