Grasshill Colliery

Overview

William Baird and Company's two-pit colliery at Glenbuck, worked for gas and steam coal into the 1930s; the last colliery at Glenbuck, its seams were abandoned in 1933.

History

Grasshill Colliery lay at Glenbuck, the upland mining village east of Muirkirk, and was worked by William Baird and Company, later Bairds and Dalmellington. Coal had been worked at Grasshill much earlier: a plan of abandoned Three Feet workings at Glenbuck and Grasshill is dated 1858. In 1893 the colliery was listed under the Eglinton Iron Company, with William McCulloch as manager.

The colliery had two pits, Nos. 1 and 2, a few hundred metres apart, with miners' cottages beside them. It employed 89 men in 1894, 151 in 1900 and 233 in 1910 and 1915, working the Three Feet, Four Feet, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams for manufacturing and steam coal and, from 1905, gas coal; ironstone was raised in 1896. There were still 180 men in 1933. Among the dead were Hugh McWhirter, an incline attendant of 14 killed by a runaway hutch at the foot of a self-acting incline in 1886; George Dalziel, an engineman who fell nine feet while oiling the beam pumping engine in 1899; and Archibald Allison, a drawer of 20 from Grasshill Row, struck by a runaway tub on a cousie brae in 1922.

Abandonment plans of the Three Feet, Four Feet, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams are dated 1933, though Glenbuck's last mine is also said to have closed in 1931, after which the village, which could offer its miners no other work, went into decline. The ground around the pits has since been heavily reworked by opencast mining.

Geology

The colliery worked the Three Feet, Four Feet, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams of the Muirkirk coalfield, with some ironstone.

Workings

Nos. 1 and 2 pits about 300 m apart, with a beam pumping engine, picking tables and a self-acting incline; 201 of the 233 men employed in 1910 worked underground.

Closure

Abandonment plans of its four seams are dated 1933; Glenbuck's last mine is also said to have closed in 1931.

What remains

The landscape around the pit sites has been heavily modified by opencast coal extraction.

Related mines

• Glenbuck Colliery — Grasshill was the last of the Glenbuck pits; the Glenbuck record covers the village's collieries as a group.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Glenbuck's last mine closed in 1931, and the village declined for want of other work. (disputed) ⁷

Recorded claims

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

• Grasshill Coal Pit No 1 lay at NS 7450 2988 and No 2 at NS 7455 2960, with miners' cottages nearby. ¹
• A plan of abandoned Three Feet workings at Glenbuck and Grasshill is dated 1858. ²
• In 1893 Grasshill was listed under the Eglinton Iron Company with William McCulloch as manager. ³
• Grasshill employed 233 men in 1910, working the Three Feet, Four Feet, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams. ⁴
• Archibald Allison, a drawer from Grasshill Row, was fatally injured by a runaway tub at Grasshill in July 1922. ^4,5
• George Dalziel, engineman, was killed at Grasshill No. 1 Pit in 1899 when he fell while oiling the beam pumping engine. ^6,4
• Glenbuck's last mine closed in 1931, and the village declined for want of other work. (disputed) ⁷
• Abandonment plans of the Grasshill Three Feet, Four Feet, Six Feet and Nine Feet seams are dated 1933. ⁸

Sources

1. (secondary) Glenbuck (NRHE 76729, NS72NW 12): Grasshill Coal Pits Nos 1 and 2 — Canmore / trove.scot (Historic Environment Scotland)
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21853067: Glenbuck, Grasshill, Three Feet, abandoned 1858 — British Geological Survey
3. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
4. (primary) Grasshill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) NMRS deaths and accidents record: Archibald Allison, Grasshill Nos 1 & 2 Pits, 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website - 1899 Deaths — Scottish Mining Website
7. (secondary) Glenbuck — Wikipedia
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21942326: Grasshill, Three Feet, Four Feet, Six Feet and Nine Feet, abandoned 1933 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 20 October 2026