very little. Herbage still flourished (composed of "whins and briars") and this formed the modest means for a smattering of tinkers and cuddies who comprised the majority of the population of the Fell. Industry Gateshead Fell was dominated by heavy industry. One of the predominant industries was on the fell was quarrying, with one observer noting: "The grindstones from the quarries here, known as "Newcastle grindstones," have been celebrated for centuries, and are exported to all parts of the world." Tyneside has a rich coal mining heritage and Gateshead Fell was no different in this regard. Roger de Fulthorpe and others, in 1368, worked the coal-mines in "Gateside Moore." At one time, there were "eight pittes on Gateside Low Fell," which accounts for the immense extent of pit-waste on this part of the Fell previous to the division. Ellison Main Colliery (sometimes referred to as Sheriff Hill Colliery) was situated at the summit of Gateshead Fell (now the boundary between Sheriff Hill and Low Fell). Opened in 1793, ownership of the mine changed hands a number of times: in 1840 the lease was granted to "messers Hutchinson and Lamb under Cuthbert Ellison" whilst by the time of the colliery closure some eighty years later, ownership appears to have been transferred to Heworth Coal Company Ltd. As a result of the Great Hartley Disaster in 1862, legislation was passed which required all collieries have two main exits. As a result, Sheriff Hill Colliery operated two main shafts- Fanny Pit and Isabella Pit. Fanny Pit was some 535 feet above sea level and plumbed a depth of some 804 feet (as of 1894). Isabella, on the other hand, was slightly shallower with a total shaft depth of 738 feet (as of 1894). Contemporary evidence provides that the operation of the colliery ran thus: "The coals are drawn at two shafts by an engine of about 30 horses' power, which raises three corves at once. Another engine, of the same power, is employed in pumping the water to a height of 30 fathoms from the bottom, where it is discharged into a drift of about 1¼ mile in length, and is finally drawn out by an engine at the Low Fell. The waggon-way from the Isabella Pit to the Tyne is about 3 miles in length, and the waggons are transmitted along it chiefly by means of inclined planes.. Mining during the eighteenth