Lodge Colliery

Overview

A Slamannan colliery opened in the mid-1840s after the Slamannan Railway, known for its steaming coal and worked in turn by the Aitkens, John Nimmo and John Watson. Its leases ran out in 1896, when the coal was exhausted and the plant sold with Binniehill's.

History

Lodge Colliery lay west of Slamannan and began working in the mid-1840s, soon after the Slamannan Railway opened; sidings joined it to the North British Railway and its markets around Edinburgh and Glasgow, and it was known for its steaming coal. The field belonged at first to the Aitkens of Falkirk, from whom John Nimmo took it about 1851; in 1855 Nimmo's underground manager, Richard Bell, was presented with a miner's compass. No. 1 pit stood at the North Monkland Junction on the railway and No. 2 just south of Lodge Farm, and there was a No. 3 by 1888.

In 1867 two men were badly burned when gun cotton fired in a shot-hole in No. 1 pit, and a lad, William Shaw, was killed by a fall from the roof there. John Watson, the Motherwell coalmaster, had Lodge with Balquhatstone by 1874. In 1883 a nineteen-year-old pushed a hutch into the shaft of the upper seam when the cage was not there and fell to his death, and his father sued Watson; falls killed a boy drawer in No. 3 pit in 1888 and a brusher in the Lady Grange seam of No. 2 in 1889. The colliery was among those polluting the River Avon.

In 1890 it passed into John Watson Ltd, whose prospectus called Binniehill and Lodge unimportant collieries with leases of ten and six years that would probably see them exhausted. The coal ran out in 1896 as the lease ended, and that May the plant of Binniehill and Lodge collieries was sold by auction.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Slamannan district: the Lady Grange seam and an upper seam; a steaming coal.

Workings

No. 1 pit at the North Monkland Junction on the Slamannan Railway (NS 8465 7164), No. 2 just south of Lodge Farm (NS 8445 7125) and a No. 3 pit by 1888, with sidings to the North British Railway.

Closure

Closed in 1896 when the coal was exhausted and the lease ran out; the plant was sold at auction with Binniehill's in May 1896.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Binniehill Colliery — Neighbouring Slamannan collieries opened in the same years, both John Watson's from the 1870s, whose plant was sold together in 1896.

Recorded claims

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

• Lodge Colliery, west of Slamannan, began in the mid-1840s soon after the opening of the Slamannan Railway and was known for its steaming coal. ¹
• The Lodge field belonged to the Aitkens of Falkirk until John Nimmo took it about 1851; John Watson worked it from the 1870s and John Watson & Co. Ltd from 1890 to 1896. ¹
• In 1867 William Shaw was killed by a fall from the roof in No. 1 Lodge pit. ²
• The Lodge coal was exhausted in 1896 when the lease ran out, and the plant of Binniehill and Lodge collieries was sold by Shirlaw, Allan and Co. ^3,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Falkirk Local History Society: Lodge Colliery (SMR 1734) — Falkirk Local History Society
2. (secondary) Accidents 1855-1870 (Stirlingshire) — Scottish Mining Website (Falkirk Herald reports)
3. (primary) University of Glasgow Archives: DC102 Records of Shirlaw Allan, industrial auctioneers, Hamilton (item list) — University of Glasgow Archives

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