Sea Coal Rake

This sea coal rake was a very simple handmade tool that was used to gather waste coal found on beaches between Hartlepool and Skinningrove. This particular example was made about 30 years ago by a fisherman from Redcar.

Waste coal was removed from the pit heads of County Durham coalfields by a conveyor system. The waste was put into buckets that travelled along a pulley line mechanism, which stretched out over the North Sea coastline. This image shows a similar mechanism. [See image]

As the bucket reached the end of the system, it would tip over and empty the coal into the sea before returning back down the line. After rough seas the coal would reappear on the shorelines of the Redcar and Cleveland area.


Sea Coaling was very popular during the era of the coal mining industry, it was a source of free fuel [See image].

Eventually, the activity decreased as the coal mining industry wound down. However it is still possible to find sea coal on beaches such as Saltburn after strong autumn tides.


View the Audio Visual from the online video below.

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The song Sea Coal (c.1950), featured in the video was written by local folk songwriter Graeme Miles and sung by Hazel Bolton.

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