Bogside Colliery

Overview

Bogside, a drift mine near Kincardine that once held national production records, became the first of the three collieries feeding the pioneering Longannet complex to close — wrecked by flood damage during the bitter 1984-85 miners' strike, its workforce transferred on to the neighbouring pits it had helped build.

History

Bogside opened in the late 1950s, working the Upper Hirst steam-coal seam to supply the nearby Kincardine Power Station; in the 1960s its miners regularly held national production records, at times raising over 3,000 tons of coal in a single day. Recorded underground workforce grew from 232 men in 1961 to over 700 through the 1970s. From 1964, work began on an underground belt-conveyor system linking Bogside to two new neighbouring drift mines, Castlehill and Solsgirth, and on to the new coal-fired Longannet power station some five miles away — one of the most ambitious mining developments of its era. Bogside suffered serious flood damage during an overtime ban in 1983, which the National Coal Board later described as amounting to industrial sabotage during a dispute over disciplinary action. The colliery's fortunes worsened further during the national miners' strike of 1984-85, when continuing flooding and gas problems in the affected workings made the pit uneconomic to repair. Bogside closed as a result, its workforce transferring to the still-developing Longannet complex collieries at Castlebridge and Solsgirth and to the established Frances Colliery at Dysart.

Geology

The mine worked the Upper Hirst Coal Measures seam of the Fife/Clackmannanshire coalfield, connected underground to the neighbouring Castlehill and Solsgirth drift mines as part of the Longannet complex.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A drift mine feeding coal onto the Longannet complex's underground belt-conveyor system from 1964 onward; in the 1960s its output regularly exceeded 3,000 tons a day, a national production record for the time.

Closure

Flood damage sustained during the 1984-85 miners' strike, on top of earlier damage from 1983, made the colliery uneconomic to repair; it closed as a result, with its workforce transferring to Castlebridge, Solsgirth and Frances collieries.

What remains

The site forms part of the wider former Longannet complex, comprehensively cleared and landscaped after the complex's own end in the early 2000s; no structures specific to Bogside itself have been confirmed surviving in the sources checked.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Recorded claims

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

• In the 1960s Bogside's miners regularly held national production records, at times raising over 3,000 tons of coal in a single day; recorded underground workforce grew from 232 men in 1961 to over 700 through the 1970s. ¹
• From 1964 an underground belt-conveyor system was built linking Bogside to the new Castlehill and Solsgirth drift mines and on to Longannet power station some five miles away. ²
• Flood damage sustained during an overtime ban in 1983, described by the NCB as amounting to industrial sabotage during a disciplinary dispute, was compounded by further flooding and gas problems during the 1984-85 miners' strike, forcing the colliery's closure. ²

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this mine.

Sources

1. (secondary) Bogside Mine, Balgownie Mains — Fife Pits
2. (secondary) Coal Country: The stories behind Fife's lost mines and the flood of Longannet — The Courier

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 28 August 2026