Legbrannock Colliery

Overview

A coal and blackband ironstone colliery on the Woodhall estate near Holytown, beside the miners' row of Legbrannock Square. Its seams were worked and abandoned in turn from 1860 to 1919; the Legbrannock Coal Company's plant was sold in 1891, and John Miller owned the colliery in 1918-20.

History

Legbrannock Colliery worked the coal and ironstone under the Woodhall estate near Holytown, in Bothwell parish. Its abandonment plans run from 1860, when Upper Drumgray coal and blackband ironstone workings at Legbrannock and Newhouse were given up, through the Virtuewell, Main, Splint and Pyotshaw coals in 1868-70 and the blackband and the Upper and Lower Drumgray in 1882. Men from Legbrannock Square, the miners' row, worked in the neighbouring pits too: a drawer from the Square was killed in a Cleland pit in 1864, and a Legbrannock collier broke his leg in A. G. Simpson's Carfin pit in 1867.

In 1886 No. 2 pit belonged to the Legbrannock Coal Company; that August a fall of stones buried a young miner at the face of the Drumgray seam and broke his spine. In 1891 Shirlaw, Allan and Co. sold the plant of the Legbrannock Collieries at Holytown, but working went on: the Upper Drumgray and Humph workings were abandoned in 1894, and more seams in 1900 and 1901.

In 1910 the company houses at Legbrannock Square, single-storey stone rows of one- and two-apartment houses, belonged to Barr and Higgins, and sixteen men from their Woodhall Mine near Calderbank lived there. John Miller owned Legbrannock Colliery in 1918 and 1920, years in which a fall of stone and a gunpowder explosion are recorded there; the Lower Drumgray workings were abandoned in 1919.

Geology

Lanarkshire Coal Measures of the Woodhall estate: the Virtuewell, Splint, Main, Ell, Pyotshaw, Humph and Upper and Lower Drumgray coals, with the blackband ironstone worked alongside them.

Workings

Several pits, including No. 2 working the Drumgray seam in 1886, with workings under the Woodhall estate at Legbrannock and Newhouse.

Closure

Seams were abandoned in turn between 1860 and 1919; the plant was sold in 1891, and John Miller's workings were the last on record, about 1920.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• In August 1886 a miner was seriously injured by a fall of stones in the Drumgray seam of No. 2 pit, belonging to the Legbrannock Coal Company. ¹
• The plant of the Legbrannock Collieries, Holytown, was sold by Shirlaw, Allan and Co. in 1891. ²
• John Miller owned Legbrannock in 1918 and 1920; a fall of stone (1918) and a gunpowder explosion (1920) are recorded there. ^3,4
• Legbrannock workings were abandoned seam by seam from 1860 (Upper Drumgray and blackband ironstone) to 1919 (Lower Drumgray). ^{5,6,7,8,9,10,11}
• In 1910 the houses at Legbrannock Square, near Holytown, belonged to Barr and Higgins, and sixteen workers from their Woodhall Mine lived there. ¹²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Lanarkshire accidents 1870-1899 (Bothwell, Bellshill, Uddingston) — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) University of Glasgow Archives: DC102 Records of Shirlaw Allan, industrial auctioneers, Hamilton (item list) — University of Glasgow Archives
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Legbrannock, 1918 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Legbrannock, 1920 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Woodhall Estate, Legbrannock, Newhouse, Upper Drumgray and blackband ironstone, abandoned 1860 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Legbrannock, Virtuewell, Main, Splint and Pyotshaw, abandoned 1868 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Woodhall Estate, Legbrannock, Upper Drumgray and Humph, abandoned 1894 — British Geological Survey
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Legbrannock, Woodhall Estate, Newhouse, Virtuewell, Splint, Main, Ell and blackband ironstone, abandoned 1900 — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Woodhall Estate, Legbrannock, blackband ironstone, Lower and Upper Drumgray, abandoned 1882 — British Geological Survey
10. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Legbrannock, blackband, abandoned 1901 — British Geological Survey
11. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Woodhall Estate, Legbrannock, Newhouse, Lower Drumgray, abandoned 1919 — British Geological Survey
12. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Housing 1910 Lanarkshire — Scottish Mining Website
13. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Shotts parish accidents — Scottish Mining Website

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026