Lochend Colliery

Overview

The Brownside Coal Company's pit near Longriggend, in the parish of New Monkland, opened about 1880 on the Longriggend railway and closed in December 1948. Its pit-head ruins and the conical bing known as the 'Mexican's Hat' are a scheduled monument.

History

Lochend Colliery Pit No. 5 was opened about 1880 by the Brownside Coal Company in rough pasture south-west of Lochend, near Longriggend, in the parish of New Monkland. It stood on the North British Railway's Longriggend line, a branch of the Slamannan railway. The Ordnance Survey of 1899 shows two buildings by the railway and no spoil; by 1922 a bing had grown south of the line, and an old shaft is marked beside it.

The pit passed to the National Coal Board in 1947, with a washer and a canteen, and with an estimated three years of coal left. It closed in December 1948. What remains is a rare survival: a two-storey brick engine-house, the footings of what may have been the washer, a brick base for the winding gear aligned on a depression that may mark the shaft, a concrete floor that was probably the canteen, and two settling ponds. Above them rises the bing, a crow's-foot of barrow-run tips overlain by a tall cone tipped from a conveyor, known locally as 'The Mexican's Hat' and visible from a considerable distance. Pit and bing were scheduled as a monument of national importance in November 2003.

Geology

Lanarkshire coalfield, north-east of Airdrie.

Workings

Pit No. 5 with a winding engine, an older shaft nearby, a washer and settling ponds, and a crow's-foot bing capped by a conveyor-tipped cone; a siding on the Longriggend railway.

Closure

Closed by the National Coal Board in December 1948, having been estimated in that year to have three years' coal left.

What remains

The remains stand in rough pasture: a two-storey brick engine-house, washer footings, a winding-gear base, a concrete floor and two settling ponds, with the conical bing beside them; the railway line is a farm track.

Engine-house, building footings, settling ponds and the 'Mexican's Hat' bing, scheduled as a monument.

Redevelopment

None.

Recorded claims

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

• Lochend Colliery Pit No. 5 was opened in about 1880 by the Brownside Coal Company and stood on the NBR Longriggend Railway, a branch of the Slamannan line. ¹
• In 1948 Lochend No. 5 had a washer and a canteen, and an estimated three years of production remaining. ¹
• Lochend, Longriggend, is dated 1880 to December 1948. ²
• The bing, known locally as 'The Mexican's Hat', is a crow's-foot bing overlain by a conical heap formed by a conveyor. ^1,3
• The remains include a two-storey brick engine-house, possible washer footings, a winding mechanism base and two settling ponds. ¹
• Lochend Pit No. 5 and its bing were scheduled as a monument on 19 November 2003. ¹
• The cone of the bing at the former Lochend Colliery is visible on the horizon from a distance. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Lochend Pit No. 5 and bing, 650m south west of Lochend (scheduled monument SM9680) — Historic Environment Scotland (via ancientmonuments.uk)
2. (secondary) NCB Collieries - Scotland (Northern Mine Research Society) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (observational) The Mexican's Hat (Geograph 1806321) — Geograph
4. (observational) The 'Mexican's hat' looms over the horizon (Geograph 6508893) — Geograph

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026