Craigend Colliery, Maddiston

Overview

A colliery on the moor south of Maddiston, in Muiravonside parish, opened in 1854 and closed in November 1935. Small under John Logan and Sons and United Collieries, it was redeveloped by the Carron Company from 1906 into one of the largest units in Stirlingshire, with over eight hundred on the books by 1920, ironstone calcined on the bing, and a miners' welfare scheme that gave Maddiston a golf course, a district nurse and an institute.

History

The pit is dated to 1854 by the Durham Mining Museum and stood beside the Blackbraes Branch, the mineral railway that left the Slamannan line at Almond Junction and wound west through Maddiston to the Blackbraes and Shieldhill pits; the Falkirk Local History Society's map of the branch shows the Whiterigg and Craigend Collieries as a group of pits, North Craigend, Wester Craigend, Whiterigg No. 1 and Easter Blackrig. Under John Logan and Sons and then United Collieries it employed only 87 in 1894 and 123 in 1905, raising household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Coxrod, Main and Mill seams. The Carron Company took the tenancy of the coalfield in 1906 and redeveloped the colliery: 531 were employed by 1910, 812 by 1920, working the Ball, Coxrod, Glenfuir, Main, Mill and Splint seams and ironstone, and the Society says that by the 1920s it was one of the largest units in Stirlingshire, employing over a thousand men and raising 1,100 tons a day. Carron sold house coal from a siding at Maddiston at 29s a ton in 1923. The miners' welfare scheme of 1924 and 1925, paid for by a Lanarkshire Miners' Welfare Association grant and the men's own 2d a week, took over the nine-hole golf course at Craigend, appointed a district nurse and built an institute with a 250-seat hall, baths, bowling green and tennis courts on a field by the old Manuelrigg pit, opened by Carron's general manager George Pate on 13 June 1925. The museum records 730 employed in 1933 and closure in November 1935. William Wilson founded Craigend Brickworks on the site of the Whiterigg and Craigend pits in 1937-38, on land leased from Carron, and worked the pit blaes into bricks until the bing was exhausted in 1964; the works became Craigend Refractories and closed in 1983, and a coalbed methane company that took the site in 1994 failed before drilling. The welfare institute, mothballed in the war, was sold to a haulage firm in 1954.

Geology

Stirlingshire coalfield. The museum's Lists of Mines record the Coxrod, Main and Mill seams in 1905, the Glenfuir and Splint by 1910, Auchengane in 1915 and the Ball seam by 1920, with ironstone from 1920; the 1924 inspector's report describes calcined ironstone filled from a bing.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Shaft and drift workings in a group of pits. Employment from the Lists of Mines: 87 in 1894, 118 in 1896, 114 in 1900, 123 in 1905, 531 in 1910, 419 in 1915, 812 in 1920 and 1923, 730 in 1933. Coal-cutting machines were in use by 1913 and the haulage roads carried tubs on rope haulage; ironstone was calcined on the surface. Depths are not given in the sources read.

Closure

Closed in November 1935 according to the museum and the Falkirk Local History Society; the reason is not stated in the sources read.

What remains

The site of the Whiterigg No. 1 pit became Craigend Brickworks in 1937-38, later Craigend Refractories, closed in 1983; the brickworks buildings stand ruinous and were photographed by urban explorers in 2008 and by a Geograph contributor in 2023.

Ruinous brickworks buildings, hoppers and rollers on the colliery site; nothing of the colliery's own plant is reported. The Blackbraes Branch trackbed west of Maddiston is a footpath.

Related mines

• Carronhall Colliery — Both Carron Company collieries; Carronhall was the ironworks' own pit at Carronshore.
• Redding Colliery — Neighbouring pits on the moors south of Polmont, two miles apart.

Nearby mines

• Redding Colliery — 2.6 km N
• South Bantaskine Colliery — 6.7 km NW
• Bathville Colliery — 7.1 km S, West Lothian
• Kinneil Colliery — 7.1 km NE
• Hilderston Silver Mine — 7.3 km SE, West Lothian

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.

• Opened in 1854 and closed in November 1935. ¹
• John Logan and Sons, then United Collieries Ltd, then the Carron Company, which took the tenancy of the coalfield in 1906 and redeveloped the colliery. ^1,2
• The Lists of Mines give 812 employed in 1920 and 1923; the Falkirk Local History Society says over a thousand men and 1,100 tons a day by the 1920s. (disputed) ^1,2
• The Craigend Miners' Welfare Scheme opened a golf course on 13 May 1924 and an institute on 13 June 1925, costing £3,300 in all, and the institute was sold in 1954. ²
• Craigend Brickworks was founded in 1937-38 on the site of the Whiterigg and Craigend pits on land leased from Carron, worked the pit blaes until 1964, and closed as Craigend Refractories in 1983. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Craigend Colliery — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Craigend Miners' Welfare Institute — Falkirk Local History Society — Falkirk Local History Society
3. (secondary) Craigend Refractories Ltd, Muiravonside — Scottish Brick History — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
4. (observational) Craigend Brickworks, Standburn, July 2008 — Derelict Places — Derelict Places
5. (secondary) Blackbraes Branch Railway — Falkirk Local History Society — Falkirk Local History Society
6. (secondary) Maddiston Craigend Colliery — RAILSCOT — RAILSCOT

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026