Capledrae Colliery

Overview

A cannel-coal colliery east of Ballingry, working by 1837, whose 'gas coal' was among the finest in Scotland. Owned by the Aytouns, Anderson and Crombie, and from 1873 the Lochore and Capledrae Cannel Coal Company, it was drowned to put out a fire in 1888 and abandoned in 1889.

History

Capledrae Colliery lay east of Ballingry, a few hundred yards north of Capledrae farm, in the parish of Auchterderran on the edge of Portmoak. It was working by 1837: the Statistical Account of Portmoak in 1839 noted a colliery lately begun, and in 1841 the manager, Thomas Goodall, told the Children's Employment Commission that the work, owned by J. and R. Aytoun, had been going for five years and employed about sixty people, none of them women, the youngest of its putters fourteen.

The colliery worked a cannel or parrot coal, the Capledrae Cannel, 42 inches thick, of which 30 inches yielded 13,100 cubic feet of gas a ton. Anderson and Crombie were working it as contractors from 1857, and on 30 September 1862 James Crombie, coalmaster and joint owner, was killed at the pit bottom by a stone of nearly a ton. From 1873 the Lochore and Capledrae Cannel Coal Company Ltd worked it through the Capledrae Mine and, from 1875, the No. 3, with William Waugh and then Duncan Ferguson as managers; it had a steam winding engine, then unusual in Fife.

On the night of 20 June 1888 fire broke out among the blaes and timber of the No. 3's pumping mine, about 280 feet in. All the men were brought out, but attempts to reach the fire failed, the mouths were closed, the pumps stopped and the Lochty Burn turned into the workings to drown it, putting about a hundred men out of work. The Capledrae gas coal was abandoned in February 1889. In the early 1920s the Fife Coal Company acquired the Capledrae minerals and worked them from the Mary Pit at Lochore.

Geology

The Capledrae Cannel, a parrot or gas coal 42 inches thick (30 inches of fine cannel and 12 of second quality); a Gas seam abandoned in 1862 and a Cherry coal in 1888.

Workings

At least two shafts; the Capledrae Mine and the No. 3 Mine (sinking 1875), inclined mines with drawing and pumping roads and fan ventilation from 1876; a steam winding engine.

Closure

Fire broke out in the No. 3 pit in June 1888 and the workings were flooded to put it out; the Capledrae gas coal was abandoned in February 1889.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Benarty Colliery — Both worked by the Lochore and Capledrae Cannel Coal Company, which drove the Benarty mines about 1880.
• Mary Colliery, Lochore — The Fife Coal Company acquired the Capledrae minerals in the early 1920s and worked them from the Mary Pit at Lochore.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1841 Capledrae Colliery, owned by J. and R. Aytoun, had been working for five years and employed about sixty people, none of them women. ¹
• James Crombie, coalmaster and joint owner, was killed in the pit by a falling stone in 1862. ²
• The Capledrae Cannel seam was 42 inches thick, 30 inches of it a fine cannel yielding 13,100 cubic feet of gas a ton. ²
• A fire in the No. 3 pit in June 1888 was fought by closing the pit mouths and diverting the Lochty Burn into the workings, and about 100 men were left idle. ²
• The Capledrae Gas seam was abandoned in February 1889. ^2,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Kirkcaldy District: 1842 Children's Employment Commission evidence — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Capledrae Colliery — Fife Pits and Memorial Book (Michael Martin)
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Capledrae, Capledrae Gas, abandoned 1889 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

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