Bourtreehill Colliery

Overview

The Bourtreehill Coal and Fire Clay Company's colliery and fireclay works at Dreghorn, Ayrshire, from the early 1870s. Nearly 500 workers went on its works outing in 1888; its pits, latterly Broomland No. 8 and Capringstone Nos. 6 and 7, were given up by 1924.

History

Bourtreehill Colliery and its fireclay works stood near Dreghorn, by Irvine. The fireclay works, whose chimneys were put up in 1871, was selling firebricks by that October, and in 1872 James Findlay was trading as the Bourtreehill Coal Company and fireclay manufacturers; the Kenneth family, coalmasters of Kilwinning, were also coalmasters at Bourtreehill. Coal and fireclay came from the same pits, and the works became known for enamelled sinks, baths and bricks shown at exhibitions in Dublin and Edinburgh in the 1880s. In 1885 the company built a row of ten white-brick houses for its workmen at Dreghorn station, and in 1888 nearly 500 workers of the colliery and fireclay works, with their wives and sweethearts, went on their annual outing to the Glasgow Exhibition.

The company also worked pits at Caprington, Churrlands and Broomlands, and from 1894 Warrix near Irvine. Bourtreehill itself employed 265 people in 1894 under John Walker, falling to 93 by 1910 under Robert Banks. By 1915 its work had moved to Broomland No. 8 and Capringstone Nos. 6 and 7, which employed about 125 together, and the last Bourtreehill plans, of the Linnbed, Five Quarter, Parrot and Wee seams, are dated 1924, the year Broomland No. 8 stopped. The fireclay works carried on: Southhook Potteries bought the company in 1937, it was dissolved in 1963, and the brickworks chimneys came down in December 1966.

Geology

Ayrshire coalfield: the Major, Five Quarter, Parrot, McNaught, Tourha', Ell, Ladyha', Linnbed and Wee seams, with fireclay.

Workings

Pits at Bourtreehill, later Broomland No. 8 and Capringstone Nos. 6 and 7, with a fireclay and enamelling works served by an incline to the Glasgow and South Western Railway.

Closure

The last Bourtreehill plans are dated 1924, when Broomland No. 8 was temporarily stopped; the fireclay works outlasted the pits, and the company was dissolved in 1963.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Warrix Colliery — Both worked by the Bourtreehill Coal and Fire Clay Company, each with its own fireclay works.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1872 James Findlay traded as the Bourtreehill Coal Company and fireclay manufacturers at Dreghorn; the fireclay works chimneys were erected in 1871. ¹
• Robert and James Kenneth, sons of the Kilwinning coalmaster Archibald Kenneth, became coalmasters at Bourtreehill and Shewalton. ²
• In 1888 nearly 500 workmen of Bourtreehill Colliery and Fireclay Works went on their annual excursion to the Glasgow Exhibition. ¹
• Bourtreehill employed 265 people in 1894 and 93 in 1910. ³
• By 1915 the company's Bourtreehill work was at Broomland No. 8 and Capringstone Nos. 6 and 7; Broomland No. 8 was temporarily stopped in March 1924. ³
• Bourtreehill's Five Quarter and Linnbed workings were abandoned in 1924, and earlier Major, Five Quarter and Parrot workings in 1876. ^4,5
• Southhook Potteries acquired the Bourtreehill Coal Company in 1937, the company was dissolved in 1963, and the brickworks chimneys were demolished in December 1966. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Bourtreehill Fireclay Works, Dreghorn, North Ayrshire — Scottish Brick History
2. (secondary) Dreghorn, Ayrshire: Collieries — Dreghorn, Ayrshire (local history site)
3. (primary) Bourtreehill Coal Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bourtreehill, Five Quarter and Linnbed, abandoned 1924 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Bourtreehill, Major, Five Quarter and Parrot, abandoned 1876 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026