Newcastle sea-coal mining and trade
Minería y comercio de carbón marino (sea-coal) de Newcastle
- Date
- 1239 · confidence medium
- Place
- Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Burgesses of Newcastle under Henry III
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
In 1239 Henry III granted the burgesses of Newcastle the right to dig coal and the town began shipping it by sea to London. It was Europe's first regular long-distance trade in coal as fuel.
Coal digging in the area is older; 1239 is the year of the earliest royal charter regulating it.
What it led to
- progressive replacement of firewood in London
- a coal-shipping industry and seafaring trade
- the energy basis of the Industrial Revolution