Dollar Mine

Overview

The Alloa Coal Company's surface mine at West Pitgober, just east of Dollar, begun in 1942 and producing from 1943. The Coal Board drove new mines from 1956, set a national record for a single-face colliery in 1962 and supplied Kincardine Power Station until the mine closed in May 1973.

History

Coal had been worked at Pitgober, just outside Dollar, some 150 years before; those workings were abandoned in 1832. At the end of 1942 the Alloa Coal Company began a new mine at West Pitgober, on the Perthshire side of the burgh boundary, and the first sod was cut by its chairman, Colonel Harold Mitchell. Production began in 1943 from three surface mines, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, driven at 1 in 9 and served by a branch from the Devon Valley Railway east of Dollar station. In 1948, under the National Coal Board, the mine had 89 employees and raised 180 tons a day, 45,000 tons a year, from the Coalsnaughton Main; it had a first-aid room but no baths or canteen, its dross went to Devon Colliery for washing and its electricity came from there.

Nos. 1 to 3 closed in 1954, and plans of their Coalsnaughton Main and Alloa Splint workings are dated 1955. The Coal Board then drove Nos. 4 and 5 from 1956, and production began again in December 1960; within little more than a year output rose from 180 to 1,710 tons. From 1958 the mine's coal went by rail to Kincardine Power Station. In 1962 it broke the national record for a single-face colliery, averaging over 9,000 tons a week for four weeks at 5 tons 7 cwt a man-shift, and the manager, George McAlpine, raised the Coal Board flag at the mine head. Two miners were killed by a fall of coal from the roof in January 1961. By the early 1970s the workings had met burnt coal, water and gas, and the mine closed in May 1973; the Dollar railway, kept open for its coal, closed soon afterwards.

Geology

Clackmannan coalfield: the Coalsnaughton Main, Alloa Splint and Cherry seams.

Workings

Three surface mines at 1 in 9 (Nos. 1 to 3, 1943-1954), and Nos. 4 and 5 driven by the National Coal Board from 1956; a rail branch from the Devon Valley Railway.

Closure

Nos. 1 to 3 closed in 1954; Nos. 4 and 5 worked from December 1960 until the mine closed in May 1973 after meeting burnt coal, water and gas.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Devon Colliery — Alloa Coal Company pits; Devon Colliery washed Dollar's dross and supplied its electricity.

Recorded claims

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

• The Alloa Coal Company began the mine at West Pitgober, Dollar, at the end of 1942, and production began in 1943. ^1,2
• In 1948 Dollar Mine had 89 employees and raised 180 tons a day, 45,000 tons a year, from three surface mines at 1 in 9. ^3,2
• The National Coal Board drove Mines Nos. 4 and 5 from 1956, entering production in 1960. ^3,2
• In 1962 Dollar broke the national record for a single-face colliery, averaging over 9,000 tons a week for four weeks. ²
• From 1958 the mine supplied coal to Kincardine Power Station by rail. ^3,4
• Dollar Mine closed in May 1973. ^5,2,4
• The mine employed 142 people in 1954, working the Cherry, Coalsnaughton Main and Splint seams. ⁶
• Plans of Dollar's Coalsnaughton Main and Alloa Splint workings were closed in 1955. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) One Hundred Years in Coal: The History of the Alloa Coal Company (John L. Carvel, 1944) — Clackmannanshire.scot
2. (secondary) A Walk in the Past: History of Dollar Mine — Alloa Advertiser
3. (secondary) Dollar Mine (NRHE 48242) — Historic Environment Scotland (trove.scot, formerly Canmore)
4. (secondary) Dollar Mine — RAILSCOT
5. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Scotland (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) Dollar Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
7. (primary) BGS mine plan: Dollar, Coalsnaughton Main, abandoned 1955 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026