East Roughrigg Colliery

Overview

Robert Forrester's colliery at Blackbraes in Muiravonside parish, a group of numbered pits raising export and bunkering coal and ironstone, employing up to about 400 men around 1920 and standing idle by 1933.

History

East Roughrigg Colliery lay at Blackbraes, in Muiravonside parish, one of the Roughrigg collieries of the Forrester family. Robert Forrester was proprietor of the Roughrigg Collieries, and his son, also Robert, a nephew of James Merry, member of Parliament for Falkirk Burghs, became senior partner of Robert Forrester and Company, Limited, coalmasters of Glasgow, whose collieries at Roughrigg, Whitburn and Cardenden employed some 1,100 men. The firm's coal was largely sold for bunkering steamers and shipped abroad from Bo'ness, Grangemouth, Burntisland, Methil, Leith, Glasgow and Ardrossan. Abandonment plans of Roughrigg East workings go back to 1887, and in 1893 East Roughrigg was listed under Robert Forrester with James Mackay as manager.

The colliery raised gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Ball, Coxrod, Main and Splint seams, and later the Mill and Mid coals and ironstone. Employment grew from 190 in 1894 to 338 in 1910; by 1915 the pits were numbered at least to eight, and in 1920 Nos. 1, 2 and 6 alone employed 398 men, with No. 8 in the Coxrod and No. 9 working the Ball coal and ironstone. Some of its men lived at Crosscrows Rows, and a 1922 newspaper report called its No. 6 pit Crosscroes colliery. In 1908 a fireman going to a steam pump in old workings fell into the shaft as he stepped off the cage; in November 1922 a brusher preparing a shot set off his whole tin of 5 lb of gelignite, some of it frozen, and was killed; and in April 1927 a stair in a communication shaft gave way under two men repairing it, sending both down the shaft.

Plans of further abandoned workings are dated 1913, 1921, 1925, 1928, 1929 and 1931, and in 1933 Nos. 1, 2, 6 and 10 were listed as temporarily closed, with no men employed.

Geology

The Ball, Coxrod, Main, Splint, Mill and Mid coals, with ironstone.

Workings

A group of numbered pits, at least Nos. 1 to 3 and 6 to 10, with longwall faces, a communication shaft fitted with a stair, and steam pumps in old workings.

Closure

Nos. 1, 2, 6 and 10 were listed as temporarily closed in 1933; the latest dated abandonment plan is of 1931.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Blackston Colliery — Neighbouring pits east of Avonbridge.
• Whitrigg Colliery — Both collieries of Robert Forrester and Co., Ltd.

Recorded claims

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

• East Roughrigg Colliery belonged to Robert Forrester and then Robert Forrester and Co., Ltd. ^1,2
• Robert Forrester's father was proprietor of the Roughrigg Collieries; the firm's collieries at Roughrigg, Whitburn and Cardenden employed some 1,100 men and much of its coal went for bunkering steamers. ³
• In 1893 East Roughrigg Colliery, Blackbraes, Polmont, was listed under Robert Forrester with James Mackay as manager. ⁴
• East Roughrigg employed 338 men in 1910, and in 1920 its Nos. 1, 2 and 6 pits employed 398. ¹
• A 1922 newspaper report placed the death of James Sneddon in No. 6 Pit, Crosscroes colliery, Muiravonside, which the mining records give as East Roughrigg No. 6 Pit. ⁵
• In April 1927 two men repairing a stair in a communication shaft at East Roughrigg fell down the shaft when it gave way. ⁶
• Abandonment plans of Roughrigg East workings are dated from 1887 to 1931. ^7,8
• In 1933 East Roughrigg Nos. 1, 2, 6 and 10 were temporarily closed. ¹

Sources

1. (primary) East Roughrigg Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: John Parson, East Roughrigg, 1908 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
3. (secondary) R. Forrester & Co. Ltd — Scottish Shale (scottishshale.co.uk)
4. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: James Sneddon, East Roughrigg No. 6 Pit, 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
6. (secondary) NMRS mining accidents: Christopher Stewart, East Roughrigg, 1927 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21903931: Roughrigg East, abandoned 1887 — British Geological Survey
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21941918: Roughrigg East, abandoned 1931 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026