Today was the final day of mining operations at the Bradley Open Cast Mine near Consett.
The Banks Group, who own the mine had applied for permission to extend the life of its last mine in England until 2021 but the application was turned down earlier this summer.
The last coal will be extracted today, two months after its sister site at Shotton in Northumberland ended its own coal production. It brings to an end almost 200 years of mining at this location.
The closure leaves only the Hartington mine in Derbyshire, which had planned to shut at the start of the month, as the last remaining surface mine operating in England.
Images (c) Ian Forsyth / Getty Images
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