Ludworth, County Durham
| Ludworth | |
|---|---|
 Ludworth Tower |
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 Ludworth
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| Ludworth shown within County Durham | |
| OS grid reference | NZ363413 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DURHAM |
| Postcode district | DH6 |
| Dialling code | 01429 |
| Police | Durham |
| Fire | County Durham and Darlington |
| Ambulance | North East |
| EU Parliament | North East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Ludworth is a pit village in County Durham, England situated between Durham and Peterlee. It consists of just over 350 houses in three main housing estates (Barnard Avenue, Moor Crescent and Springfield Meadows) and a few smaller streets.
Ludworth has one post office, a school, a community centre and a printers. The village used to have two churches and a fish shop, most of which were destroyed in a fire. The public house of Ludworth has been closed for some years.
Ludworth Tower was originally a medieval manor house, founded by the de Ludworth family. In 1422, Thomas Holden added a rectangular pele tower, when he was granted licence to crenellate his manorial complex, by Cardinal Langley. The only surviving remains are the barrel-vaulted basement, the three storey west wall and fragments of a first floor spiral stair in the south wall. The remains can be seen located on the left as you are coming into the village from Shadforth.
Ludworth used to be a mining community. The "Low Main" and the "Main Coal" were the seams being worked at Ludworth, giving an output at one time of 400 tons per day, and where employment was given to over 300 hands.
33 people have been named as having died whilst working in the mines:
Addison, Matthew, 03 Mar 1859, aged 10, Trapper, crushed by tub and pony
Anderson, Irvine, 24 Dec 1844, aged 29, who, with two others, was ascending Ludworth Pit in a corf. When it was about seven fathoms from the bottom of the shaft, it struck against the side and he was thrown out. He was recovered from the bottom of the shaft and taken home, but died three hours later from a fractured skull. The inquest into his death was held on Tuesday, 24 December
Arkley, Thomas, 26 Dec 1899, aged 64, Screenman, fell down dead from heart disease while at his work.
Atkin, Richard, 07 Aug 1924, aged 32, Pumpman, fell down shaft, Buried: St. Cuthbert's Churchyard, Shadforth
Berry, James, 12 Dec 1855, thrown down the shaft
Brown, William Michael, 21 Feb 1902, aged 57, Master Shifter, deceased signalled to the winding engineman to take the cage from the 5/4 to main coal seam and then attempted to get into the cage, but the engineman, not knowing there was no onsetter there, dropped the cage at once, and Brown was caught and killed
Craig, William, 6 May 1880, aged 40, Deputy, while attempting to draw a set of chocks in longwall he knocked out a wedge, and immediately a fall took place; he neglected to set a prop, although told by another deputy to do so, as the stone was found to be bad
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Wikipedia