Afton Colliery

Overview

A New Cumnock colliery worked from 1871 to 1948, whose second shaft belonged for a time to the separate Lanemark Coal Company before New Cumnock Collieries absorbed it in 1909.

History

Afton No. 1 opened in 1871 at New Cumnock and worked until October 1948, transferring to the National Coal Board on nationalisation that year. A second shaft, Afton No. 2, belonged to the separate Lanemark Coal Company before that company was itself absorbed into New Cumnock Collieries in 1909; Afton No. 2 closed in 1914. New Cumnock's coal industry as a whole grew from the late 18th century and remained the area's principal employer into the 1960s, with five collieries -- including Afton -- still operating in 1950 alongside the much larger Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery, the site of Scotland's best-known post-war mining disaster later that same year. Seam by seam the pits were given up before the end: abandonment plans were deposited for the Diamond seam of Afton No. 1 in 1930 and for the Four Feet seam in 1932.

Geology

Coal of the Ayrshire coalfield; the seams worked are not recorded.

Workings

Nothing is recorded of Afton's own individual underground workings, beyond the existence of two shafts (Afton No. 1 and No. 2) under separate ownership for part of its life.

Closure

Afton No. 1 closed in October 1948 on transfer to the National Coal Board; the separate Afton No. 2 shaft, under the Lanemark Coal Company, had already closed in 1914.

What remains

Nothing is recorded of the colliery site's own present condition.

Related mines

• Lanemark Colliery — The Lanemark Coal Company also held the Afton minerals and worked a shaft there until 1909.

Culture

• Lanemark F.C. (Sports)
  The Lanemark Coal Company that founded and named this club is the same company that operated Afton Colliery's separate No. 2 shaft until its 1909 absorption into New Cumnock Collieries, as already documented on this mine's own record.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Afton No. 2 belonged to the separate Lanemark Coal Company until that company was absorbed into New Cumnock Collieries in 1909; Afton No. 2 closed in 1914. ¹
• Five collieries, including Afton, were still operating in New Cumnock in 1950 with a combined workforce of over 1,500 miners. ²
• The Mining Remediation Authority holds abandonment plan S1150 for Afton's Four Feet seam, abandoned in 1932, and plan S1503 for the Diamond seam of Afton No. 1 (Lanemark), abandoned in 1930. ^3,4
• Afton No. 1 pit was sunk in 1871 by the Lanemark Coal Company, which had leased the Afton minerals near Straid in 1866 and reached the pit by a branch railway from South Boig; Afton No. 2 followed two years later. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Afton No.1 Colliery — Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland)
2. (secondary) Afton Brick and Tile Works, New Cumnock — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
3. (primary) AFTON (Mine Remediation Authority abandonment plan S1150, BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (primary) AFTON NO 1 (LANEMARK) (Mine Remediation Authority abandonment plan S1503, BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (secondary) Lanemark — New Cumnock History

Record created: 31 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026