Farme Colliery

Overview

Farme, on the Cunningar loop of the Clyde east of Rutherglen, was one of the oldest pits in Lanarkshire and it kept the oldest machinery. Three Newcomen atmospheric engines were still working there in 1879, seventy years after the first was installed. That engine survives: one of only three rotative Newcomen engines in the world and the only one left in Europe, it now stands in a replica engine house at Summerlee.

History

The Farme estate became the property of James Farie in 1800, and the family worked the coal under it and the ground around, building cottages for the men at the Old and New Farme pits. The colliery was established in the early years of the 1800s. The coal seams followed the course of the Clyde and the pithead was put on the nearest high ground, at the neck of the Cunningar loop. Its first engine, built in 1809 or 1810 depending on the account, was a Newcomen atmospheric engine — the type that predates Watt's separate condenser by half a century, filling its cylinder with steam and then condensing it with a jet of water so that atmospheric pressure drove the piston down. What makes the Farme engine extraordinary is that it was rotative: it turned a wheel rather than simply working a pump rod up and down. It was a winding engine, and is also said to have pumped water from the mine. Although an engine house was built around it, the engine itself stood free on a four-legged iron frame, so that it could be moved — a sensible precaution when coal mining was speculative and engines were expensive. There were no fewer than three Newcomen engines at the colliery, all three still working in 1879, when Engineering magazine wrote them up and The Engineer called the winding engine the most remarkable old steam engine in existence. The Mines Inspectors' returns show the colliery under James Fairrie, then the Farme Coal Co. Ltd and the Farme Coal Co. (1915) Ltd, sending out gas, household and manufacturing coal from the Ell, Humph, Main, Splint, Upper, Virgin and Kiltongue seams. It employed 228 in 1894, 222 in 1900, 319 in 1905, 298 in 1910 and 300 in 1915, then nearly doubled to 592 in 1920 and 568 in 1923. Old Farme Colliery closed on 17 July 1931, one of the oldest pits then working in Lanarkshire. Its 1810 engine had been taken to the Glasgow Transport Museum in 1915 after 110 years' work. It belongs to Glasgow Museums still, but has been at Summerlee since 1987, partially rebuilt in a replica engine house as the star of the coal mine exhibit.

Geology

Farme worked the Lanarkshire coal measures on the south bank of the Clyde, where the seams closely followed the course of the river. The returns name the Ell, Humph, Main, Splint, Upper and Virgin seams, with the Kiltongue added by 1920.

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

Workings

Old and New Farme pits, the pithead placed on the nearest high ground to the seams at the neck of the Cunningar loop. An undated photograph looking west along Downiebrae Road shows the old colliery with its boiler house chimney and two pithead frames, the left-hand one served by the 1810 Newcomen engine, and beyond the chimney the twin rows of workers' housing that survived into the 1960s. A second winding engine, working in the opposite direction, stood in a brick engine house behind the flywheel. Shaft depths have not been found in the sources read for this record.

Closure

Old Farme Colliery closed on 17 July 1931 and was one of the oldest pits then in operation in Lanarkshire.

What remains

The colliery lies buried under industrial ground about 0.6 km south-west of Dalmarnock Bridge. Its 1810 engine is on display at Summerlee Museum in Coatbridge, where it has been since 1987.

Nothing above ground. The twin rows of workers' housing survived until the 1960s.

Related mines

• Earnock Colliery — Lanarkshire pits on the same coalfield, both worked on into the twentieth century.

Nearby mines

• Govan Colliery — 3.7 km W, Glasgow
• Bardykes Colliery — 5.3 km SE
• Cardowan Colliery — 7.5 km NE, North Lanarkshire
• Blantyre Colliery — 7.9 km SE
• Auchinraith Colliery — 8.8 km SE

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 Farme Colliery engine, built in 1809 or 1810, is a rotative Newcomen atmospheric engine, one of only three in the world and the only one remaining in Europe. It stood free on a four-legged iron frame inside its engine house so that it could be moved. It belongs to Glasgow Museums and has been at Summerlee since 1987. ¹
• There were three Newcomen engines at Farme, all still working in 1879 when Engineering magazine wrote an article about them. The Engineer of the same year called the winding engine 'in many respects the most remarkable old steam engine in existence'. ¹
• A Newcomen engine used at Farme for 110 years was removed to the Glasgow Transport Museum in 1915. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) The Mysteries of the Farme Colliery Engine — NorthLan Museums (Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life)
2. (secondary) Farme Cross: a short history — Rutherglen Heritage Society
3. (observational) Summerlee, Farme Colliery Newcomen engine — Wikimedia Commons, Chris Allen
4. (secondary) Farme Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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