Greenhill Colliery

Overview

A small Polquhairn Coal Company pit at Littlemill, near Ochiltree in Ayrshire, employing fifty to seventy from 1910, nationalised in 1947 and merged with Polquhairn in September 1958.

History

Greenhill Colliery lay at Littlemill in the parish of Ochiltree, about nine and a half miles east-south-east of Ayr, and belonged to the Polquhairn Coal Company. It is in the Lists of Mines from 1910, when sixty men worked the Turf and Wee seams for manufacturing coal; the Splint was added by 1915, and in 1920 sixty-one men worked the Linnbed, Main, Splint, Turf and Wee and sent away fireclay as well as coal. Employment had fallen to 46 by 1923, and in 1940 the pit was returned with Polquhairn.

The list of the National Coal Board's Ayrshire collieries dates Greenhill from 1936. It passed to the Board in 1947, when 64 men raised 23,000 tons of household and industrial coal, and in 1954 seventy were working the Pennyvenie Low seam. In September 1958 Greenhill was merged with Polquhairn, and the Pennyvenie Low workings of Polquhairn Nos 5 and 6 and Greenhill Nos 1 and 2 were abandoned together in 1962.

Geology

Ayrshire coalfield: the Turf, Wee, Splint, Linnbed and Main seams, with fireclay, and later the Pennyvenie Low seam.

Workings

Greenhill Nos 1 and 2, worked with Polquhairn Nos 5 and 6 in the Pennyvenie Low by the time of the 1962 abandonment.

Closure

Merged with Polquhairn in September 1958; the joint Polquhairn 5/6 and Greenhill 1/2 workings in the Pennyvenie Low seam were abandoned in 1962.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Polquhairn Colliery — Both Polquhairn Coal Company pits; Greenhill was merged with Polquhairn in September 1958 and their Pennyvenie Low workings were abandoned together in 1962.

What's uncertain

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

• Greenhill, at Littlemill, opened in 1936. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Greenhill Colliery, Ochiltree, belonged to the Polquhairn Coal Co. Ltd and passed to the National Coal Board in 1947. ¹
• Greenhill employed 60 in 1910, working the Turf and Wee seams, and 61 in 1920, working the Linnbed, Main, Splint, Turf and Wee. ¹
• In 1947 Greenhill employed 64 and raised 23,000 tons of household and industrial coal; in 1954 seventy worked the Pennyvenie Low seam. ¹
• Greenhill, at Littlemill, opened in 1936. (disputed) ²
• Greenhill merged with Polquhairn in September 1958. ²
• The Polquhairn Nos 5 and 6 and Greenhill Nos 1 and 2 workings in the Pennyvenie Low seam were abandoned in 1962. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Greenhill Colliery (UK) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Dalmellington Area — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: Polquhairn 5/6 and Greenhill 1/2, Pennyvenie Low, abandoned 1962 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026