Lassodie Mill Colliery

Overview

The 'Flower Pit' south of Kelty, opened about 1890 by the Rosewell Gas Coal Company in a field split by a reversed fault, bought by the Fife Coal Company in 1905 and closed in 1928.

History

Lassodie Mill Colliery, known locally as the Flower Pit, lay just south of Kelty and west of Cantsdam, in a field opened up south of the Netherton-Cocklaw fault that bounded the Kelty coalfield. The Fife Coal Company took a mineral lease at Lassodie Mill in 1878, but it was the Rosewell Gas Coal Company, whose Rosewell colliery raised cannel, that began working the seams, probably about 1890. A remarkable reversed fault ran north and south through the field, so that the Rough and Jersey coals were worked on both sides of it, those on the upthrow side actually lying above those on the downthrow. In 1892 the company reported spending on developing the colliery and its railway sidings and on 100 new eight-ton waggons to carry its house and steam coal.

Early in 1893 about seventy men came out against the introduction of 'Billy Fairplay' and a change in the measures by which they were paid, which meant a cut in wages of 8 to 25 per cent. The Fife and Kinross Miners' Association paid strike allowance, but after five weeks most of the strikers had found work elsewhere, a few blacklegs had been taken on, and the rest went back. The colliery employed 209 men in 1894. Its No. 3 Mine, driven south from the surface into the Kelty Main coal, met such broken ground that only a small section was worked and it was abandoned in 1910.

The Fife Coal Company bought the Rosewell Gas Coal Company on 11 July 1905, and Lassodie Mill with it. A shaft collapse in 1912 stopped the pit for some months. In February 1913 a heading being driven towards a pump lodgement in the Glassee seam of No. 1 pit holed into it; the water and debris carried the miner Henry Gray 200 feet down the heading to his death, and the inquiry jury found the bores had not been kept far enough ahead and the pump had been stopped too long. The colliery employed 225 men in 1920. In slack trade in 1925 the company gave its workers notice, and in June 1927 it named Lassodie Mill among the older Cowdenbeath-district pits to be closed; the last abandonment plan, of the Swallowdrum seam, is dated 28 August 1928.

Geology

Faulted ground south of the Netherton-Cocklaw fault, cut by a reversed north-south fault. Seams worked included the Rough, Jersey, Main, Lochgelly Splint (Bank), Glassee, Mynheer, Five Foot, Dunfermline Splint, Diamond, Swallowdrum and Duddy Davie coals.

Workings

Nos. 1 and 2 pits, with a blind shaft 10 fathoms deep fitted with ladders linking the Dunfermline Splint workings to the outlet shaft, haulage dooks and wheel braes, and a No. 3 Mine driven from the surface.

Closure

Named for closure by the Fife Coal Company in June 1927; the last seam, the Swallowdrum, was abandoned on 28 August 1928.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Blairenbathie Colliery — Fife Coal Company pits at Kelty given notice together in 1925 and sharing managers.
• Kirkford Colliery — Named with Lassodie Mill in the Fife Coal Company's 1927 list of Cowdenbeath-district pits to close.
• Lassodie Colliery — Neighbouring pits in the Lassodie field south-west of Kelty.

Recorded claims

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

• The Fife Coal Company took a mineral lease at Lassodie Mill in 1878, but the Rosewell Gas Coal Company began working the seams, probably around 1890. ¹
• Lassodie Mill was worked by the Rosewell Gas Coal Company and then the Fife Coal Company, which bought the Rosewell company on 11 July 1905. ^2,1
• Lassodie Mill employed 209 men in 1894 (179 below ground) and 225 in 1920. ²
• In early 1893 about seventy men struck against 'Billy Fairplay' and a change in payment measures; the strike collapsed after five weeks. ¹
• On 27 February 1913 water from a pump lodgement burst into a heading in No. 1 pit and carried the miner Henry Gray to his death. ^2,1
• The last abandonment plan of Lassodie Mill, of the Swallowdrum seam, is dated 28 August 1928; the pit closed in 1928. ¹
• An abandonment plan of the Rough (Gorman or Seven Feet) seam at Lassodie Mill is dated 1892. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Pit-L-6. Lassodie Mill Pit and Mine, Kelty — Fife Pits and Memorial Book (fifepits.co.uk)
2. (primary) Lassodie Mill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21856660: Lassodie Mill, Rough (Gorman or Seven Feet), abandoned 1892 — British Geological Survey

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