Mosside Mine

Overview

Francis McLean's small coal mine at Airdrie, worked in three shifts after being drained dry, where water from disused workings broke in on 22 September 1939 and drowned three men. A 2020 Scottish Parliament motion places the same flood at Kippsbyre Colliery, which McLean was working in the 1940s.

History

Mosside Mine was a coal mine at Airdrie owned and worked by Francis McLean. Some time before 1939 it had been drained dry, and by that September its men were working three shifts, with pumps keeping the water down. The workings were reached from a main shaft, with a face-line joining the shaft near the surface and side galleries off it.

About midday on 22 September 1939 water from disused workings nearby broke in above the working places. Five men escaped along the face-line to the shaft; three were drowned, the pumps were drowned out, and the mine was left extensively flooded (see Disasters, below). The official returns and the newspapers of the day name the mine as Mosside. A Scottish Parliament motion of 2020 commemorating the same three men places the flood at Kippsbyre Colliery, between Coatbridge and Airdrie, and Francis McLean was working Kippsbyre (Kiltongue) Mine at Glenmavis in the 1940s; whether Mosside was a separate working or the same mine under another name is not settled. All three men came from Whinhall in Airdrie, where a memorial to them now stands.

Geology

Unknown.

Workings

A main shaft with a face-line joining it near the surface and side galleries off it; drained by pumps and worked in three shifts in 1939.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Kippsbyre Colliery — Identity in doubt: the 1939 flood is recorded at Mosside Mine in the NMRS returns and the newspapers and at Kippsbyre Colliery in a 2020 Scottish Parliament motion; Francis McLean worked both names.

Disasters & major incidents

• Kippsbyre Colliery inundation, 1939
  22 September 1939 · Flooding / Inundation · 3 fatalities
  About midday on 22 September 1939 water from disused workings burst into Francis McLean's mine at Airdrie, named Mosside in the official returns and the newspapers of the day and Kippsbyre in a 2020 Scottish Parliament motion. Five men raced the rising water to the shaft and got out with seconds to spare; Thomas Lang, James Walker and Alexander Kinnaird, working in a side gallery, were trapped and drowned, and their bodies were never recovered.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• A 2020 Scottish Parliament motion places the flood of 22 September 1939 that killed Kinnaird, Lang and Walker at Kippsbyre Colliery, between Coatbridge and Airdrie. (disputed) ⁶

Recorded claims

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

• In September 1939 Mosside Mine, Airdrie, was owned and worked by Francis McLean. ^1,2,3,4
• Mosside Mine had been drained dry some time before 1939 and was then being worked in three shifts. ⁴
• On 22 September 1939 an inrush of water at Mosside Mine killed three miners. ^1,2,3,4,5
• A 2020 Scottish Parliament motion places the flood of 22 September 1939 that killed Kinnaird, Lang and Walker at Kippsbyre Colliery, between Coatbridge and Airdrie. (disputed) ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Mosside, Airdrie, 1939 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Mosside, Airdrie, 1939 (Lang) — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Mosside, Airdrie, 1939 (Walker) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Mosside 1939 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (secondary) Glasgow Times (Evening Times): New memorial erected to remember miners lost in 1939 flood — Glasgow Times
6. (secondary) Scottish Parliament motion S5M-22830: 81st Anniversary of the Disaster at Kippsbyre Colliery — Scottish Parliament

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