Easington is a small village on the Durham Coastline dating back to Saxon times.

It was small in size until the turn of the century and the development of the Coal Mine, which gave its name to the other half of Easington, which became known as the Colliery.

Work began on Easington Colliery in 1899.  The first victim of the Colliery was R. Atkinson, a sinker who was drowned in 1904 when water broke into the shaft.  It was to be three years before German engineers working on the shaft found him encased in ice and discovered his body in 1907.  On February 21st 1910 the Pit buzzer was blown for the first time.  Still it was several months before the pit was ready to produce coal.  The first coal was produced on September 19th 1910.

Naturally as in other villages it was important in those days of poor transport that the workforce lived near to the colliery. As the mine was constructed so were the colliery houses, which are now symbolic of Easington Colliery.  

Houses similar to this were built in Easington as the ancient Saxon village expanded toward the sea.

As mining communities were always close knit the development of the town’s entertainment facilities also went hand in hand with the development of the colliery.  In 1912 the Workingmen’s Club, Miners Hall and Empire Cinema opened along with the Railway station.  The influx of workers meant that there was a demand for schools.  The girls Infant and Junior School opened on March 2nd 1914 and was quickly followed by the boys school in 1915.           

The First World War highlighted the importance of the Mining industry and Easington miners did their bit to ensure that Britain won the war.  Two major events during the war worth noting were the German Zeppelin shot down south of the town and the shelling of Dawdon Army camp by a German submarine.

A German Zeppelin similar to the one shot down over Hartlepool.  Zeppelins were like huge air balloons and were used by the Germans to bomb civilian targets.  At first they terrified the people but proved to be easily shot down.

After the war Easington was hit hard by the Influenza epidemic, which swept through Europe wiping out more than 19 million people.  Some families in Easington lost as many as three or four members.  Virtually every man in the town working at the colliery assisted the spread of this disease. 

The 1926 General Strike is the next incident worth noting.  The Colliery was closed for a total of thirty weeks as a result of the steadfast support of the strike by the Easington miners.  Easington achieved national prominence in 1924 when its M.P Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever Labour Prime Minister.

1929 proved to be a landmark year for the Colliery as it produced more than one million tonnes of coal for sale by just 1,491 hewers and putters.  Easington Secondary Modern School, the future Easington Community School opened on September 1st 1935.  Also in the November 1935 General Election former Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald lost his constituency seat to Emmanuel (Manny) Shinwell who went on to represent the area for several decades.

On September 3rd 1939 Britain found itself once again at war with Germany.  The Miners of Easington once again proved essential to the war effort and churned out millions of tonnes of coal each year.

As in the First World War Easington men were quick to volunteer to fight for their country and once again the community paid a heavy price for its loyalty including some eight people who were killed in a German bombing raid on August 15th 1940.

In July 1945 a Labour Government was formed after winning a landslide General Election victory and replaced the wartime coalition.  The new Government was headed by Clement Attlee and was determined to create a better Britain to reward the people and improve the quality of life after the hardship and depravation of the war years.  Part of this involved the creation of the National Health Service, which ensured that all were entitled to free health care.  The government also nationalised the coal industry among many others.  The mines were reorganised under the umbrella of the National Coal Board.  

Clement Richard Attlee served as Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951.  He led the Labour party to a landslide victory in 1945 defeating the wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The Disaster of 1951 brought the town to national prominence once again, only this time as the site of one of Britain’s worst ever-industrial accidents. Eighty-one miners and two rescuers lost their lives in the disaster.  News of the catastrophe was reported around the world and for several days the attention of the nation was focused upon the town.  This was not the only accident as in 1958 an accident at the South Pit Cage resulted in fourteen deaths.

In 1984 the National Union of Mineworkers called a national miners strike over proposed job cuts.  The strike became a bitter clash between the N.U.M. and the Conservative Government and a personal one between miner’s leader Arthur Scargill and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  The strike lasted for a year and bitterly split the nation.  The miners of Easington and their families suffered badly during the dispute and this had a huge impact on the local economy.  Despite a valiant effort the government introduced a number of anti trades union laws and the miners were compelled to return to work, though they did so with heads held high.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher became Britain’s first woman Prime Minister on May 4th 1979.  She was to govern Britain until her enforced resignation on November 22nd 1990.  In total her Conservative party won three General Elections within this period of time.

Miner’s leader Arthur Scargill predicted that the Conservative Government would decimate the Coal industry and this spelled the death knell for Easington Colliery.  The mine closed in 1993 and was soon demolished despite millions of tonnes of coal still being buried deep beneath the North Sea.  The closure of the colliery had a massive impact upon the local community.  Unemployment soared and brought with it all the socio-economic problems associated with it.  Easington struggled to readjust for some time but is beginning to find its feet once again and recover.

The colliery has had a major influence on the community.  It gave its name to one half of the town, fostered a sense of community and pride.  It brought comradeship, sweat, some laughs and a lot of tears.  Some are glad it’s gone, yet some are sad it’s gone. However one undeniable fact is that Easington Colliery is the single most important development in the history of Easington.  It shaped a town, a people, a way of life and a culture.

In the last few years of the 20^th Century a lot of work began to remove one of the last traces of the colliery, the damage to the East Durham shoreline by the waste produced by the colliery.  The Turning Back the Tide project was part of this scheme to return the coastline to its former beauty.  In the year 2000 Easington came to the attention of the nation once again as the film Billy Elliott was filmed on location in the town.