Douglas Park Colliery

Overview

A Bellshill colliery owned by the Glasgow coalmaster John Wilson and then the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company, working gas, household and steam coal with about 300 men from the 1880s until its workings were abandoned in 1929.

History

Douglas Park Colliery lay near Bellshill, in Bothwell parish, where miners lodged at the Douglas Park Rows. It belonged first to John Wilson, coalmaster, of 69 Great Clyde Street, Glasgow, and later to the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company. Its earliest recorded death is of a screenman run over by a waggon in 1883, and in 1887 a young collier was killed at the face in stoop-and-room workings. In 1893 the colliery was listed under John Wilson with Henry Telfer as manager.

Douglas Park raised gas, household and steam coal. It employed 298 men in 1894, 261 of them underground, and between 254 and 311 until 1920, working the Ell, Main, Pyotshaw and Splint seams and by 1920 the Blackband coal as well. Most of its recorded deaths were falls of roof or coal, several of them in pillar working: in June 1901 an eighteen-year-old lodger at Douglas Park Rows was killed by a five-hundredweight stone in the main coal of No. 1 Pit; in 1916 a seventeen-year-old miner died after a burst of coal nearly severed his leg; and in December 1919 James Wales was killed by a fall in the Blackband seam. In 1912 an elderly wheel oiler was crushed when he tried to cross the shaft bottom by the cage seat as the cage came down.

The colliery still employed 228 men in 1923. Its abandonment plans are dated 1921 and 1929.

Geology

The Lanarkshire coalfield: the Ell, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Blackband coals.

Workings

A No. 1 Pit among others, worked largely by stoop and room, with screens served by waggons and a shaft bottom crossed by a separate travelling road.

Closure

Abandonment plans are dated 1921 and 1929.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bothwell Park Colliery — Neighbouring collieries between Bothwell and Bellshill.
• Hamilton Palace Colliery — Neighbouring Bothwell-parish collieries under different owners.

Recorded claims

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

• Douglas Park Colliery was owned by John Wilson and later the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company Ltd. ^1,2
• In 1893 Douglas Park was listed under John Wilson, 69 Great Clyde Street, Glasgow, with Henry Telfer as manager. ³
• Douglas Park employed 298 men in 1894 (261 below ground) and 228 in 1923. ¹
• On 6 August 1887 a collier of 20 was killed by a fall of roof at the face in stoop-and-room workings at Douglas Park. ^1,4
• In June 1901 James Dickson, 18, who lodged at Douglas Park Rows, was killed by a stone of 5 cwt in the main coal of No. 1 Douglas Park Colliery. ^1,2
• On 9 December 1919 James Wales was killed by a fall from the roof in the Blackband seam at Douglas Park Colliery. ⁵
• Abandonment plans of Douglas Park are dated 1921 and 1929. ⁶

Sources

1. (primary) Douglas Park Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: James Dickson, Douglas Park No. 1 Pit, 1901 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
3. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
4. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: fatal accidents 1887 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: James Wales, Douglas Park, 1919 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21902926: Douglas Park, abandoned 1929 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026