Gartshore Colliery

Overview

A complex of numbered pits sunk by William Baird & Co. from around 1860 near Twechar, whose century-long mining history ended in 1968 when its last shaft, Gartshore 9/11, finally closed.

History

William Baird & Co. began sinking pits at Twechar and Gartshore, four miles east of Kirkintilloch, from around 1860, creating a close-knit mining community where none had existed before; a row of workers' houses was built on the south bank of the Forth and Clyde Canal, just east of Twechar Bridge. The complex grew over the following decades into a set of numbered pits worked at different periods — Gartshore 9/11 was originally sunk in 1873 for ironstone before being worked for coal from 1893, and a new shaft, Gartshore No. 12, was under construction as late as 1923. The Twechar No. 1 shaft reached 335 metres, and Gartshore No. 10 reached 326 metres. On 28 July 1923, an explosion at No. 3 Gartshore Pit killed eight men working on the construction of a water lodgment at the bottom of a new shaft (see Disasters, below). Baird & Co. later became Bairds & Scottish Steel Ltd, continuing to operate the complex until nationalisation. Gartshore 9/11, the very last colliery working in the area, finally closed in 1968, ending just over a century of coal mining at Twechar begun by the Bairds in the 1860s; some of the area's miners went on to work at Bedlay and Cardowan collieries in Lanarkshire until those, too, closed in the early 1980s.

Workings

A complex of numbered pits sunk from around 1860; Gartshore 9/11 sunk 1873 for ironstone, reworked for coal from 1893; Twechar No. 1 shaft reached 335 metres.

Closure

The last pit, Gartshore 9/11, closed in 1968, ending just over a century of mining at Twechar.

What remains

No specific present-day surface condition was established from the sources checked for this pass.

No specific surviving colliery structures were established from the sources checked for this pass.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Gartshore Colliery explosion, 1923
  28 July 1923 · Explosion · 8 fatalities
  An explosion at No. 3 Gartshore Pit on the evening of 28 July 1923 killed eight of the twelve men constructing a water lodgment at the bottom of a new shaft; a pit bottomer thrown clear by the blast climbed back underground himself to help pull the injured to safety.

Recorded claims

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

• William Baird & Co. began sinking pits at Twechar and Gartshore from around 1860; Gartshore 9/11 was sunk in 1873 for ironstone before being reworked for coal from 1893. ¹
• The Twechar No. 1 shaft reached 335 metres, and Gartshore No. 10 reached 326 metres. ¹
• Gartshore 9/11, the last colliery working in the area, closed in 1968, ending just over a century of coal mining at Twechar. ^1,2

Sources

1. (secondary) Twechar's Pits — Twechar Pit Village heritage site
2. (secondary) Towns & Villages: Twechar — East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 27 August 2026