Benston Colliery

Overview

A pit of Ludovic Houston on the Johnstone estate in Renfrewshire, flooded from unmapped old workings on 23 October 1860 with the loss of five lives; it never reopened, and its loss all but ended coal mining at Johnstone.

History

Benston, or Benstone, pit lay on the Johnstone estate near Johnstone, in Renfrewshire, and belonged to Ludovic Houston of Johnstone Castle, who also owned the Quarrelton pits. Coal had been worked on the estate for centuries, and its plans could be traced back only about sixty years. The pit was 54 fathoms deep and worked two seams seldom more than ten feet apart, lying to the dip of old workings known to be full of water. A drawer, John Freil, was killed by a fall of roof there in 1857, and in July 1860 a light carried past an unused working fired gas and killed three boys.

The men had long feared the waste water. The inspector, William Alexander, examined the pit in July 1860 and urged boreholes ahead of the workings; these were kept to the south, where the waste was known, but no one thought to bore to the north, where an exploring mine from the old Shaws pit had been driven some forty years before and never planned. On the morning of 23 October 1860 the water broke in from it and rose fast. About forty men near the breach reached the shaft, the last of them climbing the cage ropes, but a boy was overtaken and drowned; two men in another part were saved with the water a foot from the roof, and four further in were lost. Five died in all. The NMRS account says the bodies were recovered after several months; the Johnstone History Society says the pit never reopened and that they lie in it still. With its closure coal mining at Johnstone effectively came to an end. The dead are remembered on the miners' cairn built at Johnstone in 1994.

Geology

Renfrewshire coal measures: two seams seldom more than ten feet apart, to the dip of old flooded workings.

Workings

A single shaft with a cage; workings in two close seams, with exploring mines and boreholes kept ahead to the south.

Closure

Flooded on 23 October 1860 and never reopened.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Quarrelton Colliery — Both pits on the Johnstone estate, owned by Ludovic Houston of Johnstone Castle about 1859-60.

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 bodies of the five were recovered after several months. (disputed) ²
• The pit never reopened and the bodies remain in it. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Benston pit belonged to Ludovic Houston and lay on the Johnstone estate. ^1,2,3
• The pit was 54 fathoms deep and worked two seams seldom more than ten feet apart. ^2,3
• On 23 October 1860 water from old workings flooded the pit and five men died. ^1,2,3
• In July 1860 a firedamp explosion at Benston killed three boys. ¹
• The bodies of the five were recovered after several months. (disputed) ²
• The pit never reopened and the bodies remain in it. (disputed) ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Johnstone History Society: Johnstone Coal Miners Memorial Cairn — Johnstone History Society
2. (secondary) Benstone Colliery Inrush, Johnstone, 1860 (NMRS accidents and disasters) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) Colliery disaster, 23 October 1860: Benstone (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 24 October 2026 · Last researched: 24 October 2026