Enterkine Colliery

Overview

The Ayr Colliery at Annbank, Ayrshire: George Taylor and Co.'s pits, the Drumley and the Enterkine Nos. 9 and 10, worked from 1878 and later by Bairds until November 1959. Its two shafts were 219 metres deep, and it employed over 900 men in 1910.

History

The Ayr Colliery of George Taylor and Co. lay at Annbank, in the parish of Tarbolton. Its Enterkine Nos. 9 and 10 shafts, both 219 metres deep, date from 1878, and the Drumley Pit, No. 1, stood close to Annbank Station. The colliery raised household and manufacturing coal and fireclay, which supplied the nearby Annbank brickworks, and it was a big concern: 832 people in 1894 and 932 in 1910, in the Diamond, Ell and Hurd seams. An explosion in the Drumley Pit on 9 September 1898 killed seven (see Disasters, below).

William Baird and Co. bought the colliery in 1916, and from 1931 it belonged to Bairds and Dalmellington. Enterkine was then the main pit, working the Ayr Hard, Ell, Diamond, Jewel and Crawfordstone, with Drumley kept as its upcast and escape shaft. In December 1930 a gas explosion in No. 9 killed three (see Disasters, below). At nationalisation in 1947 Nos. 9 and 10 employed 653 and raised 198,000 tons; in 1948, with 677 employees, they produced 695 tons a day by stoop and room and longwall working, with a Baum washer, baths and a canteen. A No. 12 was added by 1954, when 409 worked there. The colliery closed in November 1959 and was abandoned in 1960.

Geology

Ayrshire coalfield: the Ayr Hard, Diamond, Ell, Hurd, Jewel, Crawfordstone and Major seams, with fireclay.

Workings

Shafts Nos. 9 and 10 (219 m) at Enterkine, the Drumley Pit (No. 1) as upcast and escape shaft, and No. 12 by 1954; stoop and room and longwall working; three screens and a Baum-type washer.

Closure

Closed in November 1959 and abandoned in 1960, when plans of the Ayr Hard, Ell, Diamond, Jewel and Major workings were lodged.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Auchincruive Colliery — Neighbouring Annbank-district collieries of George Taylor and Co., both sold to William Baird and Co. in 1916.

Disasters & major incidents

• Drumley Pit explosion, 1898
  9 September 1898 · Explosion · 7 fatalities
  On the afternoon of 9 September 1898 an outburst of firedamp in the Diamond seam of the Drumley Pit, near Annbank in Ayrshire, was fired at the fireman's naked light. Of fourteen men and boys at the face, seven died, three in the pit and four of their burns in Ayr County Hospital; two of the dead were boys of twelve and thirteen.
• Enterkine Colliery explosion, 1930
  11 December 1930 · Explosion · 3 fatalities
  Shortly after the day shift began on 11 December 1930, an explosion in the Ell coal section of No. 9 Pit at Enterkine Colliery, Annbank, burned six men. Andrew McNeillie, John Gourlay and James Reddick died in Ayr County Hospital over the next eight days.

Recorded claims

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

• Enterkine Nos. 9 and 10, also known as Ayr, were two shafts 219 m deep from 1878, with the Drumley Pit as ventilation upcast and escape. ¹
• The colliery passed from George Taylor and Co. to William Baird and Co. in 1916 and to Bairds and Dalmellington in 1931. ^1,2
• The Ayr Colliery employed 832 people in 1894 and 932 in 1910; Nos. 9 and 10 employed 653 in 1947. ²
• In 1948 it produced 695 tons a day, 172,750 tons a year, with 677 employees, and supplied the Annbank brickworks with fireclay. ¹
• Enterkine Nos. 10 and 12, Annbank, are dated 1878 to November 1959. ³
• The Ayr Hard workings of Enterkine and Ayr Nos. 1 and 2 (Drumley) were abandoned in 1960. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Enterkine 9 And 10 Colliery (NRHE 130653) — Historic Environment Scotland (trove.scot, formerly Canmore)
2. (primary) Ayr Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Scotland (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Enterkine & Ayr Nos 1 & 2 (Drumley), Ayr Hard, abandoned 1960 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (secondary) Annbank 1930 — Scottish Mining Website
6. (secondary) Drumley Pit 1898 — Scottish Mining Website

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