Manor Powis Colliery

Overview

A three-shaft anthracite colliery at Causewayhead, east of Stirling, sunk from about 1910 by the Manor Powis Coal Company; said to produce the finest anthracite in Scotland, it employed up to 985, had the first two-storeyed pithead baths in Scotland, and closed in 1972.

History

Manor Powis Colliery lay at Causewayhead, about two and a half miles east of Stirling. The Manor Powis Coal Company began sinking about 1910, when five men were at work, and production started between 1911 and 1914. Three shafts were sunk, Nos. 1 and 2 to 373 metres and No. 3 to 97 metres; the first two had wooden headframes, No. 2's thought to have been salvaged from a pit at Cambuslang, both replaced in steel in 1931. The colliery worked the Greenyards, Hirst, Lower Hirst, Main, Knott and Bannockburn Main seams and was said to produce the finest anthracite in Scotland. Employment rose from 206 in 1915 to 850 in 1925.

Pithead baths for 1,216 men, with 64 shower cubicles, were built in 1932, the first two-storeyed baths in Scotland. On 25 March 1939 an explosion of gas killed one man and injured eight; the death toll reached four. In 1948, under the National Coal Board, 600 men produced 647 tons a day, about 177,900 tons a year, cleaned in three Baum washers. The board reconstructed the colliery in the mid-1950s with a tower-mounted winder, and a satellite drift mine opened in 1954 worked the Upper Hirst seam, supplying Kincardine power station for many years. Employment peaked at 985 in 1963. The colliery closed in 1972 and was abandoned in 1973.

Geology

Anthracite and steam coal of the Stirling coalfield, worked in the Greenyards, Hirst, Lower Hirst, Main, Knott, Bannockburn Main and Auchenbowie seams, and later the Upper Hirst.

Workings

Three shafts (Nos. 1 and 2, 373 m; No. 3, 97 m), with wooden headframes replaced in steel in 1931, a tower-mounted winder from the mid-1950s, and a satellite drift mine of 1954 in the Upper Hirst.

Closure

Closed in 1972 and abandoned in 1973.

What remains

Unknown.

Recorded claims

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

• Sinking at Manor Powis was under way in 1910 and production began between 1911 and 1914. ^1,2
• Manor Powis had three shafts: Nos. 1 and 2 to 373 metres and No. 3 to 97 metres. ²
• Manor Powis's pithead baths of 1932, for 1,216 men, were the first two-storeyed baths in Scotland. ²
• An explosion of gas at Manor Powis on 25 March 1939 killed one man at once and injured eight; the death toll reached four. ^1,3
• A satellite drift mine opened at Manor Powis in 1954 worked the Upper Hirst seam and supplied Kincardine power station. ²
• Manor Powis Colliery closed in 1972 and was abandoned in 1973. ²
• A BGS plan of Manor Powis's Greenyards seam workings is dated 1930. ⁴

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Manor Powis Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Manor Powis Colliery, Canmore / trove.scot NRHE 132571 — Historic Environment Scotland (Canmore)
3. (primary) Manor Powis Colliery newspaper article index (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21853381: Manor Powis, Greenyards, abandoned 1930 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 23 October 2026