Blackston Colliery

Overview

James Nimmo and Company's colliery at Avonbridge, employing up to 258 men around 1900 before it was reduced to a pumping pit; a small working under the Brownieside Coal Company was listed there in 1945.

History

Blackston Colliery lay at Avonbridge, in eastern Stirlingshire, and belonged to James Nimmo and Company, Limited, of Bothwell Street, Glasgow. In 1894 it employed 137 men raising household, manufacturing and steam coal, and in 1896, with George Gibb as manager, 172 worked below ground and 19 at the surface. That January a sixteen-year-old drawer, John Pender, was killed by a fall of roof stone at a longwall face from above the tramway laid along it. The workforce reached 258 in 1900.

By 1908 the pit was smaller, with 91 men underground and 62 at the surface under J. Watson, and that August the pumping engineman John Main was killed when the prop he was using to hold down the brake of two trucks on a steep railway caught a dross bing and threw him among the wheels. In 1910 Blackston was a pumping pit with 17 men in the Main coal. By 1920 it was working again on a small scale, with 36 men in the Ball and Mill seams raising anthracite, manufacturing and steam coal. In 1945 a Blackston working at Avonbridge was listed under the Brownieside Coal Company of Greengairs, with William Swan as manager and eleven men.

Geology

The Main, Ball and Mill coals.

Workings

Longwall faces with a tramway along the face; a surface railway to the coal sidings; a pumping pit by 1910.

Closure

A small working under the Brownieside Coal Company was listed in 1945; when Blackston finally closed is unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Balquhatstone Colliery — Neighbouring collieries in eastern Stirlingshire.
• East Roughrigg Colliery — Neighbouring pits east of Avonbridge.

Recorded claims

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

• Blackston Colliery, Avonbridge, belonged to James Nimmo and Co., Ltd. ^1,2
• In 1896 Blackston, Avonbridge, had George Gibb as manager with 172 men below ground and 19 above. ¹
• Blackston employed 258 men in 1900 and was a pumping pit with 17 men in 1910. ²
• In 1908 Blackston had J. Watson as manager, with 91 men below ground and 62 above. ¹
• In 1945 a Blackston working at Avonbridge was listed under the Brownieside Coal Co. Ltd with William Swan as manager. ¹

Sources

1. (secondary) Mining in Stirlingshire: list of mines, owners, managers and workers — Tom Paterson
2. (primary) Blackston Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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