Dalquhandy Colliery

Overview

Waddell and Son's colliery at Coalburn, opened about 1890 and employing up to 271 men, whose seams were abandoned around 1922; the same ground later became one of Europe's largest opencast coal sites.

History

Dalquhandy Colliery stood at Coalburn, south-west of Lanark, and was opened about 1890 by Waddell and Son of Union Street, Glasgow, with James Allardice as manager in 1893. It raised gas, manufacturing and steam coal: 185 men worked there in 1894, 271 in 1900 and 179 in 1905. Later the colliery worked through Nos. 1 and 2 pits, with Nos. 3 and 5, in the Six Feet, Ell, Lower Splint and Nine Feet seams; 168 men worked at Nos. 1 and 2 in 1920. In 1910 Dalquhandy Colliery was itself one of the places where Lesmahagow parish's miners were housed.

Its dead included James Jeffery, a miner's boy of 14 who in 1899 tried to stop a loaded tub on a dipping road with his own body; Hugh Blackwood, a pony driver of 15 killed by a fall of roof in 1905; David Lamb, a carpenter who fell from the roof of the new coal washer in 1908; and Robert Docherty, who fell onto a coal conveyor and was crushed in 1917.

Plans of the Ell and Nine Feet are dated 1918, of the Splint 1921, and of the Ell, Smithy and Dross, Nine Feet and Six Feet 1922. A photograph of miners from Coalburn, Lesmahagow and Kirkmuirhill after a shift at Dalquhandy Colliery is dated to around 1930. The ground was later worked again: in the 1990s the opencast at Dalquhandy was the largest in Western Europe.

Geology

The colliery worked the Six Feet, Ell, Lower Splint, Nine Feet, Smithy and Dross seams of the Douglas coalfield.

Workings

Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 5 pits; 128 of the 168 men at Nos. 1 and 2 in 1920 worked underground. A coal washer was built in 1908.

Closure

Abandonment plans of its seams are dated 1918 to 1922; it is listed as closed in 1920, though a photograph places men there around 1930.

What remains

The site lies within ground later worked as the Dalquhandy opencast coal site.

Related mines

• Auchenbegg Colliery — Coalburn collieries of Waddell and Son.
• Bankend Colliery — Neighbouring Coalburn workings; later plans cover Bankend and Dalquhandy together.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Miners from Coalburn, Lesmahagow and Kirkmuirhill were photographed after their shift at Dalquhandy Colliery around 1930. (uncertain) ⁷

Recorded claims

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

• In 1893 Dalquhandy was worked by Waddell and Son of 20 Union Street, Glasgow, with James Allardice as manager. ^1,2
• Dalquhandy employed 271 men in 1900, 228 of them underground. ²
• Robert Docherty fell onto a coal conveyor and was crushed at Dalquhandy Colliery in April 1917. ³
• James Gloag, a miner of 42, was killed by a fall of coal at Dalquhandy in March 1901. ^4,2
• Abandonment plans of the Dalquhandy Ell, Smithy and Dross, Nine Feet and Six Feet seams are dated 1922. ^5,6
• Miners from Coalburn, Lesmahagow and Kirkmuirhill were photographed after their shift at Dalquhandy Colliery around 1930. (uncertain) ⁷
• The opencast operation at Dalquhandy was at the time the largest in Western Europe. ⁸

Sources

1. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) Dalquhandy Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Fatal Accidents In Scottish Mines & Collieries 1917 — Scottish Mining Website
4. (secondary) Fatal accidents in Scottish mines, 1901 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21903511: Dalquhandy, Nine Feet, abandoned 1922 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21857352: Dalquhandy, Ell / Nine Feet, abandoned 1918 — British Geological Survey
7. (secondary) Miners in the Coalburn Collieries — Jim Hamilton Heritage Society, Coalburn
8. (secondary) Coalburn — Jim Hamilton Heritage Society, Coalburn

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