Title: Queen Mother visiting the Glamis Pit, Kibblesworth, July 1935?
Photographer: Unknown
Date: 1935
Reference Number: GL000581
Item Description: The Queen Mother visited Gateshead on a number of occasions. Thid photograph shows her first visit as Duchess of York when she visited Glamis Pit at Kibblesworth on July 29 1936.
Although there had been coal-mining in the Kibblesworth area from medieval times, relatively few men were employed in the industry until the sinking of Robert Pit in 1842. From this date the fortunes of the village followed those of the industry with particular black spots during the strikes of 1921 and 1926 and the depression of the 1930s, high spots in the boom of the 1950s and 60s, and eventually closure of the pit in 1974.
Coal from Kibblesworth to the Tyne at Jarrow using the Bowes Railway. The line was started by Stephenson in 1826 and extended to Kibblesworth when Robert Pit was sunk in 1842. The railway used three types of power - locomotives, stationary engines and self-acting inclines.
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