Home Farm Colliery, Hamilton

Overview

Hamilton, McCulloch and Company's pit on the Duke of Hamilton's Home Farm beside the Clyde between Hamilton and Larkhall, worked from the 1860s to 1925. On 23 January 1877 a fall in the shallow Ell coal let the river's sands and gravels pour down both shafts for ten hours, drowning four men whose bodies were not reached for nearly two years; three shaftmen died in 1894 when a scaffold fell in the shaft.

History

The colliery had been worked for about ten years, the inspector Ralph Moore wrote in 1877, by Hamilton, McCulloch and Company as lessees of the Duke of Hamilton; The Times put its start at 1864 and the Durham Mining Museum at 1870. It had two shafts within forty feet of each other and worked the Ell, Main and Splint coals at 47, 59 and 72 fathoms. Eight days before the disaster a fall of roof in the extreme rise workings of the Ell, where the seam lay within 108 feet of the surface, let water from the overlying sand and gravel into the pit; the pumps could not hold it, the Ell men were laid idle and the Duke's mineral adviser, Mr McCreath, advised on the remedy. About six on the morning of 23 January 1877, with upwards of sixty men below, the roof gave way and water, sand and mud rushed to the shafts, running for a quarter of an hour down one only, so that all but four escaped by the other; the stream then poured down both for ten hours until every hollow in the mine was full. An eight-acre hollow forty feet deep opened on the surface near the river. The bodies of the four were found in October and November 1878 after the pit had been pumped out under William Kirkwood to resume working. Alexander Macdonald raised the case in the Commons and the Home Secretary reported that the Procurator Fiscal found no culpable neglect. The pit went on: 178 employed in 1894, 302 in 1900, 327 in 1910 and 318 in 1920, raising gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal from the Ell, Pyotshaw, Virtuewell, Drumgray, Kiltongue, Humph and Blackband seams, with coal-cutting machines on longwall faces by 1910. Three shaftmen were killed on 27 June 1894 when a scaffold fell in the shaft after a crane ran amain. The company became a limited company in 1903, the 1923 list gives 69 employed, and the museum closes the colliery in 1925.

Geology

Lanarkshire coalfield. In 1877 the Ell, Main and Splint coals were worked at 47, 59 and 72 fathoms, the Ell rising to within 108 feet of the surface under sand and gravel near the Clyde; later lists name the Pyotshaw, Virtuewell, Upper and Lower Drumgray, Kiltongue, Humph and Blackband seams.

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

Workings

Two shafts forty feet apart. Employment from the Lists of Mines: 178 in 1894, 293 in 1896, 302 in 1900, 248 in 1905, 327 in 1910, 261 in 1915, 318 in 1920, 69 in 1923. Longwall faces with electrically driven disc coal cutters and rope haulage by 1910; gelignite shot-firing in the pavement in 1912.

Closure

Closed in 1925 according to the museum, after employment fell from 318 in 1920 to 69 in 1923; the reason is not given in the sources read.

What remains

The site lies in the Clyde valley parkland between Hamilton and Larkhall; nothing of the colliery is reported to survive.

None reported in the sources read.

Related mines

• Bent Colliery — Neighbouring Hamilton pits.
• Hamilton Palace Colliery — Both on the Duke of Hamilton's ground by the Clyde; Hamilton Palace Colliery was the later and larger pit.

Nearby mines

• Quarter Colliery — 3.6 km SW
• Cadzow Colliery — 3.9 km W
• Bent Colliery — 4.3 km W
• Hamilton Palace Colliery — 5.5 km NW
• Earnock Colliery — 5.6 km W

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

Disasters & major incidents

• Home Farm Colliery inundation, 1877
  23 January 1877 · Flooding / Inundation · 4 fatalities
  Eight days after a fall of roof in the rise workings of the Ell coal let water in from the sand and gravel above, the roof at Home Farm gave way altogether about six on the morning of 23 January 1877 and water, sand and mud rushed to the two shafts. For a quarter of an hour it ran down one shaft only, and more than sixty men escaped by the other; four colliers at the far end of the workings were cut off, and the stream poured down both shafts for ten hours until the mine was full. An eight-acre hollow opened by the river. The bodies were found in October and November 1878, after the pit was pumped out to resume working, in spaces the sand had not filled, with evidence the men had lived for some time.

Recorded claims

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

• The museum gives 1870 to 1925; Moore's 1877 report says worked for about ten years and The Times said since 1864. (disputed) ^1,2
• Hamilton, McCulloch and Company, lessees of the Duke of Hamilton; a limited company from 1903. ^1,2,3
• The Ell, Main and Splint coals at 47, 59 and 72 fathoms in 1877. ²
• 178 employed in 1894, 327 in 1910, 318 in 1920 and 69 in 1923. ¹
• Three shaftmen were killed on 27 June 1894 when a scaffold fell in the shaft owing to a crane running amain. ^1,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Home Farm Colliery — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Home Farm 1877 — Scottish Mining Website (Moore's report and newspaper accounts) — Scottish Mining Website
3. (secondary) Hamilton, McCulloch & Co. — Scottish Shale — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
4. (primary) Home Farm shaft accident, 27 June 1894 — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) Coal Mines (Scotland), the Home Farm Colliery — Hansard, 10 April 1877 — Hansard
6. (primary) Home Farm inrush, 23 January 1877 — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
7. (secondary) Accidents 1876-1899 — Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website

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