Benarty Colliery

Overview

A Kelty colliery on Benarty estate near Blairadam: mines driven about 1880 by the Lochore and Capeldrae Cannel Coal Company, a shaft of about 1898 taken over by the Fife Coal Company in 1900 and closed in 1926, and a wartime surface mine of 1938 to 1959 that reached three times the national average productivity.

History

Benarty lay less than a mile north-east of Blairadam Bridge, with its shaft in Kinross-shire and its workings in Fife. The Benarty Nos. 1 and 2 mines appear to have been driven about 1880 by the Lochore and Capeldrae Cannel Coal Company, formed in 1835. In November 1889 the company struck a seam over six feet thick in its new mine on the estate, with two more good seams within 30 feet, and when its liquidator advertised the lease in March 1890 it had 31 years to run from Whitsunday 1888 and the two mines then raised about 150 tons a day, the workable coal being estimated at five million tons. Employment was 97 underground and 21 on the surface in 1890 and 138 and 21 in 1896; J. Ferguson and then Duncan Ferguson managed.

A shaft was sunk about 1898 to 73 fathoms, 13 feet by 5½, beside the mines. A firedamp explosion in May 1899 killed two men (see Disasters, below). The Fife Coal Company took the colliery over in 1900. Employment was 121 underground in 1902, 207 in 1905, 229 in 1908 and 174 in 1920, and Robert Love, then W. G. Spalding, managed. Benarty closed in 1926 when the main winding shaft collapsed, and the remaining coal was worked from the Aitken Pit.

In the Second World War the Fife Coal Company opened a shallow surface mine on the site, which Canmore records as begun in 1938, suspended in 1939 and restarted in 1944-45. Built on the site of the old colliery, it followed the seam from the outcrop with a simple surface layout designed to win coal quickly and cheaply; its coal went by lorry to the Aitken washery. It was a very successful short-term drift mine, achieving three times the national average productivity. In 1948 it raised 470 tons a day, 128,000 tons a year, with 169 employees and baths; the average workforce was 201, with a peak of 237 in 1957. It closed in 1959 and was abandoned in 1961, and the site has since been removed by opencast working.

Geology

Coal of the Lochgelly series. The Main coal was the seam worked in the 1890s, with the Kinglassie Splint, Bank, Jersey, Five Feet, Glassee, Dunfermline Splint, Cairncubie, Rough and Little coals in abandonment plans; a seam over six feet thick was struck in 1889. The surface mine followed the seam from the outcrop and used partial extraction to avoid water draining into the workings.

Workings

Nos. 1 and 2 mines driven about 1880 (No. 2 with a 900-foot downcast and a 96-foot upcast, and fan ventilation at No. 1 in 1890) and a shaft of about 1898, 73 fathoms deep and 13 feet by 5½ feet; later a wartime surface mine with a steel gantry, drop-bottom haulage cars on a 42-inch gauge, rope-hauled main slope, conveyors and shortwall cutters.

Closure

The pit closed in 1926 when the main winding shaft collapsed, the remaining coal being worked from the Aitken Pit; the wartime surface mine closed in 1959 and was abandoned in 1961.

What remains

The area has been removed by opencast operations.

Redevelopment

Removed by opencast working.

Related mines

• Aitken Colliery — After the Benarty shaft collapsed in 1926 the remaining coal was worked from the Aitken Pit, and the wartime surface mine's coal was sent by road to the Aitken washery.
• Muircockhall Colliery — Henry Ness managed Muircockhall and, leaving it in June 1883, became managing partner at Benarty Colliery, and his company's Ness's Mine worked beside the Benarty pit.

Disasters & major incidents

• Benarty Pit firedamp explosion, 1899
  22 May 1899 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  Early on Monday 22 May 1899 firedamp exploded in a heading of Benarty Pit, near Kelty, where two men had been repairing a roadway overnight. Joseph Hamilton was killed outright and Michael Casey died within a day; the fireman James Morton, his leg broken, crawled a hundred yards towards safety.

Recorded claims

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

• The Benarty Nos. 1 and 2 mines appear to have been driven about 1880 by the Lochore and Capeldrae Cannel Coal Company, which had formed in 1835. ¹
• In March 1890 the lease of the Benarty coal, 31 years from Whitsunday 1888, was advertised with two mines raising about 150 tons a day and workable coal estimated at five million tons. ¹
• A Benarty shaft was sunk about 1898 to about 73 fathoms, measuring 13 ft by 5½ ft. ¹
• The Fife Coal Company took over Benarty in 1900 and closed it in 1926 after the main winding shaft collapsed, the remaining coal being worked from the Aitken Pit. ¹
• Employment at Benarty was 97 underground and 21 on the surface in 1890, 138 and 21 in 1896, 121 and 18 in 1902, 229 and 42 in 1908 and 174 and 51 in 1920. ¹
• Canmore records Benarty Colliery, a surface mine of the Fife Coal Company, as begun in 1938, suspended in 1939, restarted in 1944-45, closed in 1959 and abandoned in 1961. ²
• The surface mine, built on the site of the old Benarty Colliery, achieved three times the national average productivity, its coal going by road to the washery at Aitken. ^2,3
• In 1948 the surface mine raised 470 tons a day, 128,000 tons a year, with 169 employees and baths, and the average workforce was 201 with a peak of 237 in 1957. ²
• John Thomson, a fireman of Kelty, was run over by hutches in the Benarty Pit in 1909. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Fife Pits: Benarty Pit & Mines — Fife Pits
2. (secondary) Benarty Colliery, New Surface Mine (Canmore) — Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland)
3. (secondary) Benarty Colliery, Mine Head (Canmore) — Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland)
4. (secondary) Accidents 1901-1914 (Scottish Mining Website) — Scottish Mining Website

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