Hallside Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Newton, Cambuslang, worked from 1873 to 1920 by James Dunlop and Co., the ironmasters of the Clyde Iron Works. It employed around 300 people for most of its life, half of them housed by the owners at Newton, and its seams were abandoned in 1921.

History

Hallside Colliery stood at Newton, in the parish of Cambuslang, six and a half miles east-south-east of Glasgow. It was worked from 1873 to 1920 by James Dunlop and Co., the ironmasters of the Clyde Iron Works at Tollcross, who appear as its owners in the List of Mines for 1873 and were a limited company by 1896.

The pit raised manufacturing coal in the 1890s and household coal as well from 1905. It employed 251 people in 1894, 198 of them underground, and 336 in 1910, when the Main and Pyotshaw seams were being worked. The county medical officer's housing report of 1910 shows 337 employed, of whom 164 lived in the owners' houses at Newton and 173 in rented houses in Cambuslang and Glasgow. By 1920 the Humph, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virgin seams were all in work and the colliery was returned together with Newton, with 840 people between them.

Twelve deaths are recorded between 1885 and 1910. Most were men caught by falls of roof at the face or the brushing; William Martin, a drawer of 17, died in an explosion of firedamp in April 1890. On 31 December 1910 a jobber, Robert Gillespie, was fatally injured when a charge of stowite he had laid on a stone went off as he nipped the igniter a second time. The fireman, the only man authorised to fire shots, had handed him the detonator, and the inspector held the fireman much the more to blame.

In January 1920 the miners stayed idle for a day after John M'Intosh, a colliery motorman aged 62, collapsed and died at the pithead at the end of his night shift. The plans of the colliery's seams are catalogued as abandoned in 1921.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Lanarkshire coalfield. Abandonment plans exist for the Ell, Main, Upper, Splint, Pyotshaw, Humph and Virgin seams. The Main and Pyotshaw were in work in 1910, the Humph and Pyotshaw in 1915, and the Humph, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virgin in 1920.

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

Workings

A shaft colliery working several seams. Coal was got at working faces with brushing faces behind them, where brushers ripped the roof. Safety lamps were in use throughout the mine in 1910, and shots were fired with stowite by the fireman.

Closure

Worked until 1920. The plans of the Ell, Main, Upper, Splint, Pyotshaw, Humph and Virgin seams are catalogued as abandoned in 1921.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Newton Colliery, Cambuslang — Both James Dunlop and Co. collieries at Newton, under one manager and returned together in 1920; by 1939 the Hallside Mine was a section of Newton Colliery.

Recorded claims

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

• Hallside Pit worked from 1873 to 1920. ¹
• In 1873 Hallside, Cambuslang, was returned under James Dunlop and Co. of the Clyde Iron Works, Tollcross. ²
• The colliery was owned by James Dunlop and Co., later James Dunlop and Co., Ltd. ^3,4
• The colliery employed 251 people in 1894, 317 in 1905, 336 in 1910 and 309 in 1915; in 1920 it was returned with Newton at 840. ³
• In 1910, of 337 people employed, 268 underground and 69 above, 164 lived in the owners' houses at Newton and 173 in rented houses at Cambuslang and Glasgow. ^1,5
• The Main and Pyotshaw seams were worked in 1910, the Humph and Pyotshaw in 1915, and the Humph, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virgin in 1920. ³
• On 31 December 1910 a jobber was fatally injured firing a lay-on shot of stowite with a detonator given him by the fireman, whom the inspector held more to blame. ⁶
• On 31 August 1896 William Russell, a miner living in Hallside Village, was killed by a fall of stone from the roof in the main coal seam. ^3,4
• In January 1920 a colliery motorman, John M'Intosh, 62, collapsed and died at the pithead after his night shift, and the miners stayed idle for the day. ⁷
• Plans of the Ell, Main, Upper, Splint, Pyotshaw, Humph and Virgin seams at Hallside are catalogued as abandoned in 1921. ⁸

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cambuslang Industrial History (Colin Findlay, 2013) — Colin Findlay / edwardboyle.com
2. (secondary) List of Mines in Scotland 1873, part 4 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) Hallside Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
4. (secondary) Accidents 1891-1900 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
5. (secondary) Cambuslang: The Housing Condition of Miners, report by the Medical Officer of Health, Dr John T. Wilson, 1910 — Scottish Mining Website
6. (primary) Hallside Colliery explosives accident, 31 December 1910 (Inspector of Mines' report) — Durham Mining Museum
7. (secondary) Accidents 1915-1925 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
8. (primary) Mine plan: HALLSIDE, Main seam, abandoned 1921 (feature 21903750) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans catalogue

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026