Fergushill Colliery

Overview

Fergushill was not one pit but a numbered field of them, worked by Archibald Finnie and Sons on the ground between Kilwinning and Kilmarnock and returned in the Lists of Mines as far back as 1855. Under one name it employed 479 people in 1894 and 379 in 1910. After that the returns break into separate small pits — the No. 26, the No. 31, the Nos. 22 and 23, the Nos. 28 and 30 — none of them with more than about ninety people, working the Ell, Ladyha', Stone, Turf, Wee, Linnbed and Parrot coals between them. The numbering runs past thirty, which is the shape of a district worked pit by pit as each patch was exhausted.

History

Coal is returned at Fergushill as early as 1855. Archibald Finnie and Sons, a Kilmarnock firm, worked it through the period the Lists of Mines cover, raising steam coal in the 1890s and household and steam coal from 1905. Under a single Fergushill return the colliery employed 479 people in 1894, 429 in 1896, 353 in 1900, 349 in 1905 and 379 in 1910. From 1915 the entry breaks up, and what it breaks into says more about the district than any single figure could: the No. 26 with 48 people, the No. 31 with 25, the Nos. 22 and 23 with 86, and the Nos. 28 and 30 with 78. The pattern holds through 1920 and 1923, the four returns running between about 26 and 91 people each. The seams differ pit by pit — the No. 31 on the Stone coal alone, the No. 26 on the Ladyha', Turf and Wee, the Nos. 22 and 23 on the Five Quarter-Turf, Ladyha', Linnbed and Parrot by 1920 — which is what a numbered field looks like when each pit follows the seam that suits it and is abandoned when its patch runs out.

Geology

Fergushill worked the Ayrshire coalfield between Kilwinning and Kilmarnock, taking the Ell, Ladyha', Stone, Turf and Wee coals, with the Five Quarter-Turf, Linnbed and Parrot added at some pits by 1920. The Parrot is a cannel-type coal rich in oil and gas. Different pits in the field worked different seams at the same date, which is the mark of a shallow, much-faulted coalfield taken in patches rather than by a single deep winning.

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

Workings

A numbered series of small pits rather than one colliery, the numbers reaching at least thirty-one. From 1915 the Lists of Mines return them in groups — the No. 26, the No. 31, the Nos. 22 and 23, the Nos. 28 and 30 — each with its own seams and its own manager's return, none employing more than about ninety people.

Closure

No closure date has been found. The Lists of Mines return four separate Fergushill pits in 1923 — the No. 26, the No. 31, the Nos. 22 and 23, and the Nos. 28 and 30 — with 287 people between them. Which of the numbered pits lasted longest, and how long, is not settled by any source read here.

What remains

The Fergushill ground north-east of Kilwinning is farmland again, around Fergushill Hall and Fergushill Farm. Nothing identifiable of the numbered pits has been traced on the ground.

Nearby mines

• Doura Colliery — 1.9 km NE
• Bartonholm Colliery — 3.5 km SW
• Auchenharvie Colliery — 7.7 km W
• Annandale Colliery — 9.2 km SE, East Ayrshire
• Caprington Colliery — 11.6 km SE, East Ayrshire

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.

• Coal is returned at Fergushill in the Lists of Mines as early as 1855, under Archibald Finnie and Sons. ¹
• Under one Fergushill return the colliery employed 479 people in 1894, 353 in 1900 and 379 in 1910, raising steam coal and, from 1905, household coal as well. ¹
• From 1915 the Lists of Mines return Fergushill as separate numbered pits — the No. 26, the No. 31, the Nos. 22 and 23, and the Nos. 28 and 30 — none of them employing more than about ninety people. ¹
• The pits worked different seams at the same date: in 1920 the No. 31 was on the Stone coal alone, the No. 26 on the Ladyha', Turf and Wee, and the Nos. 22 and 23 on the Five Quarter-Turf, Ladyha', Linnbed and Parrot. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Fergushill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum, from the Lists of Mines
2. (observational) Morning mist clearing at Fergushill (photographed 2021) — Geograph Britain and Ireland, Alan Reid

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