Holytown Colliery

Overview

James Nimmo and Company's colliery at New Stevenston, near Holytown, which grew from 27 men in 1894 to over 650 by 1920 and had its own brickworks.

History

Holytown Colliery lay at New Stevenston, near Holytown, and belonged to James Nimmo and Company, Limited, coalmasters and brickmakers of 21 Bothwell Street, Glasgow; its men lived in places such as Nimmo's Rows and Nimmo's Road. It grew fast around the turn of the century, from 27 men in 1894 to 339 in 1900 and 505 in 1905, raising manufacturing and household coal and fireclay from the Blackband, Ell, Main, Pyotshaw and Virtuewell seams and later the Drumgray and Splint. Its pits included Nos. 5 and 8.

The colliery's brickworks, Holytown Colliery Brickworks, ran from about 1899 to about 1939, making bricks with the colliery's steam; in 1937 lack of steam pressure during the day, when the colliery machinery took it, confined brick production to the back shift. Gas was a danger in the early years: in June 1899 a miner's naked light fired firedamp in a level unworked for a week and not fenced off, killing Henry Connelly and injuring five, and in April 1900 firedamp released by a breaking roof and fired at an open light killed two miners, Gilbert and Peter Cassells. In 1900 a bottomer of 19 was crushed by the cage at No. 5, in 1933 a shanker of 75 fell 45 fathoms from the cage, and in 1938 a boy of 14 on his first job was killed in the conveyor of the coal-washing plant. The colliery employed 652 men in 1920 and 657 in 1933; the latest dated abandonment plan of Holytown workings is of 1939.

Geology

The Blackband, Ell, Main, Pyotshaw, Virtuewell, Drumgray and Splint seams, with fireclay.

Workings

Pits including Nos. 5 (with a shaft over 45 fathoms deep) and 8; a coal-washing plant and a colliery brickworks.

Closure

It employed 657 men in 1933; when it closed is unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Milnwood Colliery — Neighbouring collieries at Holytown.
• Thankerton Colliery — Neighbouring collieries at Holytown.

Recorded claims

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

• Holytown Colliery, New Stevenston, belonged to James Nimmo and Co. Ltd. ^1,2
• Holytown employed 27 men in 1894, 505 in 1905 and 657 in 1933. ¹
• Holytown Colliery Brickworks, owned by James Nimmo and Co., ran from about 1899 to about 1939; in 1937 a shortage of steam confined brickmaking to the back shift. ³
• In July 1933 James Brown, a shanker of 75, fell 45 fathoms from the cage at No. 5 Pit, Holytown Colliery. ⁴
• In October 1938 a boy of 14, Edward Davis, was killed in the conveyor of the coal-washing plant at Holytown Colliery. ⁵
• The latest dated abandonment plan of Holytown workings is of 1939. ⁶

Sources

1. (primary) Holytown Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: Joseph Brodie, Holytown No. 5 Pit, 1900 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
3. (secondary) Holytown Brickworks, New Stevenston, North Lanarkshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry (scottishbrickhistory.co.uk)
4. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: James Brown, Holytown No. 5 Pit, 1933 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
5. (secondary) NMRS mining deaths: Edward Davis, Holytown Colliery, 1938 — Northern Mine Research Society (mining deaths database)
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21947975: Holytown, abandoned 1939 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026