Hartwoodhill Colliery

Overview

A colliery north-west of Shotts that worked coal and oil shale for the Shotts Oil Works in the 1860s and later, as a Shotts Iron Company pit of nearly 300 men, coal, ironstone and fireclay until it was abandoned in November 1914.

History

Hartwoodhill Colliery lay north-west of Shotts, served by the Hartwoodhill branch of the North British Railway. In December 1868 it was offered for sale as a going concern, then working the Benhar coal and shale in the lands of Hartwoodhill and Hillhouseridge together with the Shotts Oil Works, which had 75 retorts and three stills. Its owner was George Gray, coalmaster of Levenseat, who in July 1872 sold the Hartwoodhill collieries and the oil works to the Benhar Coal Company. Plans of abandoned Musselband shale and Furnace coal workings at Hartwoodhill are dated 1873, and in that year the Shotts Iron Company was working Furnace coal by longwall at a Hartwoodhill pit.

The later colliery, of Nos. 1, 2 and 3 pits, was the Shotts Iron Company's. It raised household, manufacturing and steam coal with ironstone and fireclay, from the Ball, Low and Smithy seams in 1905, when 296 men were employed. In 1910 it had 253 men underground and 42 at the surface, 70 of them living in company houses at Shotts Iron Works and Dykehead and the rest in rented houses at Stane, Dykehead and Allanton. Among the dead were John Graham, a fireman killed by a falling stone as he made his second inspection of a longwall place in 1897, and John Muir, a miner of 27 killed by sandstone falling between the props while holing in April 1914. The colliery was abandoned on 13 November 1914, with plans of its Drumgray, Kiltongue, Mill and Armadale Main workings dated that year.

Geology

Coal Measures and oil shales of the Shotts district: the Benhar coal and Musselband shale in the 1860s and 1870s, and later the Ball, Low, Smithy, Drumgray, Kiltongue, Mill and Armadale Main seams, with ironstone and fireclay.

Workings

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 pits worked by longwall; 253 of the 295 men employed in 1910 worked underground.

Closure

Abandoned on 13 November 1914; the plan was sent to the Home Office in December 1915.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Calderhead Colliery — Shotts Iron Company collieries at Shotts whose Upper Drumgray workings share abandonment plans.
• Shotts Iron Works — Hartwoodhill was a Shotts Iron Company colliery; in 1910, 70 of its men lived in company houses at Shotts Iron Works.

What's uncertain

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

• In 1873 the Shotts Iron Company was working Furnace coal by longwall at a Hartwoodhill pit. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

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

• In December 1868 Hartwoodhill Colliery near Shotts was for sale, working the Benhar coal and shale with the Shotts Oil Works connected to it. ¹
• George Gray of Levenseat sold the Hartwoodhill collieries and the Shotts Oil Works to the Benhar Coal Company in July 1872. ¹
• In 1873 the Shotts Iron Company was working Furnace coal by longwall at a Hartwoodhill pit. (uncertain) ²
• In 1910 Hartwoodhill employed 253 men underground and 42 above ground. ³
• Hartwoodhill Colliery was abandoned on 13 November 1914. ^4,5
• Plans of abandoned Musselband shale workings at Hartwoodhill are dated 1873. ⁶

Sources

1. (secondary) Shotts Oil Works — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
2. (secondary) List of Mines in Scotland 1873, part 4 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) Shotts parish housing conditions of miners, 1910 — Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
4. (primary) Hartwoodhill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21917547: Hartwoodhill, Lower Drumgray, abandoned 1914 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21853563: Hartwoodhill, Musselband, abandoned 1873 — British Geological Survey

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