Ellismuir Colliery

Overview

A Baillieston colliery worked from the 1850s, whose Nos. 1 and 2 pits employed over a thousand men between them by 1910 under United Collieries; its last workings were abandoned with Bredisholm and Calderbank in 1931-33.

History

Ellismuir Colliery lay at Baillieston, on the eastern edge of Glasgow. It was being worked in the 1850s by John Watson, and the 1860 list of collieries records Ellismuir, Baillieston, under him. The Glasgow Iron Company followed in the 1860s and the Provanhall Coal Company in the 1870s; in 1893 Ellismuir belonged to the Glasgow Iron and Steel Company of St Vincent Street, with Dundas Simpson as manager, and it later passed to United Collieries Limited.

By the 1890s the colliery had at least three pits. No. 1 worked the Lower Main and No. 2 the Upper Main; in 1910 No. 1 employed 541 men and No. 2 487, raising manufacturing and household coal, while the main Ellismuir workings, with 420 men, raised gas, household and steam coal from the Kiltongue, Lower Drumgray, Pyotshaw and Virgin seams. Fireclay was raised at both numbered pits by 1915. In 1885 two sinkers, Nicholas Morris and Michael O'Keefe, were killed when ground came away while they were ripping and widening the shaft and carried off their scaffold. Charles Hennan, a miner of 21, was killed at No. 3 Pit in 1899 by a fall on a dook he was repairing without the props the overman had ordered, and in 1902 Thomas Love was killed when a spark from the lamp illegally on his cap fired the compressed gunpowder he was taking out of his canister.

Ellismuir still had 402 men in 1923. Its last workings were abandoned together with those of Bredisholm and Calderbank: the Main and Pyotshaw and Upper Drumgray in 1931, the Ell in 1932 and the Splint and Virgin in 1933.

Geology

The colliery worked the Upper and Lower Main, Little, Kiltongue, Lower Drumgray, Pyotshaw, Virgin and Ell seams of the Lanarkshire coalfield, with fireclay.

Workings

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 pits besides the main workings; 432 of No. 1 pit's 541 men worked underground in 1910.

Closure

Abandoned with Bredisholm and Calderbank, the joint plans dated 1931 to 1933.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bredisholm Colliery — Neighbouring Baillieston collieries whose last workings were abandoned together; the Bredisholm record mentions the Ellismuir pits.
• Calderbank Colliery — Collieries whose last workings share abandonment plans with Bredisholm (1931-33).
• Clydeside Colliery — United Collieries pits at Baillieston and Uddingston whose Ell workings share a 1932 abandonment plan.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1860 Ellismuir colliery at Baillieston was listed under John Watson. ^1,2
• In 1893 Ellismuir belonged to the Glasgow Iron and Steel Company, with Dundas Simpson as manager. ³
• In 1910 Ellismuir No. 1 pit employed 541 men and No. 2 pit 487. ²
• Charles Hennan, a miner of 21, was killed by a fall of roof on a dook at Ellismuir No. 3 Pit in February 1899. ^4,2
• The Bredisholm, Ellismuir and Calderbank Main and Pyotshaw workings were abandoned in 1931, and their Splint and Virgin in 1933. ^5,6

Sources

1. (secondary) List of Collieries In Scotland 1860 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) Ellismuir Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
4. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website - 1899 Deaths — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21944460: Bredisholm, Ellismuir and Calderbank, Main and Pyotshaw, abandoned 1931 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21944451: Bredisholm, Ellismuir and Calderbank, Splint and Virgin, abandoned 1933 — British Geological Survey

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