Giffnock Colliery

Overview

Giffnock Collieries Ltd's pit near Thornliebank, on the southern edge of Glasgow, raising poor-quality coal for gasworks and industry with over 500 men by 1920, until coal working at Giffnock ended in 1926.

History

Coal was mined at Giffnock, on the southern edge of Glasgow, from about 1850 until 1926, alongside the sandstone quarries for which the district was better known; the railway that reached Giffnock in 1864 was built chiefly to serve these industries. The coal was of very poor quality and of little use to householders, and it went mainly to commercial and industrial customers such as the Busby gasworks.

In the twentieth century the colliery, near Thornliebank, belonged to Giffnock Collieries, Limited. It employed 51 men in 1905 but 345 in 1910, working the Main coal for manufacturing coal, and by 1915 it was also raising ironstone and fireclay. In 1920 it worked the Jewel, Lyncross Splint and Main seams with 537 men, 454 of them underground, and 489 in 1923. Coal-cutting machines were in use early: in 1908 an assistant on a percussive cutter was killed by a fall of roof the machine's vibration had loosened, and in 1913 an assistant machineman was drawn onto the disc of a cutter while changing its picks. In 1906 a pump attendant fell to the pit bottom from a stage in the shaft where a steam pump stood, and in 1910 a brusher was killed when a charge of 27 cartridges of gelignite went off as he stemmed it.

Coal mining at Giffnock ended in 1926, and the latest abandonment plans of the Giffnock workings are dated 1928.

Geology

The Main, Jewel and Lyncross Splint coals, with ironstone and fireclay; the coal was of poor quality.

Workings

A shaft with a pump stage, longwall faces cut by percussive and disc coal-cutting machines.

Closure

Coal working at Giffnock ended in 1926; the last abandonment plans are dated 1928.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Coal was mined in Giffnock between 1850 and 1926; it was poor quality and went mainly to industrial customers such as Busby Gas Works. ¹
• The railway reached Giffnock in 1864, built primarily to serve its quarrying and mining industries, which included coal. ²
• Giffnock Colliery employed 345 men in 1910 and 537 in 1920, working the Jewel, Lyncross Splint and Main seams by 1920. ³
• In January 1917 Joseph Richards was killed by a fall of roof at the face in Giffnock Colliery, near Pollokshaws. ⁴
• Giffnock Colliery, Thornliebank, belonged to Giffnock Collieries Ltd. ^3,5
• The latest abandonment plans of the Giffnock workings are dated 1928. ⁶

Sources

1. (secondary) Giffnock — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) History of Giffnock — East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure
3. (primary) Giffnock Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: Joseph Richards, Giffnock Colliery, 1917 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
5. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: David Keir, Giffnock, 1906 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21903846: Giffnock, abandoned 1928 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026