Arthur Colliery

Also known as	Newton Colliery, Lochgelly, Arthur (Newton) Nos. 1 & 2, Newton Pit
Location	Lochgelly, Fife
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	By 1905 in the official returns–Shut down by 1933
Operators	Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company (?–1933)

Overview

A Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company colliery of two pits, also known as Newton, working the Dunfermline Splint, Five Feet, Glassee and Mynheer seams. It employed over four hundred people for twenty years and was shut down by 1933.

History

Arthur, or Newton, Nos. 1 and 2 were among the many pits the Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company worked around Lochgelly in Fife — a list that also runs to Nellie, Minto, Jenny Gray, Melgund, Mary, Little Raith and a dozen more. The official returns begin in 1905 with 298 employed, 259 of them below ground, and run up through 428 in 1910, 390 in 1915, 468 in 1920 and 460 in 1923. Gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal came out of it throughout. The seams named are the Dunfermline Splint, Five Feet, Glassee and Mynheer, with the Duddie Davie added by 1915 and the Diamond by 1920. The 1933 return records the colliery shut down.

Geology

The Fife coalfield seams the Lochgelly company worked across its pits: the Dunfermline Splint, the Five Feet, the Glassee and the Mynheer, with the Duddie Davie and the Diamond added later.

Workings

Two pits, Nos. 1 and 2. Around six in every seven of the workforce was below ground throughout — 259 of 298 in 1905, 402 of 468 in 1920.

Closure

The 1933 List of Mines records the colliery as shut down.

What remains

No account of the site as it now stands has been found.

None recorded.

Recorded claims

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

The official Lists of Mines give Arthur Colliery under the Lochgelly Iron and Coal Co., Ltd. with 298 employed in 1905, 428 in 1910, 390 in 1915, 468 in 1920 and 460 in 1923, producing gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal. The 1933 return records it shut down. ¹
The Fife Pits survey lists Arthur (or Newton) Nos. 1 and 2 among the pits and mines of Lochgelly, alongside Nellie, Minto, Jenny Gray, Melgund, Eliza, Lady, John and others, and gives them a separate entry from the main Lochgelly Colliery. ²
The returns name the Dunfermline Splint, Five Feet, Glassee and Mynheer seams in 1905 and 1910; the Duddie Davie, Dunfermline Splint, Five Feet and Glassee in 1915; and the Diamond, Duddie Davie, Dunfermline Splint, Five Feet, Glassee and Mynheer in 1920. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Durham Mining Museum: Arthur Colliery (reference)

The returns from 1905 to 1933, the seams worked and the note that the colliery was shut down.

View source

Fife Pits: Lochgelly pits and mines (reference)

Michael Martin's survey of the Lochgelly pits, which lists Arthur (or Newton) Nos. 1 and 2 among the Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company's workings.

View source

Sources

(secondary) Arthur Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Lochgelly Pits and Mines — Fife Pits and Mines

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026