Grand Allies

It was based on the Northumberland and Durham Coalfield, and played a major role in the economics of mining coal from the field for about a century.

The original focus of the Grand Allies group was the construction of the Tanfield Waggonway, to transport coal from inland mines in County Durham to the River Tyne.

[16] The Grand Allies applied dead rents strategically, for long periods, for example to St Anthony's Colliery at Byker.

[1] That degree of control fell away, because of technical advances but also because the banking system enabled new entrants to finance coal mines.

From the end of the Seven Years' War, there was growth in private banks, and improved steam pump technology, key to exploiting mines that previously not been viable.

[28] The long-term effect of the development of railways was then to reduce the importance of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield, because it provided a logistical solution for the transport to London of coal from other areas.

[29] In 1843 they were from the original "Grand Allies" families, by then represented by James Stuart-Wortley, 1st Baron Wharncliffe, Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, and Thomas Lyon-Bowes, 11th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, with the trustees acting for George Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham, a minor, and Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.