Ladylands Colliery

Overview

A Coltness Iron Company colliery at Shotts, worked from 1890 to 1920 in the Drumgray coals with about 100 men, and re-sunk to lower seams around 1910.

History

Ladylands Colliery lay near Shotts and was worked by the Coltness Iron Company from 1890. In 1893 it was listed under the company with William Jeffrey as manager, and in 1894 it employed 118 men raising household, manufacturing and steam coal and ironstone. It ran at about a hundred men for the next ten years, working the Lower Drumgray coal.

Around 1910 the colliery was being sunk to lower seams: only 22 men were employed that year, and the housing inquiry found a single employee at Ladylands Mine, living in a company house there. In December 1910 a pit sinker, David Hunter, was found dead one morning in an unfenced hole about four feet deep near the mine, which he had fallen into the night before. Ladylands was at work again by 1915 with 104 men in the Mid Drumgray, and in 1920 had 115 men in the Main and Mid Drumgray. It closed in 1920; plans of its workings were lodged jointly with neighbouring Hartwoodhill's.

Geology

The Lower Drumgray, Mid Drumgray and Main coals, with ironstone.

Workings

A pit sunk to lower seams about 1910, with a setting tank at the surface.

Closure

Closed in 1920.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Hartwoodhill Colliery — Plans of the two collieries were lodged jointly (1914).

Recorded claims

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

• Ladylands Colliery, Shotts, worked from 1890 to 1920, owned by the Coltness Iron Co. Ltd. ¹
• In 1893 Ladylands was listed under the Coltness Iron Co. Ltd with William Jeffrey as manager. ²
• In 1910 Ladylands was being sunk to lower seams and employed 22 men; the housing inquiry found one employee at the mine. ^3,1
• In December 1910 a pit sinker at Ladylands was found dead in an unfenced hole near the mine. ^4,1
• Plans of Ladylands workings are dated 1908 and 1914, the latter partly jointly with Hartwoodhill. ^5,6

Sources

1. (primary) Ladylands Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) Shotts parish housing conditions of miners, 1910 — Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
4. (secondary) Scottish mining deaths, 1910 (index) — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21914920: Ladylands, abandoned 1908 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21852671: Hartwoodhill and Ladylands, abandoned 1914 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 20 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026