Grangemouth Colliery

Overview

The Grangemouth Coal Company's colliery on the carse at Skinflats, near Grangemouth, founded in 1839 on minerals leased from the Earl of Zetland. It worked coal, fireclay and ironstone, made firebricks and terracotta, employed over 500 in 1905 and closed in 1911-12 when the lease ended.

History

The Grangemouth Coal Company was founded in 1839 with its main premises at Grangemouth Colliery, working coal, fireclay and ironstone in the parishes of Bothkennar, Falkirk and Polmont on minerals leased from the Earl of Zetland. Its pits stood on the reclaimed carse at Skinflats, among them the Zetland Pit No. 1, where there was also a firebrick works and at least one coke oven, and the Barony Pit No. 3 to the south.

The company turned its fireclay into firebricks, grate backs and ornamental terracotta, which won an honourable mention at the Great Exhibition of 1851; George G. Mackay was its managing partner in the 1870s and 1880s. The colliery worked household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Auchengain, Craw, Main and Upper and Lower Coxrod seams, and employed 415 in 1894 and 510 in 1905. In 1899 the company hoped for a railway connection from a new Caledonian line so that it could send its goods other than by water.

In December 1911 the pits were to close, the men to be thrown idle and the fireclay and brickworks given up with them, and in June 1912 the plant was auctioned on the termination of the lease. Abandonment plans under the Grangemouth name run from 1910 to 1934. Subsidence over coal workings east and south of the Zetland Pit site has drowned land reclaimed from the estuary in 1767-70, forming rare saline lagoons, and the Barony Pit's bing survives with its spoil exposed.

Geology

Carse of the Forth over the Coal Measures: the Auchengain, Craw, Main and Upper and Lower Coxrod seams, with fireclay and ironstone; nearby subsidence lies over workings in the Upper and Lower Drumgray and Shotts Gas coals.

Workings

Pits including the Zetland Pit No. 1 (with a firebrick works and coke oven) and the Barony Pit No. 3; a tramway south to the river; brick and terracotta works.

Closure

The pits were to close in December 1911, and the plant was auctioned in June 1912 on the termination of the lease.

What remains

The Barony Pit's bing survives with spoil exposed, and subsidence over coal workings has formed saline lagoons on the reclaimed carse.

The bing of the Barony Pit No. 3 and remains of colliery buildings.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• The Grangemouth Coal Company was founded in 1839 with its main premises at Grangemouth Colliery, on minerals leased from the Earl of Zetland. ¹
• The Grangemouth Coal Company's terracotta received an honourable mention at the Great Exhibition of 1851. ¹
• Grangemouth Colliery employed 415 in 1894 and 510 in 1905. ²
• The pits were to close in December 1911, and the plant was auctioned in June 1912 on the termination of the lease. ¹
• The site of Grangemouth Colliery's Zetland Pit No. 1 lies near Skinflats, with the bing of the Barony Pit No. 3 to the south. ³
• The Upper and Lower Coxrod seams at Grangemouth were abandoned in 1911. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Grangemouth Firebrick Works, Skinflats, Grangemouth, Falkirk, Stirlingshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
2. (primary) Grangemouth Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Falkirk - an excursion — BGS Earthwise
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Grangemouth, Upper and Lower Coxrod, abandoned 1911 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026