Devon Colliery

Overview

A Clackmannanshire colliery opposite what is now Devon Village, sunk in the eighteenth century by John Francis Miller Erskine and Robert Bald and later worked by the Alloa Coal Company. Coal was mined on the site for around three hundred years. Water was its besetting problem, and in 1864 Neilson & Company of Glasgow built the Cornish beam-engine house that still stands — one of only two surviving historic beam engine houses in Scotland — to pump five tons a minute. On 26 March 1897 water burst through a dam in the Lower Five Feet seam and drowned six men. The colliery closed in 1960.

History

Production at Devon Colliery began in the eighteenth century, and coal was mined on the site for around three hundred years. The new mine was sunk opposite what is now Devon Village by John Francis Miller Erskine and Robert Bald, and later worked by the Alloa Coal Company. Bald and Erskine parted company in 1835 — Bald deploring the lack of any regulation of women and child workers underground, a view that had its effect when their employment in mines was outlawed in 1842. The mine was mothballed between 1854 and 1879 and then reopened: in 1873 Andrew Roxburgh, then manager of the Alloa Coal Company, took the decision to bring it back, at well over the £10,000 budgeted. A 600 ft shaft was prepared and a pair of 24-inch winding engines installed, with a twelve-foot revolving drum for the wire ropes and twelve-foot pulleys. Ventilation was by a thirty-foot fan moving 200,000 cubic feet of air a minute — necessary for three square miles of workings — and a branch railway ran to the Alloa docks. Water was the constant difficulty in the Clackmannanshire pits, and to fight it Neilson & Company of Glasgow built a beam-engine house in 1864 housing a Cornish pumping engine that lifted five tons a minute. It was still working into the twentieth century and was superseded by an electric pump in 1932. Water also caused the worst thing that happened here. At about a quarter to six on the morning of 26 March 1897, in the Lower Five Feet seam, water that had gathered behind a dam burst through — either the wooden door or the valve gave way — and six of the seven men working at the level were drowned (see Disasters, below). Devon was one of four collieries in Clackmannanshire owned by the Alloa Coal Company in the nineteenth century. It closed in 1960 and was razed; only the beam engine house survives, restored and converted to office use in 1993.

Geology

The Clackmannanshire coalfield on the north side of the Forth, worked here in seams including the Lower Five Feet. Water is the defining fact of the ground: the pits of the district were notoriously wet, which is why a Cornish pumping engine of the kind more usually found in Cornish metal mines was built here in 1864, and why the colliery’s worst disaster was an inundation rather than an explosion.

Workings

A 600 ft shaft prepared for the 1873 reopening, wound by a pair of 24-inch engines with a twelve-foot drum and twelve-foot pulleys. Ventilation was by a thirty-foot fan moving 200,000 cubic feet a minute through some three square miles of workings. The 1864 beam-engine house held a Cornish pumping engine by Neilson & Company of Glasgow, pumping five tons of water a minute until an electric pump replaced it in 1932. A branch railway carried the coal to the Alloa docks for shipping.

Closure

The colliery closed in 1960 and the site was razed. Only the beam engine house was left standing.

What remains

The beam engine house survives at Fishcross, near the SSPCA wildlife centre — one of only two historic beam engine houses left in Scotland, listed and restored in 1993 and converted to office space. The beam and pump rod are all that remain of the Cornish engine itself. Nothing else of the colliery is left.

The 1864 Cornish beam engine house, with the beam and pump rod of its engine; everything else was razed.

Redevelopment

The beam engine house was restored in 1993 and converted to office space.

Nearby mines

• Alva Silver Mine (Silver Glen) — 1.7 km NW
• Solsgirth Colliery — 6.8 km E
• Polmaise Colliery — 8.2 km W, Stirling
• Bannockburn Colliery — 9.0 km SW, Stirling
• Bogside Colliery — 9.1 km SE, Fife

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Disasters & major incidents

• Devon Colliery inundation
  26 March 1897 · Flooding / Inundation · 6 fatalities
  Water that had gathered behind a dam in the Lower Five Feet seam burst through at about a quarter to six in the morning. Seven men were working at the level; six were drowned. The only survivor was found half conscious by the men coming on at six. The bodies were not recovered until the water had been pumped away, more than three weeks later.

Recorded claims

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

• A new coal mine owned by John Francis Miller Erskine and Robert Bald, and later by the Alloa Coal Company, was sunk opposite what is now Devon Village in the eighteenth century; coal was mined on the site for around three hundred years. ¹
• Bald and Erskine parted in 1835, Bald deploring the lack of regulation of women and child workers underground; his views had their effect when the employment of women and children in mines was outlawed in 1842. ¹
• The mine was mothballed between 1854 and 1879 and reopened on Andrew Roxburgh’s decision in 1873, well over its £10,000 budget: a 600 ft shaft, a pair of 24-inch winding engines with a twelve-foot drum and pulleys, and a thirty-foot fan moving 200,000 cubic feet a minute through three square miles of workings. ¹
• The beam-engine house was built in 1864 by Neilson & Company of Glasgow because of the wet nature of the pit; its Cornish pumping engine lifted water at five tons a minute and was superseded by electric pumping in 1932. It is one of only two surviving historic beam engine houses in Scotland. ^1,2
• The mine closed in 1960 and was razed to the ground; the beam engine house alone survived and was restored and converted to office space in 1993. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) A walk in the past: disaster at the Devon Colliery — Alloa Advertiser
2. (primary) Devon Colliery Beam Engine House — Clackmannanshire Council
3. (primary) Devon Colliery (Canmore 130814) — Historic Environment Scotland

Record created: 7 September 2026 · Last researched: 7 September 2026