Garriongill Colliery

Overview

The Coltness Iron Company's colliery at Garriongill, by Overtown south of Wishaw, with numbered pits from No. 1 to No. 12 between the 1870s and the 1930s. In 1874 the company's general underground manager was burned with two others by firedamp in No. 7 pit. Its last seams were abandoned in 1932.

History

Garriongill Colliery lay at Garriongill, by Overtown, south of Wishaw, and belonged throughout to the Coltness Iron Company. Its pits were numbered: Nos. 1, 2, 5, 7 and 9 appear in the 1870s, and No. 12 by 1912. Its men lived at Overtown, Waterloo and Wishaw.

The local papers of the 1870s record the dangers of the Coltness pits. In 1871 a miner was hurt by hard coal falling from the roof in No. 2 pit; in 1874 a fourteen-year-old pony driver's leg was broken by a hutch in No. 5, a collier was burned by a pound of gunpowder, and in October the company's general underground manager, a district manager and a fireman, examining No. 7 pit with only common lamps, met firedamp and were badly burned. In 1877 a young man on his first day driving a donkey in No. 9 pit was killed when he tried to hold back a train of hutches on an incline without a sprag; another driver was injured the same way that May. A miner was killed by a fall of coal in No. 9 in 1885.

The Splint was abandoned in 1883 and the Main in 1886; the Ell and Virtuewell in 1889; the Splint and Main in 1895. Later deaths include the oversman in a firedamp explosion in 1903, bottomers crushed by cages in 1903 and 1912, and a 63-year-old miner killed in 1913 by a mass of brushing, perhaps fifteen tons, that fell without warning at the top of a heading in No. 12 pit. The Virtuewell, Ell, Kiltongue and Upper, Mid and Lower Drumgray workings were abandoned in 1932.

Geology

The Splint, Main, Ell, Virtuewell, Kiltongue and Upper, Mid and Lower Drumgray coals; firedamp in No. 7 pit.

Workings

Numbered pits from No. 1 to No. 12, with donkey and pony haulage on inclines in the 1870s and longwall headings by 1913.

Closure

Its last workings, in the Virtuewell, Ell, Kiltongue and Drumgray seams, were abandoned in 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Overtown Colliery — Both were Coltness Iron Company collieries at Overtown, south of Wishaw; the sources read do not say whether their pits were ever counted together.

Recorded claims

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

• Garriongill Colliery belonged to the Coltness Iron Company. ^1,2,3
• In October 1874 the Coltness Iron Company's general underground manager, a district manager and a fireman were burned by firedamp in No. 7 Garriongill pit. ¹
• In 1877 a donkey driver was killed in No. 9 pit trying to hold back a train of hutches on an incline. ¹
• In 1913 a mass of brushing of perhaps fifteen tons fell without warning in No. 12 pit, killing a 63-year-old miner. ³
• Garriongill's Splint workings were abandoned in 1883. ⁴
• Its Lower Drumgray and other seams were abandoned in 1932. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Cambusnethan area accidents 1861-1880 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Garriongill, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Garriongill, No.12 Pit, 1913 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Garriongill, Splint, abandoned 1883 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Garriongill, Lower Drumgray, abandoned 1932 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Garriongill, Splint and Main, abandoned 1895 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Garriongill, 1932 — Northern Mine Research Society
8. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Garriongill, No.12 Pit, 1912 — Northern Mine Research Society
9. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Cambusnethan area accidents 1881 onwards — Scottish Mining Website

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