Foxley Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Tollcross, on the eastern edge of Glasgow, whose No. 3 pit was served by a mineral line from Carmyle station. John Dunn and Stephen Ltd worked it in the 1900s-1920s with power-driven coal-cutting machines. Its last seams were abandoned in 1925.

History

Foxley Colliery lay at Tollcross, east of Glasgow, north of Carmyle. Its No. 3 pit was reached by a mineral line that ran north from the goods yard of the original Carmyle station, opened in 1866; No. 2 pit worked the Virgin and Splint coals. The Splint and Virgin workings were abandoned in 1898, the Kiltongue in 1901 and the Armadale Main in 1904.

In the twentieth century the colliery belonged to John Dunn and Stephen Ltd. Its recorded deaths show a mechanised pit. In 1908 a waggon shifter moving waggons with a clip clamped to the haulage rope fell and was caught by a wheel. In November 1916 a coal machineman signalled for the power to be switched on and the machine turned round instead of going forward, catching him; he died soon after being brought to the pithead. A man was caught in a haulage wheel in 1918, and in 1922 a brusher went back to a shot he thought had fired, and was fatally injured when it went off. A further death is recorded in 1923.

The colliery's Upper and Lower Drumgray and Ball coals were abandoned in 1925.

Geology

The Splint, Virgin, Kiltongue, Armadale Main, Upper and Lower Drumgray and Ball coals.

Workings

Nos. 2 and 3 pits, rope haulage and power-driven coal-cutting machines; a mineral line from Carmyle goods yard served No. 3 pit.

Closure

Its Splint and Virgin workings were abandoned in 1898, the Kiltongue in 1901, the Armadale Main in 1904, and the Upper and Lower Drumgray and Ball coals in 1925.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Foxley Colliery, Tollcross, belonged to John Dunn and Stephen Ltd in 1908-1923. ^1,2,3
• A mineral line ran north from Carmyle goods yard to Foxley Colliery Pit No. 3. ⁴
• In November 1916 a coal-cutting machine turned round when the power was switched on and fatally injured its machineman. ^5,2
• In 1922 a brusher was fatally injured by a shot that had hung fire. ³
• Foxley's Splint and Virgin workings were abandoned in 1898. ⁶
• Its Upper Drumgray and other seams were abandoned in 1925. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Foxley, 1908 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Foxley, 1916 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Foxley, 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) RailScot: Carmyle — RailScot
5. (secondary) Accidents 1915-1925 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Foxley, Splint, abandoned 1898 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Foxley, Upper Drumgray, abandoned 1925 — British Geological Survey
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Foxley No.2, Virgin and Splint — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Foxley, Armadale Main, abandoned 1904 — British Geological Survey
10. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Foxley, 1918 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 15 October 2026 · Last researched: 15 October 2026