Boglea Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Greengairs, north of Airdrie, owned around 1900 by Peter Cairns and worked in the Kiltongue, Virtuewell, Lime and Drumgray coals. Its last phase, from 1940, passed to the National Coal Board and closed in March 1962, and its men's transfer to Gartshore was later blamed for overmanning that pit.

History

Boglea, at Greengairs on the moorland north of Airdrie, was being worked by about 1900. In 1899 it belonged to Peter Cairns of Greengairs, who corresponded that year with J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, about the coal at Boglea. Plans of its early workings, in the Upper Drumgray, Kiltongue, Virtuewell and Lime coals and ironstone, were abandoned between 1903 and 1909, some together with neighbouring Fidderland, and the Boglea and Northrigg Upper Drumgray workings in 1920.

The NCB's list dates the last colliery from 1940. Under the National Coal Board it employed 77 in 1947, raising 30,000 tons of anthracite, household and manufacturing coal, and 149 in 1954; its Balmoral and Smithy seams were given up in 1953 and again in 1962, when the colliery closed in March. Some of its men were moved to Gartshore 9/11, where, at the closure of that pit in 1968, it was alleged that the transfers from Boglea had overmanned it and depressed its financial performance.

Geology

Central coalfield: the Kiltongue, Virtuewell, Lime, Upper Drumgray, Balmoral, Smithy, Blacktongue and Shiels coals, with ironstone.

Workings

Workings from about 1900 in the Lime, Kiltongue, Virtuewell and Upper Drumgray coals (some with Fidderland and Northrigg), and a colliery of 1940-1962 in the Balmoral and Smithy seams.

Closure

Closed in March 1962; the Smithy and Balmoral plans are dated 1962, with a Boglea and West Cameron plan of 1963.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Gartshore Colliery — Men from Boglea were transferred to Gartshore 9/11 when Boglea closed in 1962.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1899 Boglea was owned by Peter Cairns of Greengairs, Airdrie, to whom the inspector J. B. Atkinson wrote that year on the subject of the Boglea coal. ¹
• Plans of the Boglea workings in the Kiltongue, Virtuewell, Lime and Upper Drumgray coals and ironstone were abandoned in 1903. ²
• Boglea, Airdrie, is listed from 1940 to March 1962. ³
• Boglea employed 77 in 1947, raising 30,000 tons, and 149 in 1954. ⁴
• At the closure of Gartshore 9/11 in 1968 it was alleged that transfers to it after Boglea closed in 1962 had overmanned the pit and depressed its financial performance. ⁵
• The Boglea Smithy and Balmoral workings were abandoned in 1962. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) NEIMME-JBA/9: letters of J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, 1899-1901 (catalogue) — North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers
2. (primary) BGS mine plan: Boglea, Kiltongue, Virtuewell, Lime, Upper Drumgray and ironstone, abandoned 1903 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
3. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Scotland (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Boglea Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Coal Country: 2. Moral economy: custom and social obligation during colliery closures — University of London Press
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Boglea, Smithy, abandoned 1962 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026