Greenrigg Colliery

Overview

A twentieth-century deep pit east of Greenrigg farm between Harthill and Fauldhouse, sunk by United Collieries in 1905 and worked until 1960. Its two shafts went down 143 metres to coking, gas and house coal and fireclay, and it employed between three and six hundred people for most of its life. A pithead fire in the mid-1920s destroyed the surface buildings; the pit was rebuilt and its bing still stands beside the M8.

History

The name Greenrigg had belonged to a small early-nineteenth-century pit on Benhar moor, abandoned by the 1850s. In 1905 United Collieries Limited, which had taken the ground from the Loganlea Coal Company, reused the name for a new deep colliery a little to the east of Greenrigg farm, in the parish of Whitburn. Canmore's inventory gives United Collieries as owner from 1902 and sinking and production from 1905; the Lists of Mines show twelve people at the pit in 1905 under the manager R. Wilson, and 434 by 1910 under Thomas Welsh, who managed it into the 1940s. The two shafts were sunk to 143 metres. The pit returned manufacturing and steam coal from the Main and Mill seams in its first decade, adding the Ball seam and some ironstone by 1920, and by the 1950s was working the Ball, Colinburn and Mill seams for coking, gas and household coal. Fireclay went to the Etna brickworks, which Canmore places at Armadale and a local account at Bathgate. Employment held between 335 and 500 from 1910 to 1940, 463 at nationalisation in 1947, and 626 in 1954; the inventory gives an average of 558 and a peak of 634 in 1952. A 1948 survey recorded 600 tons a day and 142,000 tons a year by longwall working, three plate tables and a Baum-type washer, pithead baths dating from 1930, a canteen and first-aid provision, with all electricity from the National Coal Board's power station at Westrigg. New houses for the colliery, Greenrigg Cottages on East Main Street, Harthill, were built around the First World War and became the nucleus of the present village of Greenrigg. Seven deaths at the colliery are named by the Durham Mining Museum between 1908 and 1915, and the Scottish Mining Website adds two more: William Izatt, a fireman, who died in March 1929 of injuries from a roof fall the previous September, and Charles Jeffrey Archibald, struck by a haulage wheel frame in No. 2 Pit in March 1935. Frank Shields, the bottomer, fell 84 feet down the shaft in 1910 when he pushed a hutch through the gate at a mid-working with no cage there; Richard Jackson, nineteen, was killed on his first day as a clipper in 1912 when a rake of four hutches he had clipped to the endless rope ran back on him. A pithead fire in the mid-1920s burned out the surface buildings and headframes and the men below walked out through Southrigg's workings (see Disasters, below). The pit was rebuilt and closed in 1960.

Geology

Coal Measures seams of the western West Lothian coalfield: the Main, Mill, Ball and Colinburn seams are named in the Lists of Mines, with fireclay and, in 1920, ironstone returned alongside the coal.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

Two shafts of 143 m. Longwall working by 1948, with endless-rope haulage on the roads (two of the named deaths were haulage accidents) and coal-cutting machines in use by 1913. The workings were connected underground to Southrigg Nos 3 and 4 pits to the west.

Closure

Closed in 1960 under the National Coal Board, in the years when the small pits around Polkemmet were given up in favour of larger units. No account of the closure itself has been found in the sources read.

What remains

The bing survives as a large grassed mound between Greenrigg's football pitch and the M8, covered with wild flowers and grass; a 2020 photograph shows a track system laid across it during later opencast working on Polkemmet Moor. Canmore holds oblique aerial photographs of the colliery and its spoil heaps.

The bing, reworked by later opencast working and crossed by tracks; no buildings are reported standing.

Related mines

• Greenrigg Pit — The 1905 colliery reused the name of the early pit on the same Polkemmet lands, abandoned by the 1850s; the two are distinct workings and are linked only so the namesake is not mistaken for the other.

Nearby mines

• Fallahill Colliery — 1.4 km S
• Polkemmet Colliery — 1.7 km NE
• Fauldhouse Colliery — 3.3 km S
• Knowes Colliery — 3.7 km SE
• Whitrigg Colliery — 4.9 km E

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Disasters & major incidents

• Greenrigg Colliery pithead fire
  1925 (or 1924) · Fire · 0 fatalities
  A fire at the pithead of Greenrigg Colliery, between Harthill and Fauldhouse, destroyed the surface buildings and headframes while men were underground. With the shafts out of use they walked out through the connecting workings into Southrigg Colliery. No one is recorded as killed or hurt. The pit was rebuilt and worked until 1960.

Recorded claims

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

• Canmore's inventory (Oglethorpe 2006) gives previous owners as the Loganlea Coal Company and United Collieries Limited from 1902, sinking and production from 1905 and closure in 1960; the Durham Mining Museum lists United Collieries Ltd and the National Coal Board from 1947. ^1,2
• A local history has the colliery, owned by the Loganlea Coal Company, taken over by United Collieries in 1905 rather than 1902. (disputed) ³
• Two shafts, both 143 m deep; average workforce 558, peak 634 in 1952; the Lists of Mines give 12 in 1905, 434 in 1910, 351 in 1915, 335 in 1920, 382 in 1923, 500 in 1933, 492 in 1940, 463 in 1947 and 626 in 1954. ^1,2
• Output 600 tons a day and 142,000 tons a year by longwall working with 559 employees, three plate tables, a Baum-type washer, baths from 1930, canteen and first aid, electricity from the NCB power station at Westrigg. ¹
• Clay from the pit went to the Etna brickworks, placed at Armadale by Canmore and at Bathgate by the local account. (disputed) ^1,3
• Seven deaths are named by the Durham Mining Museum between 1908 and 1915, and the Scottish Mining Website records William Izatt (1929, roof fall injuries) and Charles Jeffrey Archibald (1935, haulage wheel frame, No. 2 Pit). ^4,2,5
• The 1905 pit reused the name of a small pit abandoned by the 1850s; Greenrigg Cottages on East Main Street, Harthill, built about the First World War, became the nucleus of the present village. ⁶
• The underground workings of Southrigg Nos 3 and 4 pits were extended to link up with Greenrigg pit. ⁷
• The bing survives as a grassed mound between the village football pitch and the M8, and a 2020 photograph shows a track system across it from later opencast working. ^8,9

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Greenrigg Colliery — Canmore / trove.scot (NS96SW 23) — Historic Environment Scotland
2. (secondary) Greenrigg Colliery — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Harthill, Lanarkshire — Wikishire — Wikishire
4. (primary) Fatal Accidents In Scottish Mines & Collieries 1929 — Scottish Mining Website (reproducing Inspector of Mines findings)
5. (secondary) Fatal Accidents in Scottish Mines & Collieries 1935 — Scottish Mining Website
6. (secondary) The First Greenrigg — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
7. (secondary) Southrigg Bogies and Butterflies — Scottish Shale — Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry
8. (observational) Track on Greenrigg Bing (Geograph photo 6555785, 2020) — Geograph
9. (secondary) Greenrigg — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
10. (secondary) United Collieries Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 12 September 2026 · Last researched: 12 September 2026