Daldowie Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Broomhouse and Mount Vernon, on the eastern edge of Glasgow, worked from 1877 between two railways that each gave it sidings. Dunn Brothers owned it in 1896 and the Glasgow Coal Company from about 1900, when it employed some 200 to 300 men. Its last seams were abandoned in 1924, and a greyhound stadium was built on the site.

History

Daldowie Colliery lay north of Broomhouse station, east of Glasgow, between the Caledonian Railway's Rutherglen and Coatbridge branch and the North British Railway's Hamilton line at Mount Vernon. Its No. 1 pit was worked from 1877 to 1920. Both railways served it, with two separate sets of sidings, and a signal box controlled its access to the Caledonian line from 1887 to 1921; Broomhouse Colliery lay to the south of the station.

In 1896, under Dunn Brothers of Broomhouse, the colliery employed 251 men underground and 56 on the surface. By 1900 it belonged to the Glasgow Coal Company, which also owned Kenmuirhill Colliery nearby; by 1918 the workforce was down to 144 underground and 54 on the surface. The recorded deaths include a miner killed by a roof fall where a coal-cutting machine worked in 1900; a brusher killed in 1901 when a spark from the lamp on his cap fired the compressed gunpowder in his open case; a miner crushed by a stone at the Splint coal face, 500 fathoms south of the pit bottom, the same month; and a machineman who died in 1920 after a naked light fired gas, burning him and a workmate.

In 1922 the coalmaster John Gardner of the Mount Vernon Colliery Company agreed to take over the seven collieries of the Glasgow Coal Company and the Haughhead Coal Company, Daldowie among them. Its Pyotshaw, Main and Ell workings had been abandoned in 1905, and its Splint, Virgin, Ell, Pyotshaw, Main and Upper and Lower Drumgray workings were abandoned in 1924. Mount Vernon Sports Stadium, a greyhound track, was built on the colliery site and opened in October 1927 (a Geograph note dates it to the late 1930s). The track closed in 1990 and was demolished in 2007, leaving grassland.

Geology

The Splint, Virgin, Ell, Pyotshaw, Main and Upper and Lower Drumgray coals.

Workings

No. 1 pit (1877-1920), with sidings on two railways; coal-cutting machines at the face by 1900, and workings reaching 500 fathoms south of the pit bottom.

Closure

Its Pyotshaw, Main and Ell workings were abandoned in 1905 and the Ell in 1916; the remaining seams were abandoned in 1924.

What remains

Grassland, the site of the demolished Mount Vernon greyhound stadium, beside a waste recycling centre.

Redevelopment

Mount Vernon Sports Stadium, a greyhound track, 1927-1990; demolished in 2007.

Related mines

• Kenmuirhill Colliery — Both belonged to the Glasgow Coal Company and were among the seven collieries John Gardner agreed to acquire in 1922.

Recorded claims

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

• Daldowie Colliery Pit No. 1 was worked from 1877 to 1920. ¹
• The colliery had separate sidings on the Rutherglen and Coatbridge branch and the North British Hamilton line, with a signal box open from 1887 to 1921. ^1,2
• Daldowie employed 251 men underground and 56 on the surface in 1896, and 144 and 54 in 1918. ³
• The Glasgow Coal Co. Ltd owned Daldowie Colliery from about 1900. ^4,5,3
• In September 1920 a naked light fired gas in Daldowie Colliery, burning two machinemen, one of whom died. ^6,7
• In 1922 John Gardner of the Mount Vernon Colliery Company agreed to acquire the Glasgow Coal Company's collieries, Daldowie among them. ⁸
• Daldowie's Splint and other seams were abandoned in 1924. ⁹
• Mount Vernon Sports Stadium was built on the site of Daldowie Colliery and opened in 1927. ¹⁰

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) RailScot: Daldowie Colliery Pit No 1 — RailScot
2. (secondary) Wikipedia: Broomhouse railway station — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) TheGlasgowStory: Daldowie Miners — TheGlasgowStory
4. (secondary) Accidents 1901-1914 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Daldowie, 1900 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (secondary) Accidents 1915-1925 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
7. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Daldowie, 1920 — Northern Mine Research Society
8. (secondary) Scottish Brick History: Broomhouse Brickworks, Broomhouse, North Lanarkshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Daldowie, Splint, abandoned 1924 — British Geological Survey
10. (secondary) Wikipedia: Mount Vernon Sports Stadium — Wikipedia
11. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Daldowie, Pyotshaw, Main and Ell, abandoned 1905 — British Geological Survey
12. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Daldowie, 1901 (Morrison) — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 15 October 2026 · Last researched: 15 October 2026