Blairadam Colliery

Overview

A two-pit colliery on the west side of Kelty, on the Fife and Kinross border, reopened about 1887 by the Blairadam Coal Company and bought by the Fife Coal Company in 1902. Its No. 1 pit fed the Blairadam brickworks with blaes; in February 1908 a long stretch of hard freestone roof fell on a coal-cutting machine in No. 2 pit and killed its three operators.

History

Blairadam Colliery stood on the west side of Kelty, practically on the border of Fife and Kinross, on minerals leased from the Adam family of Blairadam. It had two pits, Nos. 1 and 2, and was 'resuscitated' in the late 1880s by the Blairadam Coal Company under James Terris. The company soon ran into burnt coal in the Dunfermline Splint seam, cut through it, and by 1898 was working a long stretch of very fine Splint.

In 1902 the Fife Coal Company bought the colliery with its brickworks and two pits; blaes from No. 1 pit fed the brickworks beside it, which ran from 1898 until 1947. On the night of 12-13 February 1908, with only six men below, twelve yards of the hard freestone roof fell on an electric coal-cutting machine in the Dunfermline Splint of No. 2 pit and killed its three operators (see Disasters, below).

The Fife Coal Company ran Blairadam with the neighbouring Blairenbathie. Its Glassee and Mynheer workings were abandoned in 1924; the brickworks passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and closed in 1977.

Geology

The Dunfermline Splint coal under a hard freestone roof, with a stretch of burnt (calcined) coal; abandonment plans name the Glassee and Mynheer seams. Blaes from No. 1 pit made bricks.

Workings

Two pits, Nos. 1 and 2. In 1908 the Dunfermline Splint in No. 2 pit was cut by an electric coal-cutting machine ('the iron man') on a night shift of about two dozen men.

Closure

The Glassee and Mynheer workings were abandoned in 1924. The brickworks beside No. 1 pit ran until 1947 under the Fife Coal Company and closed in 1977.

What remains

The brickworks buildings were removed by 1979 and the site landscaped.

Redevelopment

The brickworks site beside No. 1 pit has been landscaped.

Related mines

• Blairenbathie Colliery — Managed together by the Fife Coal Company; Robert Aitchison ran both until 1918.

Disasters & major incidents

• Blairadam Colliery roof fall, 1908
  13 February 1908 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities
  At about four in the morning of 13 February 1908, in No. 2 pit of Blairadam Colliery on the west side of Kelty, at least twelve yards of a hard freestone roof fell without warning onto an electric coal-cutting machine in the Dunfermline Splint seam. Its machineman and two assistants were killed. The pit had been idle the day before, and only six men were below.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery was resuscitated about twenty years before 1908 by the Blairadam Coal Company. ^1,2
• The Fife Coal Company acquired Blairadam Colliery, with its brickworks and two pits, in 1902. ^1,2
• In 1898 the colliery was working a long stretch of fine Dunfermline Splint coal after cutting through burnt coal. ²
• On 13 February 1908 a roof fall in No. 2 pit killed three men working a coal-cutting machine. ^1,3,4
• Blaes from Blairadam Pit No. 1 supplied the brickworks immediately west of it, which ran from 1898 to 1947. ^2,5
• Its Glassee and Mynheer workings were abandoned in 1924. ^6,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Accidents 1901-1914 (Scottish Mining Website) — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry: Blairadam Brickworks, Kelty, Fife — Scottish Brick History
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Blairadam, No.2 Pit, 1908 (Cairney) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Blairadam, No.2 Pit, 1908 (McCallum) — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) Trove.scot (Canmore) 291449: Kelty, Blairadam Brick Works — Historic Environment Scotland
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Blairadam, Glassee, abandoned 1924 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Blairadam, Mynheer, abandoned 1924 — British Geological Survey

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