Allanton Colliery

Overview

A Hamilton colliery at Ferniegair, worked from the 1870s and by William Barr and Sons from the 1890s, which employed nearly a thousand men in 1920 and had its own rows at Allanton.

History

Allanton Colliery lay at Ferniegair, on the south-east side of Hamilton. Deaths there are recorded from 1870, and its early owners included James Nisbet, the Duke of Hamilton and Austine and Company; in 1877 a roadsman was suffocated by smoke and gases from an underground fire. By 1893 it belonged to William Barr and Sons of Bothwell Street, Glasgow, with Alexander Forbes as manager, and Barr's, later William Barr and Sons (Coalmasters) Limited, worked it into the 1920s.

The colliery grew steadily: 317 men in 1894, 528 in 1900, 774 in 1910 and 964 in 1920, before falling to 663 in 1923. It raised gas, manufacturing and steam coal from the Ell, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virtuewell seams, and by 1920 also the Blackband, Humph, Lower Drumgray and Upper. Its miners lived in the Allanton Rows, the Double, Top, Boiler and Deputy Rows, and at Allanton Terrace. Thomas Scott, a machineman of 33, was killed by a fall of stone in 1917; David Stewart was killed at the level crossing by the late train from Larkhall as he came off his shift in 1918; two brushing contractors died in an explosion of firedamp on 2 December 1923; and in 1924 the death of Alexander Anderson, a bogieman of 14, dragged sixty yards under a moving rake on an endless-rope haulage road, brought a request from the miners' union for a rider at the inquiry. Abandonment plans of the colliery's workings in nine seams are dated 1928.

Geology

The colliery worked the Ell, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint, Virtuewell, Blackband, Humph, Lower Drumgray and Upper seams.

Workings

Shaft workings with endless-rope haulage and machine-cut walls; 764 of the 964 men employed in 1920 worked underground.

Closure

Abandonment plans of its Virtuewell, Blackband, Pyotshaw, Kiltongue, Main, Humph, Splint, Ell and Drumgray workings are dated 1928.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Ferniegair Colliery — Neighbouring collieries at Ferniegair, Hamilton.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1893 Allanton was owned by William Barr and Sons of 10 Bothwell Street, Glasgow, with Alexander Forbes as manager. ^1,2
• Allanton employed 964 men in 1920, 764 of them underground. ²
• In 1910 Allanton's miners lived in the Allanton Rows (Double, Top, Boiler and Deputy Rows) and at Allanton Terrace in Hamilton parish. ³
• Thomas Scott, a machineman of 33, was killed by a fall of stone from the roof at Allanton Colliery, Hamilton, in October 1917. ^2,4
• Alexander Anderson, a bogieman, was killed at Allanton Colliery, Ferniegair, in February 1924; the miners' union asked for a rider at the inquiry. ^2,4
• Abandonment plans of the Allanton workings in the Main, Ell, Splint, Humph, Blackband and other seams are dated 1928. ⁵

Sources

1. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) Allanton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Housing 1910 Lanarkshire — Scottish Mining Website
4. (secondary) Accidents post 1914 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21909337: Allanton, Main, abandoned 1928 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026