Earlseat Colliery

Overview

Earlseat, on the Standing Stane Road north of West Wemyss, was five mines driven in a radial pattern out from a single central loading point — an unusual layout, and only four of the five ever worked gainfully. The Wemyss Coal Company began them in 1903, corrosive water wrecked the pumps, and they closed in 1927. The Coal Board drove a drift on the same ground in 1950 that lasted eight years.

History

The Wemyss Coal Company began developing the Earlseat Mines in early 1903, on ground north of the old Duncan Pit off the Standing Stane Road. There had been working here long before: the old shaft of the Tullybreck Maw, east of the mines, is thought to have been taking ironstone and coal in the 1830s. The five mines were laid out radially from a central loading point, but only four are recorded as working gainfully. They opened in May 1903 under the manager James Burgess, with nine men below ground and seven on the surface in 1904 raising household, manufacturing and steam coal. Growth was quick: 244 below ground by 1905, 550 by 1908, and 604 below with 69 on the surface by 1911, which the Fife Pits record calls a not inconsiderable workforce. The Mines Inspectors' returns give the colliery 745 in 1910, 628 in 1915 and 602 in 1920, working the Dysart Main and, from 1915, the Lower Dysart. Water finished them. The mine pumps were seriously damaged by pumping water with a highly corrosive content, and the Earlseat Mines Nos. 1 to 5 had closed by September 1927. Opencast working was started west of Earlseat during the Second World War, the Ministry of Fuel and Power arranging a railway extension in 1944 to serve it. After nationalisation the Coal Board drove a drift mine on the site in 1950; it returned 117 people in 1954, working the Lower Dysart for steam coal, and closed in December 1958. Opencasting went on until 1961 and restarted around 2002, with a rail loading pad to the north that did not open until 2012 and stayed open only briefly.

Geology

Earlseat worked the Fife coalfield through the Dysart Main and, from 1915, the Lower Dysart. The old Tullybreck Maw shaft east of the mines is thought to have worked ironstone as well as coal in the 1830s. The water in these workings was highly corrosive, enough to wreck the pumps that had to lift it.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

Five mines driven radially out from a central loading point, of which only four are recorded as working gainfully. A branch of the Wemyss Private Railway served the site. The Coal Board's later working was a single drift on the same ground.

Closure

The Nos. 1 to 5 mines closed in September 1927 after the pumps were seriously damaged by corrosive water. The Coal Board drift that replaced them from 1950 closed in December 1958.

What remains

Opencast working has passed over the ground twice, from the 1940s to 1961 and again from about 2002 to recent years. No account of the site as it stands today has been found in the sources read for this record.

Related mines

• Michael Colliery — Both Wemyss Coal Company pits in east Fife, served by the same private railway.
• Wellesley Colliery — Both Wemyss Coal Company pits in east Fife.

Nearby mines

• Balgonie Colliery — 2.1 km NW
• Michael Colliery — 2.2 km SE
• Randolph Colliery — 2.5 km SW
• Rothes Colliery — 3.5 km NW
• Pirnie Colliery — 4.1 km NE

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

Recorded claims

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

• The five Earlseat mines were arranged in a distinctive radial pattern out from a central loading point, and only four are recorded as working gainfully. ¹
• The mine pumps were seriously damaged as a consequence of pumping waters with a highly corrosive content, and the Nos. 1 to 5 mines had closed by late 1927. ¹
• Fife Pits gives the mines as opened in May 1903 and closed in September 1927, and the later drift as opened in 1950 and closed in December 1958. ^1,2

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Earlseat Mines Nos. 1-5, West Wemyss — Fife Pits (Colin Martin and Chris Sparling)
2. (secondary) Earlseat Colliery — RAILSCOT
3. (secondary) Earlseat Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026