Carronhall Colliery

Overview

The Carron Company's own colliery at Carronshore, and the most profitable thing it ever dug. Its William Pit of the 1860s sent half its coal to the blast furnaces and half to the Carron ships, and its bing was known locally as Garabaldi.

History

Carron Company leased the colliery at Quarrolle, later called Carronhall, in 1760, the year after the ironworks was founded, on a ninety-nine year lease at £600 a year or one sixth of the coal wrought. The pits were the company's own supply: Carron needed coal for its furnaces and its ships, and it dug it rather than bought it. As the early workings ran out the pits moved nearer the harbour — Pit No. 6 at the far end of Carronshore, Pit No. 5, and the Blackmill Pit. Then in the 1860s the company opened the Carronhall William Pit, with housing for the miners, and this was the largest of all its mining operations. Its bing was known locally as Garabaldi. At the turn of the century the William Pit was raising between 100,000 and 150,000 tons a year, split about equally between the blast furnaces and the Carron ships, and it had always been the most profitable pit the company held. The Lists of Mines fill in the shape of it. The colliery employed 422 people in 1894 and 502 by 1905, peaking at 757 in 1910 before falling back to 468 in 1920 and 269 by 1940. It sold household, manufacturing and steam coal throughout, with fireclay appearing in the 1920 return, and worked the Crow, Main and Upper and Lower Coxrod seams. The coal at Carronhall and at Kinnaird nearby was particularly suited to the blast furnaces. Whole villages went with the pits. The Red Row stood at Carronhall itself, the Red Houses and the Square of Houses on the Longdyke nearer Kinnaird, and the Bothy Row in Carronshore. Both Carronhall and Kinnaird had their own friendly societies, because Carron Company had refused the miners entry to the Carron Founders Friendly Society at the works, believing it would encourage absenteeism at the pits. By the start of the Second World War the William Pit was the only pit still working near Carron. Carronhall was among the last four collieries the Carron Company operated and went with them into public ownership.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coal Measures of the Stirlingshire coalfield east of Falkirk, taking the Crow, Main and Upper and Lower Coxrod seams, with fireclay returned alongside the coal by 1920. The coal here and at Kinnaird was noted as particularly suitable for the blast furnaces, which is why the Carron Company held it.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Several pits over two centuries, moving towards the harbour as the ground was worked out: Pit No. 6 at the far end of Carronshore, Pit No. 5, the Blackmill Pit, and from the 1860s the William Pit, the largest of the Carron Company's workings and the one that outlasted the rest.

Closure

Carronhall was one of the last four collieries operated by the Carron Company, with Bridgeness, Pirnhall and Bannockburn, and passed into public ownership at nationalisation.

What remains

No account of the present site was found. The pit villages have gone and the Garabaldi bing is not recorded as surviving; nothing read establishes what is on the ground now.

No account of surviving remains was found in the sources read.

Redevelopment

Not established.

Related mines

• Bannockburn Colliery — Bannockburn is named with Carronhall among the last collieries the Carron Company operated, though this archive's own Carron Company operator record says Bannockburn was sold to the Alloa Coal Company in 1894 — a disagreement noted on both records.
• Bridgeness Colliery — Bridgeness and Carronhall were two of the last four collieries the Carron Company operated, and went into public ownership together at nationalisation.

Nearby mines

• South Bantaskine Colliery — 4.7 km S
• Bogside Colliery — 5.5 km NE, Fife
• Longannet Colliery — 5.9 km NE, Fife
• Plean Colliery — 6.1 km NW, Stirling
• Redding Colliery — 7.2 km SE

Straight-line distance, within 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.

• In 1760 the Carron Company took a lease of the colliery at Quarrolle, now called Carronhall, for ninety-nine years at £600 a year or one sixth of the coal wrought. ¹
• In the 1860s the Carronhall William Pit was opened with housing for the miners. It was the largest of the company's mining operations and is remembered for its pit bing, known locally as Garabaldi; at the turn of the century its annual output was between 100,000 and 150,000 tons, with equal amounts going to the blast furnaces and to the Carron ships, and it had always been the most profitable of the company's mining operations. ¹
• As the coal became exhausted at the early pits the workings moved nearer the harbour, with Pit No. 6 at the far end of Carronshore, Pit No. 5, and the Blackmill Pit. ¹
• Both Carronhall and Kinnaird had their own friendly societies, operating independently of the Carron Founders Friendly Society at the works, because the company had refused the miners entry to it in the belief that it would encourage absenteeism at the pits. ¹
• The Lists of Mines give 422 employed in 1894, 502 in 1905, 757 in 1910, 468 in 1920 and 269 in 1940; the colliery returned household, manufacturing and steam coal throughout, with fireclay added in 1920, and worked the Crow, Lower Coxrod, Main and Upper Coxrod seams. ²
• At the beginning of the Second World War the William Pit was the only pit still worked near Carron, and Carronhall was among the last collieries operated by the Carron Company — with Bridgeness, Pirnhall and Bannockburn — which were nationalised. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) The Carron Collieries, extracted from Brian Watters, Where Iron Runs Like Water! A New History of Carron Iron Works 1759-1982 — Tom Paterson Genealogy
2. (secondary) Carronhall Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026