Hurlet Colliery

Overview

The coal workings at Hurlet, on the Levern about two miles north-east of Barrhead, are documented from the early seventeenth century and were the foundation of an industrial hub that lasted nearly two centuries. Surveys found the ground held coal, iron, aluminous schist, bituminous shale and limestone together, and Hurlet became the place where both copperas (1753) and alum (1766–67) manufacture were first introduced into Scotland. By 1790 more than two hundred colliers were raising some ten thousand tons of coal a year. The workable seams of the Levern valley were almost exhausted by the early twentieth century.

History

Small-scale coal mining is recorded in and around Hurlet from the early seventeenth century — coal dug and shored up in shallow holes, sometimes by families of men, women and children, for use in homes and workshops. By the mid-eighteenth century coal and other minerals had become important commodities, and landowners and industrialists commissioned geological surveys to establish what lay beneath. The surveys found that Nitshill and the neighbouring villages of Hurlet and Househillmuir stood on valuable deposits of coal, iron, aluminous schist, bituminous shale and limestone. Industrialists invested heavily on the strength of it: shafts sunk, winding gear installed, roads made, and workers’ housing built, including miners’ cottages along the banks of the Levern and at Hurlet corner. By 1790 more than two hundred colliers were raising around ten thousand tons of coal a year, and Nitshill and Hurlet became an economically prosperous industrial hub for nearly two centuries. The New Statistical Account of Scotland in 1847 reported the two villages as "inhabited chiefly by colliers and other miners employed in the extensive works in their neighbourhood". What made Hurlet unusual was the chemistry. The manufacture of copperas — sulphate of iron — was introduced into Scotland by Nicolson and Lightbody of Liverpool, who established works at Hurlet in 1753. The same firm first introduced alum manufacture to Scotland at Hurlet in 1766 and 1767, though their process was defective and was abandoned within two years. In 1797 another works was launched at Hurlet by Macintosh and Wilson, and alum manufacture was successfully established there on correct chemical principles, producing a large and steady annual supply. Muriate of potash and sulphate of ammonia were made alongside it, the muriate extracted from kelp and from the ammonia liquor of a Glasgow gas works, and these went to the bleachfields and printworks of Glasgow, Paisley, Barrhead and Pollokshaws. Alum itself was a mordant, fixing dye in cloth so the colours would not wash out. The railway and the Paisley and Glasgow Canal carried the raw materials and the products. By the early twentieth century the workable seams of the Levern valley were almost exhausted and the chemical industries that depended on them declined; unemployment rose, people left, and the cottages along the Levern, at Hurlet corner and at the Victoria pithead fell into ruin.

Geology

The Levern valley in the Central Scottish coalfield, where an unusual stack of workable minerals lies together: coal, iron, aluminous schist, bituminous shale and limestone. Mr Oatts, manager of the Hurlet Alum Works, described the aluminous rock as dipping gently from south to north with an eastward dip, lying over a coal seam 2 ft 6 in thick and running 60 feet thick from the coal upwards — reaching the surface in some places and covered by three feet of earth in others, and itself containing three further distinct strata of coal, quite different in nature, quality and value from the neighbouring Hurlet coal. A fossil tree fern three feet round and eleven feet four inches high was taken from the bottom seam of the rock at Levernshields, with others destroyed by the quarriers.

Workings

Shallow bell-pit style workings from the seventeenth century, dug and shored by hand. From the mid-eighteenth century, sunk shafts with winding gear, roads and purpose-built miners’ housing. The aluminous schist above the coal was worked with it, and limestone alongside; the alum and copperas works stood on the same ground, so that the mine and the chemical works were a single undertaking rather than a pit and a customer.

Closure

No closure date has been established for the colliery itself. By the early twentieth century the workable seams in the Levern valley were almost exhausted and the dependent chemical industries declined; the population left and the miners’ cottages fell into ruin.

What remains

The industrial landscape has gone. The thatched cottages along the Levern, at Hurlet corner and at the Victoria pithead were left behind as the work failed and, battered by the weather, fell into ruin. The Hurlet limestone quarries survive as industrial archaeology of the sixteenth to twentieth centuries.

None of the colliery identified; the limestone quarries survive as earthworks.

Nearby mines

• Darnley Lime Works — 1.2 km S, Glasgow
• Govan Colliery — 5.6 km E, Glasgow
• Garscube Colliery — 9.0 km N, North Lanarkshire
• Bardykes Colliery — 12.4 km E, South Lanarkshire

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

Recorded claims

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

• Small-scale coal mining took place in and around Hurlet from the early seventeenth century, coal being dug from shallow seams through shored holes, sometimes by families of men, women and children. ¹
• Geological surveys commissioned by landowners and industrialists in the mid-eighteenth century revealed that Nitshill and the neighbouring villages of Hurlet and Househillmuir stood on valuable deposits of coal, iron, aluminous schist, bituminous shale and limestone. ¹
• By 1790 around ten thousand tons of coal were being mined every year by more than two hundred colliers, and Nitshill and Hurlet became an economically prosperous industrial hub for nearly two centuries. ¹
• The manufacture of copperas was introduced into Scotland by Nicolson and Lightbody of Liverpool, who established works at Hurlet in 1753; the same firm first introduced alum manufacture to Scotland at Hurlet in 1766–67, but their process was defective and was abandoned within two years. In 1797 a works launched by Macintosh and Wilson established alum manufacture successfully. ¹
• The manager of the Hurlet Alum Works described the rock as dipping gently from south to north with an eastward dip, lying over a coal seam 2 ft 6 in thick and 60 feet thick from the coal upwards, containing three further distinct strata of coal quite different in nature, quality and value from the neighbouring Hurlet coal. ¹
• By the early twentieth century the workable seams in the Levern valley were almost exhausted and the dependent chemical industries declined; the population left and the cottages along the Levern, at Hurlet corner and at the Victoria pithead fell into ruin. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Nitshill and Hurlet: extraction industries and manufacturing — Nitshill Memories
2. (secondary) Hurlet — Wikipedia

Record created: 7 September 2026 · Last researched: 7 September 2026