Barbauchlaw Colliery

Overview

Robert Muir and Co.'s steam-coal and fireclay mine at Armadale, West Lothian, opened in 1900 on ground worked since at least the 1850s as Armadale Pit No. 3. Its inclined main mine ran 122 metres at 1 in 3.5, its fireclay fed a brickworks, and it closed in February 1952.

History

Barbauchlaw lies at Armadale, in the parish of Bathgate. Coal and ironstone were worked here long before the colliery of 1900: the Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1856 describes Armadale Pit No. 3 on the Armadale estate, raising gas coal, coal and ironstone from a shaft ten fathoms deep with a six-horsepower steam engine, tenanted by Buttery and Murray of the Monkland Coal and Iron Company on land belonging to Mr Dennison, a Glasgow banker. Plans of Barbauchlaw workings in the Slaty Band ironstone and gas coals were abandoned in 1874.

Robert Muir and Co., later Robert Muir and Co. (1930) Ltd, opened Barbauchlaw Colliery in 1900, working steam coal and fireclay from an inclined main mine 122 metres long at 1 in 3.5, with an air mine of 46 metres at 1 in 3 down to the clay seam. An associated brickworks ran from about 1890 until 1971. The workforce was small, 20 to 26 people between the wars, but rose to 88 in 1947 and peaked at 115.

In 1948, under the National Coal Board, Barbauchlaw raised 90 tons a day, 24,750 tons a year, by longwall working with 91 employees; it had only a bar screen, no washer, baths or canteen, and a first-aid service. It closed in February 1952, when the Colinburn workings were abandoned, and was finally abandoned in 1953.

Geology

West Lothian coalfield: steam coal and fireclay, the Colinburn, Armadale Main, Mid Drumgray, Coxrod, Mill and Boghead gas coals, and the Slaty Band ironstone in the earlier pits.

Workings

An inclined main mine (122 m at 1 in 3.5) and an air mine (46 m at 1 in 3) to the clay seam; a bar screen; an associated brickworks (c. 1890-1971); earlier shafts of Armadale Pit No. 3.

Closure

Closed in February 1952; the Colinburn plan is dated 8 February 1952 and the colliery was abandoned in 1953.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1856 Armadale Pit No. 3 raised gas coal, coal and ironstone from a shaft ten fathoms deep, worked by a six-horsepower steam engine, and was tenanted by Buttery and Murray. ¹
• Barbauchlaw Colliery, owned by Robert Muir and Co., began production in 1900 and worked steam coal and fireclay. ^2,1
• Its main mine was 122 m long at 1 in 3.5, with an air mine of 46 m at 1 in 3 to the clay seam. ¹
• Barbauchlaw employed 26 people in 1923 and 88 in 1947, when it raised 27,000 tons of steam coal. ³
• Barbauchlaw closed in February 1952; its Colinburn workings were abandoned on 8 February 1952. ^2,4
• Plans of earlier Barbauchlaw workings in the Slaty Band ironstone and gas coals were abandoned in 1874. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Barbauchlaw Colliery (NRHE 132610) — Historic Environment Scotland (trove.scot, formerly Canmore)
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Scotland (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Barbauchlaw Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Barbauchlaw, Colinburn, abandoned 8 February 1952 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Barbauchlaw, Slateyband Ironstone, Mill, Main, Colinburn & Boghead Gas, abandoned 1874 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

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