Monkland Colliery

Overview

James Dunlop and Co.'s colliery at Calderbank, near Airdrie, working the upper Drumgray coal longwall in the 1900s. In October 1903 a roof fall in No. 11 pit buried a young miner, and his father and a workmate, digging to save him, were buried by a second fall: all three died.

History

Monkland Colliery lay at Calderbank, south of Airdrie, and in the 1900s belonged to James Dunlop and Co. (1900) Ltd, the ironmasters of the Clyde Iron Works. It worked the upper Drumgray coal on the longwall system: in May 1901 a slab of roof twenty feet long came away from a crack at the face, swung the timber aside and killed a miner.

On the forenoon of 8 October 1903 a fall from the roof buried John M'Donald junior in No. 11 pit. His father and Philip Jarvie went to dig him out, and the roof came down again on top of them; all three were dead before they could be freed (see Disasters, below).

Deaths at Monkland, recorded by the National Mine Research Society, run from 1900 to 1911.

Geology

The upper Drumgray coal, worked longwall, with a roof given to falls along cracks.

Workings

Numbered pits including No. 11; longwall faces in the upper Drumgray seam.

Closure

Unknown. Recorded deaths at the colliery run to 1911.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Monkland Colliery roof fall, 1903
  8 October 1903 · Collapse / Roof Fall · 3 fatalities
  On the forenoon of 8 October 1903 a fall from the roof buried a young miner, John M'Donald, in No. 11 pit of James Dunlop and Co.'s Monkland Colliery at Calderbank. His father and a workmate, Philip Jarvie, ran to dig him out; the roof came down on them too, and all three died before they could be freed.

Recorded claims

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

• Monkland Colliery belonged to James Dunlop and Co. (1900) Ltd in 1901-03. ^1,2
• In 1901 it worked the upper Drumgray seam on the longwall system. ²
• No. 11 Pit, Monkland Colliery, was at Calderbank. ³
• On 8 October 1903 two falls of roof in No. 11 pit killed a miner, his father and a workmate who went to rescue him. ^3,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Monkland, No.11, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Monkland, 1901 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Lanarkshire accidents 1901-1914 (Airdrie, Calderbank) — Scottish Mining Website

Record created: 13 October 2026 · Last researched: 13 October 2026