Jerviston Colliery

Overview

An early colliery on the Jerviston estate at the north-east edge of Motherwell, worked by 1840 and leased in 1859 by Wilson and Co. of the Summerlee Iron Works, whose miners lived at Jerviston Square. Firedamp burned men in its pits in 1859 and 1860. A Jerviston Colliery near Mossend was still at work in 1919-1924.

History

Jerviston Colliery worked the coal of the Jerviston estate, on the north-eastern edge of Motherwell across the South Calder Water. Its Pyotshaw workings were abandoned as early as 1840, and in 1846 a labourer fell down one of its shafts. Its miners lived in the rows of Jerviston Square, early-nineteenth-century cottages that were in a terrible state when a newspaper correspondent visited in 1875 and little better when described to a Royal Commission in 1914.

By 1859 the colliery was leased by Wilson and Co. of the Summerlee Iron Works. In February 1859 a partial explosion of firedamp in No. 6 Splint coal pit burned a roadsman and a collier, and in October 1860 four men and boys, two of them aged thirteen and fourteen, were burned by firedamp in No. 1 pit, near Jerviston House. In 1862 a young man riding to work in a hutch in No. 6 pit, then belonging to the Jerviston Coal Company, was killed by a stone from the roof. The Splint, Main and Pyotshaw workings were abandoned through the 1860s, the last of them, under Holytown, in 1870. The Wishaw and Coltness Railway's line to Jerviston Junction served a colliery at Cleekhimin, the mining hamlet beside the estate.

The name returns in the twentieth century: a Jerviston Colliery of the Wishaw Coal Co. is recorded in 1919, and in 1924 a man was injured by a fall at Jerviston Colliery, near Mossend, then owned by Stewarts and Lloyds. The estate is now Colville Park Country Club.

Geology

The Pyotshaw, Main, Splint and Ell coals; firedamp in the Splint.

Workings

Numbered pits including No. 1, near Jerviston House, and No. 6, a Splint coal pit, with hutch haulage underground.

Closure

The early workings were abandoned between 1840 and 1870; a Jerviston Colliery was still working in 1924.

What remains

The estate is now occupied by Colville Park Country Club.

Redevelopment

Colville Park Country Club and golf course.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1859 Jerviston Colliery was leased by Wilson and Co. of the Summerlee Iron Works. ¹
• In October 1860 four men and boys were burned by firedamp in No. 1 Jerviston pit, near Jerviston House. ¹
• Jerviston's Pyotshaw workings were abandoned in 1840. ²
• Jerviston Square, the miners' rows, were in a terrible state in 1875 and little improved in 1914. ³
• In 1924 Jerviston Colliery, near Mossend, belonged to Stewarts and Lloyds. ⁴
• A Jerviston Colliery of the Wishaw Coal Co. is recorded in 1919. ⁵

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Shotts parish accidents — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Jerviston, Pyotshaw, abandoned 1840 — British Geological Survey
3. (secondary) Wikipedia: Jerviston — Wikipedia
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Jerviston, 1924 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Jerviston, 1919 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Holytown (Jerviston), Splint, abandoned 1870 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Jerviston, Main, abandoned 1865 — British Geological Survey
8. (secondary) RailScot: Jerviston Junction — RailScot

Record created: 15 October 2026 · Last researched: 15 October 2026