Motherwell Colliery

Overview

John Watson's colliery in the burgh of Motherwell, with No. 2 and No. 4 pits, which employed over a thousand in 1910 and was in decline by the 1930s.

History

Motherwell Colliery was John Watson's pit in the burgh of Motherwell, eleven miles east-south-east of Glasgow, with its No. 2 Pit at the south end of what is now Bruce Avenue and its No. 4 Pit to the south-west. It was at work by January 1866, when the pit, shut for a month to smother a fire, was reopened and firedamp in the underground stables exploded, killing Archibald Coats and Andrew Gold as they cleaned them out. A sinker was killed in a shaft bottom in 1873, and in April 1881 John Waugh died under a fall of roof in No. 4 Pit, then occupied by Mr John Watson.

Under John Watson Ltd the colliery raised gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal, and fireclay in 1894. It worked the Ell, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virtuewell seams by 1905, adding the Blackband, Kiltongue and Humph. The Airdrie Blackband Ironstone lay at 167 metres and the Kiltongue, the deepest coal, at 224 metres. A pit was being deepened in 1899. Employment rose from 425 in 1894 to 1,045 in 1910, and a 1910 report on miners' housing gave the Motherwell mine 871 underground and 198 on the surface.

Numbers fell to 592 in 1920 and 1923, 155 in 1933 and 110 in 1940. The No. 2 shaft is buried at the south end of Bruce Avenue and the No. 4 shaft beneath parkland.

Geology

Lanarkshire Coal Measures. The colliery worked the Ell, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virtuewell seams, with the Blackband, Kiltongue and Humph by 1920. The Airdrie Blackband Ironstone lies at 167 metres and the Kiltongue coal, the deepest seam worked, at 224 metres.

Workings

No. 2 Pit at the south end of the present Bruce Avenue and No. 4 Pit about 700 metres to the south-west, served by the Clydesdale Junction Railway. Plans record Ell seam workings abandoned in 1878 and at Nos. 2 and 3 in 1917, and Splint workings abandoned in 1894.

Closure

Employment fell from 592 in 1923 to 110 in 1940, the last year returned. The closure date is unknown.

What remains

The No. 2 shaft site is buried at the south end of Bruce Avenue, and the No. 4 shaft lies buried beneath parkland.

Redevelopment

The No. 4 shaft lies beneath parkland.

What's uncertain

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

• Motherwell Colliery worked coal, possibly ironstone and fireclay from the late 19th century to 1920. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• The No. 2 Pit shaft site is buried at the south end of Bruce Avenue and the No. 4 shaft beneath parkland at NS 73882 56814. ¹
• The Airdrie Blackband Ironstone lies at 167 m and the Kiltongue coal, the deepest seam, at 224 m. ¹
• Motherwell Colliery worked coal, possibly ironstone and fireclay from the late 19th century to 1920. (disputed) ¹
• Under John Watson Ltd the colliery employed 425 in 1894, 1,045 in 1910, 592 in 1923, 155 in 1933 and 110 in 1940. ²
• In 1910 John Watson Ltd's Motherwell mine employed 871 underground and 198 above ground, 1,069 in all. ³
• On 3 January 1866 Archibald Coats and Andrew Gold were killed by an explosion of firedamp in the stables of a pit that had been shut for a month to smother a fire. ²
• On 13 April 1881 John Waugh, 24, was killed by a fall of roof in No. 4 Motherwell Colliery, occupied by Mr John Watson. ⁴
• Motherwell Colliery No. 4 Pit was served by the Clydesdale Junction Railway. ⁵
• Ell seam workings at Motherwell were abandoned in 1878, and at Motherwell Nos. 2 and 3 in 1917. ^6,7

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Motherwell Colliery - Scottish Cave and Mine Database — Grampian Speleological Group
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Motherwell Colliery (UK) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Dalziel Parish - Motherwell (Housing Conditions of Miners, 1910) - Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
4. (secondary) Accidents 1881 - 1890 - Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
5. (secondary) Motherwell Colliery Pit No 4 - RAILSCOT — RAILSCOT
6. (primary) BGS mine plans: Motherwell (Ell, abandoned 1878) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
7. (primary) BGS mine plans: Motherwell 2, 3 (Ell, abandoned 1917) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 1 October 2026