Birkrigg Colliery

Overview

A Larkhall colliery of the Darngavil Coal Company, recorded from 1890 and employing nearly 200 men in the early 1920s in the Drumgray, Virtuewell, Jewel and Kiltongue seams, whose seams were abandoned in 1932.

History

Birkrigg Colliery lay on the Ayr Road near Larkhall. In 1893 it was listed, as Birkrig, under the Birkenshaw Coal Company of West Scotland Street, Glasgow, with Thomas Kerr as manager; it was later worked by the Darngavil Coal Company Limited. Employment grew from 30 in 1894 and 73 in 1896 to 187 in 1900, then 144 in 1905, 131 in 1910, 162 in 1915, 195 in 1920 and 198 in 1923. The colliery raised household, manufacturing and steam coal, and gas coal by 1920, from the Upper and Lower Drumgray and Virtuewell seams, adding the Jewel and Kiltongue by 1920.

Andrew Binnie, a miner of 60, was killed in 1896 when he ignited firedamp at a longwall face in the Upper Drumgray with an open light. In September 1920 Alexander Flannigan, a machineman of 30 from Larkhall, was killed instantly in the Drumgray section by a large stone falling from the roof, and his body could not be recovered for some time. In June 1924 Alexander Kerr, a pump attendant, was killed by three runaway tubs on an endless-rope haulage road rising at 1 in 5, after the hook of a drawbar pulled out.

Plans of abandoned workings shared with the neighbouring Swinhill, Shaws and Woodside pits are dated from 1890, and Birkrigg's own Ell Head and Splint workings were abandoned in 1926. Its Jewel, Upper and Lower Drumgray, Virtuewell and Kiltongue workings were abandoned together in 1932.

Geology

The colliery worked the Upper and Lower Drumgray, Virtuewell, Jewel and Kiltongue seams.

Workings

Longwall working with an endless-rope haulage mine rising at 1 in 5; 175 of the 198 men employed in 1923 worked underground.

Closure

Abandonment plans of its Jewel, Drumgray, Virtuewell and Kiltongue workings are dated 1932; a later Splint plan is dated 1953.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Swinhill Colliery — Darngavil Coal Company collieries at Larkhall whose workings share abandonment plans (1890, 1904).

Recorded claims

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

• In 1893 Birkrig was listed under the Birkenshaw Coal Company of 3 West Scotland Street, Glasgow, with Thomas Kerr as manager. ¹
• Birkrigg Colliery, owned by the Darngavil Coal Co., Ltd., employed 198 men in 1923. ²
• Alexander Flannigan, a machineman of 30, was killed by a fall of roof in the Drumgray section of Birkrigg Colliery in September 1920. ³
• Alexander Kerr, a pump attendant, was killed at Birkrigg in June 1924 by three runaway tubs on an endless-rope haulage road. ^4,2
• Abandonment plans of the Birkrigg Jewel, Upper and Lower Drumgray, Virtuewell and Kiltongue workings are dated 1932. ⁵
• A plan of abandoned workings at Birkrigg, Swinhill Nos 2 and 4 and Woodside is dated 1890. ⁶

Sources

1. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) Birkrigg Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) NMRS deaths and accidents record: Alexander Flannigan, Birkrigg, 1920 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Fatal accidents in mines in Scotland, 1924 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21944297: Birkrigg, Jewel, abandoned 1932 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21856447: Birkrigg / Swinhill Nos 2 & 4 / Woodside, Virtuewell, Kiltongue, Ell, abandoned 1890 — British Geological Survey

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