Gardrum Colliery

Overview

Gardrum Colliery lay on the moorland south of Falkirk, near Shieldhill, and was worked for more than sixty years from at least 1854 until 1920. Its numbered pits were part of Russell & Co.'s Redding collieries in the 1850s and 1860s, and in the 20th century it was one of the Carron Company's main sources of coal for the Carron ironworks, employing more than 250 men in 1910.

History

The 1854 list of Scottish collieries enters Gardrum, Falkirk, under the Trustees of John Wilson. By the later 1850s its numbered pits were worked by Messrs Russell & Co. as part of their Redding collieries, and the Falkirk Herald's accident reports give a picture of the dangers: in February 1856 Richard Gibb, a signalman at No. 2 pit, died after being crushed between the cage and the shaft wall; in January 1859 George Brown was badly injured by a roof fall in the same pit; and in 1861 William M'Kenzie was killed by a falling stone at a facing in No. 4 pit and the roadman Gilbert Stewart died after coal fell on him in No. 2 pit, leaving a widow and seven children. The 1866 list still names Russell & Co. as owners. The colliery later passed to the Carron Company, and in the 20th century Gardrum, with Shieldhill, Jaw and Craigend, was one of the main suppliers of coal to the Carron works. In 1910 it employed 259 (203 underground, 56 on the surface), raising household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Splint seam; by 1915 the workforce was 183 and ironstone was also returned. Two men are named as killed in these years: Michael McLackie, aged 25, crushed by a roof fall while holing his coal in October 1909, and the brakesman Mangus Smith, 25, who fell from the buffer of a moving wagon in March 1914. By 1920 only 99 were employed, and the colliery was abandoned on 18 September 1920, its plan sent to the Home Office that November.

Geology

The Lists of Mines record the Splint seam in 1910, 1915 and 1920; ironstone was also returned in 1915.

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

Workings

Several numbered shafts: the 1850s and 1860s reports name No. 2 and No. 4 pits, wound by cage, with hutches (tubs) run to the shaft bottom. In the 20th century the colliery raised household, manufacturing and steam coal for the Carron Company, moved by wagon train.

Closure

Abandoned on 18 September 1920 with 99 employed, the plan being sent to the Home Office on 9 November 1920. No reason is given in the sources read.

What remains

No description of the colliery site today has been found.

No account of surviving remains has been located.

Related mines

• Craigend Colliery, Maddiston — Both Carron Company collieries, named together among the main 20th-century suppliers to the Carron works.

Nearby mines

• South Bantaskine Colliery — 3.7 km N
• Craigend Colliery, Maddiston — 4.9 km E
• Redding Colliery — 6.2 km NE
• Carronhall Colliery — 8.0 km N
• Bathville Colliery — 9.2 km SE, West Lothian

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 1854 colliery list enters Gardrum, Falkirk, under the Trustees of John Wilson. ^1,2
• Gardrum's No. 2 and No. 4 pits belonged to Messrs Russell & Co.'s Redding collieries in 1856-61; the 1866 list names Russell and Co. ^3,4
• Richard Gibb (1856), William M'Kenzie and Gilbert Stewart (both 1861) were killed in Gardrum pits. ⁴
• In the 20th century Gardrum was among the main coal suppliers to the Carron Company's works, with Shieldhill, Jaw and Craigend. ^5,1
• The colliery employed 259 in 1910, 183 in 1915 and 99 in 1920, working the Splint seam. ¹
• Gardrum was abandoned on 18 September 1920. ^1,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum - Gardrum Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) List of Collieries in Scotland 1854 — Scottish Mining Website (transcription of the 1854 Mineral Statistics list)
3. (primary) List of Collieries in Scotland 1866 — Scottish Mining Website (transcription of the 1866 Mineral Statistics list)
4. (secondary) Accidents 1855-1870 (Stirlingshire) — Scottish Mining Website (Falkirk Herald reports)
5. (secondary) The Carron Collieries, extracted from Brian Watters, Where Iron Runs Like Water! A New History of Carron Iron Works 1759-1982 — Tom Paterson Genealogy
6. (secondary) Gardrum - Buddlepit Mine Database — Buddlepit Mine Database (from NMRS data)

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 13 September 2026