MineArchiveCameron Colliery
| Location | Near Windygates, central Fife (listed under Buckhaven), Fife — 56.1805, -3.0559 (approximate) |
|---|---|
| Commodity | Coal |
| Type | Coal |
| Worked | By 1891–1959 |
| Operators | National Coal Board (1947–?, owner) — Vested 1947; closed about 1959 J. H. E. Wemyss (owner) — Listed first among the owners (DMM c301) Benney and Meldrum (owner) — Owner between J. H. E. Wemyss and Bowman and Co. (DMM c301) Bowman & Company (owner) — Owner in 1900 (NMRS 28668; DMM c301) Wemyss Coal Company Ltd (owner) — Owner in 1922 (NMRS 71011; DMM c301) |
A Fife colliery near Windygates, listed under Buckhaven, worked from the 1890s by a succession of owners ending with the Wemyss Coal Company in the Dysart Main and Sandwell seams, reopened by the National Coal Board and closed about 1959, a year after a rock fall killed three men.
Location
Approximate location. The large pin is this mine; the small round markers are the nearest mines on record. Click one for its page. View on full map
History
Cameron Colliery lay near Windygates in central Fife and is listed under Buckhaven. It was at work by the early 1890s, and its owners in turn were J. H. E. Wemyss, Benney and Meldrum, Bowman and Co. and the Wemyss Coal Company. It employed about two hundred in the mid-1890s, about three hundred by 1900 under Bowman and Co., and 445 in 1910, working the Dysart Main, Sandwell and Six Feet seams. Under the Wemyss Coal Company it still employed 436 in the early 1920s, and its Upper Sandwell workings were abandoned in 1926.
The colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 with just 31 men, and the Board worked it again in the Bowhouse and Branxton seams, employing 148 by 1954. In December 1958, when Cameron was one of twenty Scottish pits the Board had decided to close, a fall of rock killed three miners and injured the undermanager. Its Branxton workings were abandoned in 1959.
Geology
The Dysart Main, Sandwell and Six Feet seams of the Fife coalfield before the First World War; under the Coal Board the Bowhouse and Branxton seams, with Boreland workings abandoned in 1958.
Workings
Coal was holed and propped at the face and raised in tubs on a double-decked cage; under the Coal Board the faces were shot-fired and worked with machinery.
Closure
The Coal Board listed Cameron among twenty Scottish pits to close in 1958; the Branxton workings were abandoned in 1959.
Related mines
- Muiredge Colliery — Both owned by Bowman and Co. before the Wemyss Coal Company took over the Buckhaven pits.
- Rosie Colliery — Both owned by Bowman and Co. before the Wemyss Coal Company took over the Buckhaven pits.
- Wellesley Colliery — Both owned by Bowman and Co. before the Wemyss Coal Company took over the Buckhaven pits.
Nearby mines
- Pirnie Colliery — 0.7 miles (1.1 km) NE
- Wellsgreen Colliery — 0.8 miles (1.3 km) SW
- Rosie Colliery — 0.9 miles (1.5 km) S
- Wellesley Colliery — 1.8 miles (2.9 km) E
- Leven Colliery — 1.8 miles (3.0 km) E
Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (15 km). Show on the map.
Recorded claims
Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.
- Cameron's owners were J. H. E. Wemyss, Benney and Meldrum, Bowman and Co., the Wemyss Coal Co. Ltd and, from 1947, the National Coal Board. 1
- Bowman and Co. owned the colliery in 1900. 2
- The Wemyss Coal Co. Ltd owned it in 1922. 3
- Cameron employed 445 in 1910, 31 in 1948 and 148 in 1954. 1
- In December 1958 a fall of rock at Cameron mine, near Windygates, killed three miners and injured the undermanager; the pit was one of twenty in Scotland the Coal Board had decided to close. 4
- The Branxton seam workings were abandoned in 1959. 5
- The Upper Sandwell workings were abandoned in 1926. 6
Photographs & further reading
The museum's colliery page, with owners, employment from 1894 to 1954, seams and the names of those killed.
View sourceSources
- (primary) Cameron Colliery (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
- (secondary) NMRS deaths database record 28668: John Grey, Cameron, 1900 — Northern Mine Research Society
- (secondary) NMRS deaths database record 71011: Henry Simpson, Cameron, 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society
- (secondary) NMRS deaths database record 75233: Richard Teevan, Cameron, 1958 — Northern Mine Research Society
- (primary) BGS mine plan: CAMERON, Branxton seam, abandoned 1959 — British Geological Survey
- (primary) BGS mine plan: CAMERON, Upper Sandwell seam, abandoned 1926 — British Geological Survey
Record created: 4 November 2026 · Last researched: 4 November 2026