Jenny Gray Colliery

Overview

Jenny Gray stood in the south-east corner of Lochgelly, just north-west of Loch Gelly, and worked for 105 years from 1854 to September 1959 under the Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company and then the National Coal Board. It was a notoriously wet mine: a Cornish pump in the shaft driven by a steam engine at the surface, and later an underground steam pump as well, were needed to hold the water back. It probably had five working shafts at one time or another, and worked a long list of Fife seams from the Five Feet and Mynheer to the Parrot and the Lochgelly Splint.

History

The Lochgelly Iron and Coal Company sank the No. 1 shaft in 1854. No Jenny Gray pit appears in the company's colliery records for 1873 to 1882, but by 1890 the Nos. 1 and 2 were at work under the manager John Anderson with 42 people below ground and 16 above, on the Five Foot seam, the downcast 498 feet deep and the upcast 489, ventilated by a Guibal fan of twenty feet by sixteen. A No. 2 shaft is dated 1889 and a shallower No. 3, 46 metres deep, 1927; the colliery probably had up to five working shafts at one time. The Lists of Mines record 479 people in 1905, including the neighbouring Melgund pit, and the two were managed together under Andrew Ramsay by 1904. Employment ran 454 in 1910, 330 in 1915, 444 in 1920 and 410 through the 1920s and 1930s, and 492 in 1954, the largest figure in its record. The seams worked grew steadily longer: the Five Feet, Little Splint, Lochgelly Splint and Mynheer in 1905; the Glassee by 1910; the Dunfermline Splint and the Parrot by 1915; and the Fourteen Feet, Little Splint and Rough by 1954. Blaes was returned alongside the coal in 1915. In 1948 the colliery raised 610 tons a day, 166,947 tons in the year, with 440 people. Water was the colliery's defining problem. A Cornish pump was installed in the shaft, worked by a steam engine from the surface, and later an underground steam-driven pump as well, to cope with the inflow.

Geology

Jenny Gray worked the Fife coalfield's characteristic run of seams — the Five Feet, Mynheer, Glassee, Lochgelly Splint, Dunfermline Splint, Little Splint, Fourteen Feet, Rough and the Parrot, a cannel-type coal rich in oil and gas. Blaes, the Scots term for the carbonaceous shale and mudstone between the seams, was returned as a product in 1915. The ground was very wet, which is why the pit carried pumping plant out of proportion to its size.

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

Workings

Probably five working shafts over the colliery's life. In 1890 the downcast was ten feet by ten and 498 feet deep and the upcast twelve by five and 489 feet, with a Guibal fan of twenty by sixteen feet; the No. 2 shaft is dated 1889 and both Nos. 1 and 2 are given as 154 metres deep, with a No. 3 of 1927 at 46 metres. Pumping was by a Cornish pump in the shaft driven from the surface and, later, an underground steam pump. The chimney was badly damaged by lightning in the 1930s.

Closure

The colliery closed in September 1959 after 105 years. Most of the workforce transferred to Kinglassie or Brigghills, and some to Valleyfield across the Forth — a journey that meant rising at a quarter past four and, with the travelling, a day close to twelve and a half hours. The name survives on a residential home near the site.

What remains

The colliery has gone and its ground in the south-east of Lochgelly, near the Avenue and the former play park, has been built over and landscaped. A residential home nearby carries the Jenny Gray name.

Nearby mines

• Lochgelly Colliery — 2.1 km W
• Glencraig Colliery — 2.7 km NW
• Bowhill Colliery — 3.0 km NE
• Denend Colliery — 3.5 km NE
• Aitken Colliery — 4.1 km W

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.

• The colliery opened in 1854 and closed in September 1959, a working life of 105 years. ¹
• Jenny Gray was known for very high water levels in the workings; a Cornish pump was installed in the shaft, worked by a steam engine from the surface, and later an underground steam-driven pump as well. ¹
• The colliery probably had up to five working shafts at one time; in 1890 the downcast was 498 feet deep and the upcast 489, ventilated by a Guibal fan twenty feet by sixteen. ¹
• The Five Feet, Little Splint, Lochgelly Splint and Mynheer were worked in 1905, the Glassee by 1910, the Dunfermline Splint and Parrot by 1915, and the Fourteen Feet, Little Splint and Rough by 1954; blaes was returned alongside the coal in 1915. ²
• The Lists of Mines record 479 people in 1905 including the Melgund pit, 410 through the 1920s and 1930s, and 492 in 1954. ²
• When the pit closed most of the workforce transferred to Kinglassie or Brigghills, and some to Valleyfield, a journey that meant rising at 4.15 and a day close to twelve and a half hours with the travelling. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Jenny Gray Colliery, Lochgelly — Fife Pits, from the colliery records and the Lists of Mines
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Jenny Gray Colliery — Durham Mining Museum, from the Lists of Mines
3. (secondary) Lochgelly, Jenny Gray Pit — Trove (Historic Environment Scotland)

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 11 September 2026