Carnbroe Colliery

Overview

A Lanarkshire colliery at Carnbroe, on the edge of Coatbridge, worked from 1854 by Merry & Cuninghame to supply coal and ironstone to their neighbouring Carnbroe Iron Works, part of the dense cluster of 19th-century collieries and ironworks that gave Coatbridge its nickname the 'Iron Burgh'.

History

Carnbroe Colliery was worked from 1854 by Merry & Cuninghame, later Merry & Cuninghame Ltd from 1875, in the Carnbroe area on the edge of Coatbridge. It supplied coal and ironstone to the neighbouring Carnbroe Iron Works, built immediately alongside the colliery and worked by the same company from 1838 until the ironworks' own closure in 1921. Carnbroe formed part of the dense concentration of collieries and ironworks along the North Calder Water that made 19th-century Coatbridge Scotland's leading iron town, widely known as the 'Iron Burgh'.

Workings

No detailed account of the colliery's own underground workings has yet been located.

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.

• Carnbroe Colliery was worked from 1854 by Merry & Cuninghame (Merry & Cuninghame Ltd from 1875) to supply coal and ironstone to their own neighbouring Carnbroe Iron Works. ¹
• Carnbroe formed part of the dense cluster of collieries and ironworks along the North Calder Water that made 19th-century Coatbridge Scotland's leading iron town, known as the 'Iron Burgh'. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Carnbroe Colliery, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK — Mindat
2. (secondary) Carnbroe — Wikipedia

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 30 August 2026