Bardykes Colliery

Overview

A Cambuslang colliery, sunk in 1874 on the site of a former infectious disease hospital and nicknamed the 'Spittal Colliery' for it, worked by the Summerlee Iron Company for most of its history until closure in 1962 -- one of only two collieries the company still held by the time of nationalisation.

History

Bardykes Colliery was sunk in 1874 by the ironmasters Merry & Cuninghame on the site of a former infectious disease hospital, which gave the pit its local nickname, the 'Spittal Colliery'. Ownership passed to the Summerlee Iron Company, later Summerlee Coal and Iron Company, which produced house and steam coal there. The colliery closed in 1905, reopened in 1908 after a labour dispute had shut it again in 1907, and continued working under Summerlee. On the evening of Saturday 21 March 1936, five men and a pony were buried and killed by a very large fall of roof in the loading gate of a conveyor run in the Splint Seam (see Disasters, below). After Summerlee's own ironworks closed in 1934, the company sold off most of its mining interests, retaining only Bardykes and Prestongrange in East Lothian; both were nationalised into the National Coal Board in January 1947 and continued in production into the 1960s. By 1948 Bardykes employed 750 men and produced around 750 tons of coal a day. Shaft No. 2 collapsed in 1949, after which a new mine road was driven in from the nearby Blantyreferme No. 3 (Newton) pit to keep the colliery working; Shaft No. 1 continued producing coal until the colliery's final closure in 1962. Seam by seam the pit was abandoned before its end, the Lower Drumgray in 1953 among them, its plans passing to the Mining Remediation Authority.

Geology

Coal of the Lanarkshire field, including the Splint Seam, where the roof fall of March 1936 killed five men and a pony.

Workings

Worked through two shafts; Shaft No. 2 collapsed in 1949, after which access was maintained via a new mine road driven in from the neighbouring Blantyreferme No. 3 (Newton) pit until Shaft No. 1 itself closed in 1962.

Closure

Closed for good in 1962 after Shaft No. 1 finally ceased production, thirteen years after Shaft No. 2's 1949 collapse.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Blantyreferme Colliery — After Bardykes' No. 2 shaft collapsed in 1949 its workings were reached by a new mine road driven from Blantyreferme No. 3 (Newton) pit, and the Mining Remediation Authority holds combined plans of the two.

Disasters & major incidents

• Bardykes Colliery roof fall, 1909
  6 September 1909 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 2 fatalities
  Four men cutting a manhole beside a self-acting incline at Bardykes Colliery were caught by a fall of roof on 6 September 1909; the night overman and a miner were killed.
• Bardykes Colliery Roof Fall, 1936
  21 March 1936 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 5 fatalities
  A very large fall of roof in the loading gate of a conveyor run in the Splint Seam at Bardykes Colliery killed five men and a pony on the evening of Saturday 21 March 1936.

Recorded claims

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

• Bardykes Colliery was sunk in 1874 by Merry & Cuninghame on the site of a former infectious disease hospital, giving it the local nickname 'Spittal Colliery'. ¹
• After Summerlee's own ironworks closed in 1934, the company retained only Bardykes and Prestongrange collieries; both were nationalised in January 1947, and Bardykes employed 750 men producing around 750 tons of coal a day by 1948. Shaft No. 2 collapsed in 1949; Shaft No. 1 continued working until final closure in 1962. ¹
• At 7.30 on the evening of Saturday 21 March 1936 five men and a pony were buried and killed by a very large fall of roof in the loading gate of a conveyor run in the Splint seam, two other men narrowly escaping; recovering the bodies took until 11.30 the next morning. ²
• The Mining Remediation Authority holds abandonment plan S189 for Bardykes' Lower Drumgray seam, abandoned in 1953, one of eleven Bardykes plans in the catalogue. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Summerlee's Other Mines — CultureNL Museums
2. (primary) COLLIERY ACCIDENT (BARDYKES) — Hansard, 23 March 1936 — UK Parliament (Historic Hansard)
3. (primary) BARDYKES (Mine Remediation Authority abandonment plan S189, BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
4. (secondary) Bardykes Colliery 21 March 1936 — Scottish Mining Website (contemporary press report)

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026