Garscube Colliery

Overview

A Glasgow-area colliery at Gilshochill, Maryhill, sunk by the Summerlee Iron Company around 1850 and worked, through several changes of ownership, until 1966 -- its two deep shafts now buried beneath parkland with no trace remaining above ground.

History

Garscube Colliery was sunk from around 1850 by the Summerlee Iron Company, which held it until 1897. After a period of closure the mine was reopened in 1916 by Messrs Dron & Company, who worked it until 1921, after which it passed to the Garscube Coal Company Limited. The colliery was nationalised into the National Coal Board in 1947 and continued in production until its closure in 1966, with formal abandonment following in 1967. Two shafts served the mine as downcast and upcast ventilation workings, reaching roughly 116 metres and 110 metres respectively, alongside a surface mine working splint coal; peak recorded workforce was 311 men in 1963, against an average of 203. An incomplete abandonment plan of the Nos 2 and 3 pits, with pencilled notes, survives in the British Geological Survey's collection.

Geology

Coal of the Lanarkshire field; the seams worked are not recorded.

Workings

Two shafts, roughly 116 and 110 metres deep, serving as downcast and upcast ventilation workings for the underground mine, alongside a separate surface mine extracting splint coal.

Closure

Closed in 1966 and formally abandoned the following year.

What remains

The site now lies buried beneath parkland beyond Cadder Road, with no surface structures surviving.

None; the site is now parkland.

Disasters & major incidents

• Garscube Colliery accident, 1853
  13 December 1853 · Gas / Asphyxiation · 5 fatalities
  On 13 December 1853 five men working near the shaft bottom at Garscube Colliery, Glasgow, were killed, by an explosion of firedamp in one account and in another by smoke from an underground engine driven into the workings when the air reversed.

Recorded claims

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

• The Summerlee Iron Company sank and held Garscube Colliery until 1897; it was reopened in 1916 by Dron & Company until 1921, then worked by the Garscube Coal Company Limited until nationalisation in 1947. ¹
• The colliery was served by two shafts of roughly 116 and 110 metres, plus a surface mine for splint coal, with a peak recorded workforce of 311 men in 1963. ¹
• An abandonment plan of Garscube Nos 2 and 3, showing pits Nos 1, 2 and 3 with the outline of the workings and some roadways but no levels, deposited with the Health and Safety Executive and now held by the British Geological Survey (AP14664), can be viewed online. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Garscube Colliery — Scottish Cave and Mine Database — Grampian Speleological Group / Scottish Cave and Mine Database
2. (primary) GARSCUBE COLLIERY (AP – Official Scottish non-coal abandonment mine and quarry AP14664, BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
3. (secondary) Bairds and Scottish Steel — Graces Guide

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026