Glentaggart Colliery

Overview

A small house-coal mine at the head of a Douglas valley glen, opened in 1943 and closed in 1969. It had no pithead baths and its men ate packed meals in a canteen down in Douglas village. The glen was opencast long afterwards, and the road out is now used by wind farm traffic.

History

Glentaggart began in 1943 as a surface mine — a drift rather than a shaft — worked by the Glentaggart Coal Company Limited at the head of the glen beside the Glespin Burn. A second mine was sunk in 1947 and closed and abandoned the following year, which is as short a life as a working gets. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board at nationalisation in 1947. It was never large. The average workforce over its life was 120 and the peak 130, reached in 1952; the Lists of Mines give 89 in 1947 and 130 in 1954. The National Coal Board's report of 12 August 1948 records 135 tons a day and 35,000 tons a year, worked stoop and room, with 94 employees, one screen for dry coal and no washing plant at all. There were no baths. The men took packed meals to a canteen in Douglas village. Steam and electricity were raised on site, none of it from the public supply. It sold house coal, with industrial coal alongside it in 1947, and worked the Nine Feet and Seven Feet seams. The mine closed in 1969 and was abandoned the same year. The glen did not finish with coal in 1969. It was opencast on a large scale afterwards, and the conveyor that carried the coal out was taken away when the opencasting stopped. The road it followed is now widened and used by traffic for the wind farms on the moor above.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coal Measures of the Douglas coalfield in upper Lanarkshire, taking the Nine Feet and Seven Feet seams. It was a drift into the hillside rather than a shaft, which is what the ground at the head of the glen allowed.

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

Workings

Originally a surface mine — a drift — with a second mine sunk in 1947 that closed and was abandoned in 1948. Working was stoop and room. At the surface there was a single screen for grading dry coal and no plant for washing it; power was raised on site.

Closure

Closed and abandoned in 1969.

What remains

Nothing of the colliery survives. The glen was opencast after the mine closed, the coal conveyor was removed when that stopped, and the road up the glen has since been widened and tarred for wind farm construction. Four hectares of pioneer woodland have been planted on the restored opencast ground.

None recorded.

Redevelopment

Opencast coal working, then restoration: a woodland planting scheme on part of the former opencast, and wind farm development on the moor above using the old coal road.

Nearby mines

• Kennox Colliery — 3.4 km NE
• Douglas Castle Colliery — 4.0 km NE
• Auchlochan Colliery — 4.4 km NW
• Bankend Colliery — 6.6 km N
• Glenbuck Colliery — 7.9 km W, East Ayrshire

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.

• Production commenced in 1943 under the Glentaggart Coal Company Limited; the colliery passed to the National Coal Board in 1947 and closed and was abandoned in 1969. ^1,2
• Glentaggart was originally a surface mine; a second mine was sunk in 1947 and closed and abandoned in 1948. ¹
• The National Coal Board's report of 12 August 1948 gives an output of 135 tons a day and 35,000 tons a year, worked stoop and room, with 94 employees, one screen for dry coal and no washing plant, no baths, a canteen in Douglas village for packed meals, and steam and electricity raised on site with none from the public supply. ¹
• The average workforce was 120 and the peak 130, reached in 1952. The Lists of Mines give 89 employed in 1947, when the colliery produced 50,000 tons of household and industrial coal, and 130 in 1954, working the Nine Feet and Seven Feet seams for household coal. ^1,2
• The mine stood at the end of the coal conveyor road next to the Glespin Burn; the conveyor was removed after the opencast mining stopped, and the road is now used by wind farm traffic. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Glentaggart Colliery, Canmore / National Record of the Historic Environment 46438 — Historic Environment Scotland
2. (secondary) Glentaggart Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (observational) Coal conveyor road near Glentaggart, Geograph 8127688 — Geograph Britain and Ireland

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026