Cuttlehill Colliery

Overview

An eighteenth-century colliery at Crossgates, also known as the Mouth of Day Mine, whose mineral rights Henderson of Fordell bought in 1798 and to which the Fordell waggonway was extended; the 1856 Ordnance Survey shows its Cobden and North pits with engine houses and a coke kiln, and its disused Humbug pit gave its name to Crossgates Primrose's ground.

History

Cuttlehill Colliery at Crossgates is recorded by Canmore as an eighteenth-century colliery, also known as the Mouth of Day Mine. In 1798 Henderson of Fordell bought the mineral rights to the lands of Cuttlehill, further north than his existing pits, and extended the Fordell waggonway to pits there. A new pit, the Lady Anne, was sunk south of Cuttlehill in 1833 and in 1850 the George Pit north of it, with a standard-gauge waggonway to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1856 shows the colliery as the Cobden Pit, the North Pit and Mineral Cottage, with buildings marked as engine houses, a coke kiln, a smithy and a refuse heap.

A tile and brick works stood on the Cuttlehill estate from the 1840s, advertising drain and house tiles and fire and common bricks in 1843, and the estate's Cuttlehill Fireclay Company was advertised for sale in 1856 and 1859. The Carron Company sold fir timber suited to pit wood on the estate in 1874. Returns for 1882 to 1885 list Cuttlehill Colliery at Crossgates under A. Wallace. Fife Pits places other pits sunk in the Crossgates area close to the Cuttlehill Colliery, to the west of the village. The disused pit of the former Cuttlehill Colliery, known as a Humbug pit, gave its unusual name to Humbug Park, the home ground of Crossgates Primrose Football Club, which was also a greyhound track from 1937 to 1953.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

Cobden Pit, North Pit and Mineral Cottage on the 1856 map, with engine houses, a coke kiln, a smithy and a refuse heap; the Fordell waggonway was extended to its pits, and the Lady Anne (1833) and George (1850) pits were sunk to the south and north of it.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

The site of a disused Humbug pit of the colliery is Humbug Park, the football ground of Crossgates Primrose.

Redevelopment

Humbug Park, the ground of Crossgates Primrose F.C., occupies the site of a disused pit of the colliery.

Related mines

• Fordell Colliery — Henderson of Fordell bought the mineral rights to Cuttlehill in 1798 and extended the Fordell waggonway to its pits.

Recorded claims

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

• Canmore records Cuttlehill Colliery, also known as the Mouth of Day Mine, as an eighteenth-century colliery at Crossgates in the parish of Dunfermline. ¹
• The first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1856 shows the colliery as the Cobden Pit, the North Pit and Mineral Cottage, with engine houses, a coke kiln, a smithy and a refuse heap. ¹
• In 1798 Henderson of Fordell bought the mineral rights to the lands of Cuttlehill and extended the waggonway to pits there. ²
• The Lady Anne Pit was sunk south of Cuttlehill in 1833 and the George Pit north of Cuttlehill in 1850, the latter linked by a standard-gauge waggonway to the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. ²
• A tile and brick works on the Cuttlehill estate was advertising drain and house tiles and fire and common bricks in 1843. ³
• Returns for 1882 to 1885 list Cuttlehill Colliery at Crossgates under A. Wallace. ³
• Humbug Park, the home ground of Crossgates Primrose F.C., takes its name from a disused pit of the former Cuttlehill Colliery on which it stands. ⁴
• Other pits sunk in the Crossgates area were closely associated with the Cuttlehill Colliery, to the west of the village. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cuttlehill Colliery (Canmore) — Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland)
2. (secondary) Mineral railways of Dunfermline — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) Cuttlehill Tile & Brick Work, Near Crossgates (Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry) — Scottish Brick History
4. (secondary) Crossgates Primrose F.C. (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia
5. (secondary) Fife Pits: Crossgates Colliery — Fife Pits

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