Bellfield Colliery

Overview

William Barr and Sons' colliery in the middle of Coalburn, developed in the early 1890s, whose Nos. 3 and 4 pits employed some 500 men in 1910 and built much of the village. Its owner, William Barr, was killed at the pithead in 1905. In the 1921 strike its workings flooded and it never reopened, putting about 600 out of work.

History

Bellfield Colliery stood almost in the middle of Coalburn, in the Lesmahagow coalfield. William Barr and Sons developed it in the early 1890s, and many of the stone villas and miners' rows of the village, with Bellfield school, were built with it. Its pits Nos. 3 and 4 worked the splint coal and the five-foot seam, and about 500 men were employed there in 1910.

In November 1905 the owner himself, William Barr, aged 65, was drawn into unfenced machinery at the No. 4 pithead when a revolving shaft caught his overcoat, and was fatally injured. Miners died in falls of coal and roof through the 1900s and 1910s.

In the national coal strike of 1921 the pits flooded: no maintenance was done during the strike, or, by another account, after a dispute over pumping. The owners chose not to reopen when the strike ended, and about 600 lost their jobs, 200 of them living in Lanark. The Bellfield rows were demolished in the 1930s and Bellfield school closed in 1958.

Geology

The splint coal and the five-foot seam of the Lesmahagow coalfield; a combined Auchlochan and Bellfield plan names the Nine Foot.

Workings

Nos. 3 and 4 pits, with pithead machinery driven by shafting, hutch haulage on bogies, and holing at the face.

Closure

Flooded during the 1921 national strike, after maintenance stopped or a dispute over pumping, and not reopened; about 600 jobs were lost.

What remains

The miners' rows were demolished in the 1930s and Bellfield school closed in January 1958.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The pit flooded after a dispute over pumping arrangements. (disputed) ¹
• The pit flooded because no maintenance was done during the strike. (disputed) ⁴

Recorded claims

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

• William Barr and Sons developed Bellfield Colliery in the early 1890s. ^1,2
• The owner, William Barr, aged 65, was fatally injured at No. 4 pithead in November 1905 when unfenced machinery caught his overcoat. ³
• Bellfield closed in the 1920s after flooding during a miners' strike. ^4,1
• The pit flooded after a dispute over pumping arrangements. (disputed) ¹
• The pit flooded because no maintenance was done during the strike. (disputed) ⁴
• About 600 lost their jobs when Bellfield did not reopen after the 1921 strike. ¹
• No. 4 pit worked the five-foot seam and the colliery the splint coal. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Clydesdale's Heritage: A Prospect of Coalburn — Clydesdale's Heritage
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Bellfield, No.3 Pit, 1902 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Bellfield, No.4 Pit, 1905 (owner) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Coalburn Heritage: Bellfield Colliery — Jim Hamilton Heritage Society of Coalburn
5. (secondary) Accidents 1915-1925 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Auchlochan and Bellfield, Nine Foot, abandoned 1920 — British Geological Survey
7. (secondary) A Potted History of Deep Mining at Coalburn (Jim Hamilton Heritage Society) — Jim Hamilton Heritage Society of Coalburn

Record created: 13 October 2026 · Last researched: 13 October 2026