Michael Colliery

Overview

Michael Colliery, on the Firth of Forth shore at East Wemyss, was one of Scotland's largest and most productive coal mines, employing over 3,000 people at its 1960s peak. A fire that broke out underground on 9 September 1967 killed nine miners — three of whose bodies were never recovered — and closed the pit for good, ending deep coal mining at Michael and costing around 2,000 jobs.

History

Sinking of the No. 1 and No. 2 shafts began in 1892, reaching the Chemiss coal seam at 136 fathoms by 1898, when commercial production began under the Wemyss Coal Company. A third, circular shaft, 24 feet 2 inches in diameter and lined with concrete, was sunk from 1928, eventually reaching 300 fathoms; No. 2 shaft was later deepened to 462 fathoms to reach the Bowhouse seam. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board at nationalisation in 1947. By 1938 the workforce had grown to over 2,600, and by the 1960s the mine employed around 3,300 people, producing roughly 16,750 tons of coal a week from mechanised shearer-loader faces across five active seams.

Geology

The colliery worked a sequence of Fife coalfield seams — Chemiss, Barncraig, Bowhouse, Branxton, Dysart Main and Lower Dysart among them — with an aggregate worked thickness of some 84 feet across sixteen seams pierced by the shafts over the mine's working life.

Workings

Three shafts served the colliery: No. 1 (20 by 16 ft) and No. 2 (13 by 10.5 ft), both sunk to 136 fathoms by 1898, with No. 2 later deepened to 462 fathoms; and the circular, concrete-lined No. 3, sunk from 1928 to 300 fathoms and later extended to reach deeper seams.

Closure

The pit was permanently closed following the September 1967 fire — see this site's own disaster record. The closure, and the National Coal Board's decision not to attempt to reopen and reclaim the sealed workings, was raised more than once in Parliament in the following two years, and put around 2,000 miners out of work.

What remains

The pithead winding gear was demolished in the 1990s; the underground workings, sealed after the 1967 fire, have never been reopened. A memorial to the nine men who died stands in East Wemyss, unveiled in 1992, and is the site of an annual remembrance service.

Little remains above ground of the colliery itself beyond its former site and the 1992 memorial; the winding gear and surface buildings were cleared in the 1990s.

Abandoned workings can be dangerous — unstable ground, uncapped shafts, flooding and bad air are common even where a site looks safe from the surface. This entry describes history and general location only; it is not an access guide.

Disasters & major incidents

• Michael Colliery fire, 1967
  9 September 1967 · Fire · 9 fatalities
  A fire broke out underground during the night shift at Michael Colliery on 9 September 1967, filling the workings with thick smoke as some 300 miners fought their way to the surface. Nine men died; the bodies of three were never recovered, and remain in the sealed workings to this day. The fire closed the colliery for good.

Recorded claims

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

• Three shafts served the colliery: No. 1 and No. 2 (both to 136 fathoms by 1898, No. 2 later deepened to 462 fathoms), and the circular No. 3 (sunk from 1928 to 300 fathoms). ¹
• By the 1960s the colliery employed around 3,300 people and produced roughly 16,750 tons of coal a week from five active mechanised faces. ¹
• The colliery was run by the Wemyss Coal Company Ltd from 1898 until nationalisation in 1947, then by the National Coal Board until its 1967 closure. ¹
• A memorial to the nine men killed in the 1967 fire was unveiled in East Wemyss in 1992 and is the site of an annual remembrance service. ^1,2

Sources

1. (secondary) Pit M-4: Michael Colliery, East Wemyss — fifepits.co.uk
2. (secondary) Fifty years on community remembers Michael Colliery disaster which killed nine — The Courier
3. (primary) Michael Colliery, West Fife (Closure) (Hansard, 10 July 1969) — Hansard, House of Commons
4. (secondary) Michael Colliery Fire - Fife - 1967 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) Michael Colliery pit disaster: 55 years on from the darkest day in Fife's mining history — The Courier

Record created: 20 August 2026 · Last researched: 20 August 2026