Kennox Colliery

Overview

A Douglasdale colliery worked by the Kennox Colliery Co., Ltd from at least 1910 until nationalisation, remembered chiefly for a catastrophic 1943 flood in its No. 7 mine that trapped and killed three men of one family after a thirteen-day rescue effort watched across the country.

History

Kennox Colliery was worked from at least 1910 by the Kennox Colliery Co., Ltd, initially alongside the neighbouring Carmacoup mine under manager Alexander McLuckie, employing 52 men underground and 16 at the surface. The company expanded its Douglas workings steadily over the following decade -- Kennox Nos. 3, 5 and 6 by 1915, with No. 3 abandoned by 1920 as Nos. 6, 6a, 7 and 9 came into production -- and by 1923 the company, registered in Glasgow under chairman D. W. T. Cargill, was producing around 50,000 tons of coking, household and manufacturing coal a year. Through the 1930s the colliery worked the Virtuewell, Nine Feet and Kiltongue seams, later adding the Upper and Lower Drumgray and Splint seams, with annual output reaching 70,000 tons by 1940. On 30 May 1943 a sudden inrush of water flooded the colliery's No. 7 mine, trapping and eventually killing three men after a thirteen-day rescue effort that drew national press coverage (see Disasters, below). Kennox continued under National Coal Board ownership after 1947, working until its coal reserves were exhausted and the colliery closed in 1972.

Workings

A group of numbered drift/shaft workings around Douglas (Kennox Nos. 3, 6, 6a, 7, 9, 10 and 12 over the colliery's life), working the Virtuewell, Nine Feet, Kiltongue, Upper and Lower Drumgray and Splint seams by conventional underground methods, powered by 440-volt electricity from the 1930s.

Closure

Closed in 1972 once its workable coal reserves were exhausted, having passed to the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Kennox Colliery Flood (1943)
  30 May 1943 · Flooding / Inundation · 3 fatalities
  A sudden inrush of water flooded Kennox No. 7 mine, Douglas, trapping three men of one family; a thirteen-day national rescue effort ultimately failed to reach them alive.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1910 the company employed 52 men underground and 16 at the surface across its Carmacoup and Kennox mines; by 1923 it was registered in Glasgow and producing around 50,000 tons of coal a year, rising to 70,000 tons by 1940. ¹
• Kennox Colliery closed in 1972, its coal reserves exhausted, having passed to the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947. ¹
• On 30 May 1943 a sudden inrush of water flooded the colliery's No. 7 mine, trapping and eventually killing three men; full detail is covered on the disaster's own record. ²

Sources

1. (primary) Kennox Colliery Co., Ltd. — Durham Mining Museum (drawing on Colliery Year Books and government List of Mines returns)
2. (primary) Kennox Colliery, 30 May 1943 — Scottish Mining Website (reproducing contemporary newspaper reports)

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 30 August 2026