Banknock Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Banknock, between Kilsyth and Bonnybridge, worked by William Wilson in the 1860s and later by John Young and Co. and the Banknock Coal Company. It employed over 500 men in 1920 and closed about 1931, leaving 28 acres of bings that fed the Cannerton brickworks for half a century.

History

The coal pits along the north side of the valley at Banknock, between Kilsyth and Bonnybridge, were linked to the Forth and Clyde Canal by a wagonway, and the Kilsyth and Bonnybridge Railway was later built to serve them. Banknock Colliery was William Wilson's in 1869. By 1896 John Young and Co. of Hollandbush held it, with William Barbour as manager and 216 men, working coal and oil shale; Young's Collieries Ltd followed, and by 1908 the Banknock Coal Company of Glasgow, with William Brown as manager.

The colliery worked household, manufacturing and steam coals, with fireclay in the 1890s and 1900s, from the Main, Splint, Virtuewell and the Upper, Lower and Third Drumgray seams, later the Jewel. Employment rose from 191 in 1894 to 493 in 1910 and 521 in 1920, then fell to 280 in 1923; in 1918 it was working the Livingston and Cannerton pits with 407 men. The colliery closed about 1931. Its refuse bings, some 28 acres of clays and shales, proved good for composition bricks, and the Cannerton Brick Company opened a works on the site of the former Cannerton Colliery in 1933 to use them; it made bricks until 1982. A small Banknock No. 3 mine was worked by Banknock Collieries Ltd in 1945.

Geology

Stirlingshire coalfield: the Main, Splint, Virtuewell, Jewel and Upper, Lower and Third Drumgray seams, with fireclay and oil shale; the bings were mainly clays and shales.

Workings

Pits on the north side of the valley, including the Livingston and Cannerton pits (1918); a wagonway to the Forth and Clyde Canal, later the Kilsyth and Bonnybridge Railway.

Closure

Closed about 1931: a 1933 account of the new Cannerton brickworks says Banknock Colliery had closed about two years before.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

The colliery's bings were the raw material of the Cannerton brickworks, built on the former Cannerton Colliery site in 1933 and closed in 1982.

Recorded claims

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

• William Wilson owned Banknock in 1869, John Young and Co. in 1896 and the Banknock Coal Company in 1908 and 1918. ^1,2
• Employment at Banknock Colliery rose from 191 in 1894 to 521 in 1920. ¹
• Banknock Colliery had closed about two years before the Cannerton brickworks opened in 1933. ³
• The Cannerton brickworks took its raw material from the refuse bings of Banknock Colliery, some 28 acres of clays and shales. ³
• Before the railway was built, the Banknock mines were linked to the Forth and Clyde Canal by a wagonway, and the Kilsyth and Bonnybridge Railway was built to serve them. ⁴
• The Upper Drumgray seam at Banknock was abandoned in 1921. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Banknock Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Mining in Stirlingshire: list of mines, owners, managers and workers — Tom Paterson
3. (secondary) Cannerton Brickworks, Banknock, Bonnybridge, Falkirk, Stirlingshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
4. (secondary) Banknock — Wikipedia
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Banknock, Upper Drumgray (Dirt), abandoned 1921 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026