Broomrigg Colliery

Overview

The Banknock Coal Company's colliery near Bonnybridge, whose Nos. 2 and 3 pits and Knowehead employed 641 men in 1920; it closed in July 1930.

History

Broomrigg Colliery lay near Bonnybridge and was worked by the Banknock Coal Company, later the Banknock Coal Company Limited. It had Nos. 2 and 3 pits, and from about 1915 was listed together with the Knowehead pit. It raised gas, household and steam coal, and from 1915 manufacturing coal and fireclay too. Employment rose from 142 in 1894 to 304 in 1900, 477 in 1910 and 641 in 1920, working the Jewel, Main, Splint, Upper Drumgray and Virtuewell seams, and by 1920 the Mid and Lower Drumgray as well.

James McPhee, a miner of 51, was killed at No. 3 Pit in October 1899 by a stone that fell from between two parallel lipes, already exposed, and a cross lipe, though it had not been propped. James Lees, a fireman, was killed in 1907 when the cage he was descending in left its slides. In 1913 James Waugh, a fireman laying out the haulage rope of an electric coal cutter, was electrocuted when the current was switched on and the machine became live through defective insulation; several other men were shocked.

Plans of the Broomrigg and Knowehead Main, Pyotshaw, Virgin, Lower Splint and shale workings are dated 1911, of the Upper Drumgray and Diamond 1927, and of the Jewel, Virgin, Lower Drumgray and Main or Kiltongue 1929. The colliery closed in July 1930.

Geology

The colliery worked the Jewel, Main, Splint, Virtuewell, Diamond and Upper, Mid and Lower Drumgray seams, with fireclay and shale.

Workings

Nos. 2 and 3 pits and the Knowehead pit, with electric coal cutters by 1913; 484 of the 641 men employed in 1920 worked underground.

Closure

Closed in July 1930; the last plans, of the Jewel, Virgin, Lower Drumgray and Main or Kiltongue, are dated 1929.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Banknock Colliery — Collieries of the Banknock Coal Company near Bonnybridge.

Recorded claims

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

• Broomrigg, with Nos. 2 and 3 pits and Knowehead, employed 641 men in 1920. ¹
• James McPhee, a miner of 51, was killed by an unpropped stone at Broomrigg No. 3 Pit in October 1899. ^2,1
• James Waugh, a fireman, was electrocuted at Broomrigg in 1913 when an electric coal cutter became live through defective insulation. ¹
• Broomrigg Colliery closed in July 1930. ¹
• Plans of the Knowehead and Broomrigg Jewel workings are dated 1929, and of the Broomrigg and Knowehead Main 1911. ^3,4

Sources

1. (primary) Broomrigg Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website - 1899 Deaths — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21941754: Knowehead and Broomrigg, Jewel, abandoned 1929 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21944123: Broomrigg and Knowehead, Main, abandoned 1911 — British Geological Survey

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