Does Turnbull's 2009 Coals from Newcastle or Hope-Dodds's 1930 Northumberland County History confirm Heaton Banks colliery's 1745 closure date, and do either record a waggonway gauge?
claim-heaton-banks-colliery-closed-1745-no-gauge-recorded rests on Newcastle City Council's Historic Environment Record (HER 15338, Tier 3), which states "The colliery closed in 1745, flooded out and superseded by Longbenton West Colliery" but cites, without quoting, Les Turnbull's 2009 Coals from Newcastle (pp. 32-34) and M. Hope-Dodds's 1930 Northumberland County History Vol. 13 as the basis for that date. Neither primary was read directly this session; the claim is flagged [unverified-quant — needs primary].
What would answer it.
- Read Turnbull, Coals from Newcastle (2009), pp. 32-34, for the colliery's closure date and any waggonway/gauge detail.
- Read Hope-Dodds, Northumberland County History Vol. 13 (1930), for the same.
- Check both for any recorded gauge measurement on a Heaton Banks-era waggonway — the HER itself records none, only an inference ("it is certain, however, that they existed") from a neighbouring estate map.
Why it matters. claim-willington-excavators-decline-origin-claim-point-to-heaton-banks records that the Willington excavation report's own authors hedge the standard gauge's origin toward this colliery's line. If the 1745 closure date holds, it places the candidate origin point forty years before Willington's 1785 construction — but with no gauge attached, that priority is chronological only, and cannot yet answer question-verify-willington-waggonway-1785-excavation-report either way. Confirming or correcting the date is the next concrete step in tracing that hedge to something measurable.
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