Barncluith Colliery

Overview

Archibald Russell's colliery at Barncluith, Hamilton, sunk about 1880 and employing up to about 300 men before it closed around 1900; two miners died there in 1893 riding a derailed rake of hutches.

History

Barncluith Colliery lay at Barncluith, Hamilton, and belonged to the coalmaster Archibald Russell of 68 Great Clyde Street, Glasgow. It was opened about 1880; in June 1879 a pithead boy of 14 was run over by a waggon after creeping under it for shade at dinner time on a hot day, and in May 1883 a sinker of 50, James Robertson, was killed by a stone falling from the side of the shaft of a sinking pit. In 1893 Barncluith was listed under Archibald Russell with James Salmond as manager.

The colliery raised gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal and employed 246 men in 1894, 308 in 1896 and 283 in 1900. Its main haulage was an endless rope moving at about two miles an hour. On 10 January 1893 an empty rake of twelve hutches was being drawn inbye with miners riding in it, against posted rules, when the hutch next the bogie left the rails on a steep part of the road; the attendant slipped the bogie off the rope but could not stop the rake, and the derailed hutch knocked out roof timber and brought down stone on the hutch in which Patrick Clark and John Wilson were riding, killing both. The under-manager was charged before the Sheriff with not enforcing the rule against riding, but the charge was not maintained. Falls of coal killed miners of 16 and 51 in 1898. The colliery is recorded as closing in 1900.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

Shafts including a sinking pit in 1883 and No. 1 pit; stoop-and-room workings; a main haulage road worked by an endless rope with a bogie leading the rakes.

Closure

Recorded as closed in 1900, when it still employed 283 men.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Fairhill Colliery — Both Archibald Russell collieries at Hamilton.

Recorded claims

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

• Barncluith Colliery, Hamilton, opened in 1880 and closed in 1900, owned by Archibald Russell. ¹
• In 1893 Barncluith was listed under Archibald Russell of 68 Great Clyde Street, Glasgow, with James Salmond as manager. ²
• On 10 January 1893 two miners riding in an empty rake on the endless-rope haulage at Barncluith were killed when a derailed hutch brought down the roof. ^3,1
• In May 1883 a sinker was killed at Barncluith by a stone falling from the side of the shaft of a sinking pit. ^4,1
• Barncluith employed 246 men in 1894 and 308 in 1896. ¹
• Abandonment plans of Barncluith and Silvertonhill workings are dated 1900 and 1904. ⁵

Sources

1. (primary) Barncluith Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) 1893 deaths index: Herbertshire No 3, Denny — with the Inspector of Mines' annual report for 1893 on the explosion — Scottish Mining Website, transcribing the appendices and main body of the Report of the Inspector of Mines
4. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: fatal accidents 1883 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21853022: Barncluith and Silvertonhill, abandoned 1900 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026