Cultrigg Colliery

Overview

Barr and Thornton's colliery at Fauldhouse, sunk about 1900 and employing over 500 men by 1923, whose pithead was destroyed by fire in May 1929; the pits were stopped and their plant sold that autumn.

History

Cultrigg Colliery lay near Fauldhouse, in Whitburn parish, and was worked by Barr and Thornton, later Barr and Thornton Limited. It was being sunk in 1900, when 34 men were employed there, and was raising household, manufacturing and steam coal by 1905, when 343 men worked there. Employment reached 457 in 1910 and 505 in 1923. The pits worked the Ball and Main coals, and later the Mill and Colinburn seams, with ironstone raised as well in 1915 and 1920. Among the dead were John Carruthers, a drawer of 15 crushed by a cage at the bottom of a 35-fathom shaft that had no bottomer in 1901, and James John Stone, a coal cleaner of 13 overtaken by runaway hutches on the haulage road in 1910.

In May 1927 Barr and Thornton closed the colliery for the time being, affecting about 300 men. Two years later, on a Tuesday evening in May 1929, fire broke out at the pithead of Nos. 1 and 2 pits and destroyed the winding gear and the coal-washing plant; Falkirk Fire Brigade pumped a pond dry fighting it for five hours. Fifty or sixty men were underground, and with no access to the main shaft they were warned and brought out by a safety shaft more than a mile away. Between 500 and 600 men were expected to be idle until it was repaired. It never was: in September 1929 the plant of the Cultrigg and Crofthead collieries, including winding engines, coal cutters, fans and 4,860 yards of sidings, was advertised for auction 'owing to Stoppage of Collieries'. Abandonment plans of the Main and Ball seams are dated 1929.

Geology

The colliery worked the Ball and Main coals, later also the Mill and Colinburn seams, with ironstone from the same measures.

Workings

Nos. 1 and 2 pits with a safety shaft more than a mile away; 390 of the 505 men employed in 1923 worked underground, and electric disc coal cutters were in use by 1929.

Closure

Closed temporarily in May 1927; the pithead of Nos. 1 and 2 pits burned in May 1929 and the colliery was stopped, its plant auctioned in October 1929. Plans of the Main and Ball seams were deposited as abandoned in 1929.

What remains

All surface traces of the pits have been obliterated by opencast working.

None.

Related mines

• Crofthead Colliery — Neighbouring Fauldhouse collieries whose plant was auctioned together in October 1929.

Recorded claims

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

• Cultrigg Colliery was sinking in 1900 with 34 men employed. ¹
• Cultrigg employed 505 men in 1923, 390 of them underground. ¹
• In May 1927 Barr and Thornton closed Cultrigg Colliery for the time being, affecting about 300 men. ²
• In May 1929 fire destroyed the pithead of Cultrigg Nos. 1 and 2 pits; the 50 or 60 men underground escaped by a safety shaft more than a mile away. ²
• The plant of Cultrigg and Crofthead collieries was auctioned in October 1929 owing to the stoppage of the collieries. ²
• Abandonment plans of the Cultrig Main and Ball seams are dated 1929. ³
• Cultrigg worked the Ball, Main and Mill seams. ^1,4

Sources

1. (primary) Cultrigg Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Cultrigg No.1 & No.2 pits — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21908082: Cultrig or Cult, Main, abandoned 1929 — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21903775: Cultrig, Mill with Ball and Main, abandoned 1924 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 20 October 2026