The colliery was the last deep coal mine in the north east of England (also known as the Great Northern Coalfield).

At one time, the deepest part of the mine was 800 metres (2,600 ft) and it extended 15 miles (24 km) under the North Sea.

[9] At the same time, it was estimated that Ellington employed 50 pit ponies, one of the last large industrial producers to do so.

[11] It was also the worlds' largest undersea project, and regularly accounted for over 69% of all deep-mined coal in the county of Northumberland.

[19][20] In November 1999, the site was threatened with closure by RJB Mining due to "deteriorating geological conditions".

[25] The 300+ miners who worked at the mine were later given £6,000 each after an employment tribunal ruled that UK Coal hadn't given the statutory 90-day consultation notice of closure.

UK Coal stated that the immediate closure due to flooding prevented them giving prior notification.

[28] A report released in 2020, estimated that over 30 million tonnes (33,000,000 tons) of colliery waste had been tipped at the coast near to Lynemouth from Ellington Combine and other local pits.

Likewise, the period of 1992 to 2005, the mine was in private ownership with the switch in 2001 being a name change after Richard Budge retired.