Muiravonside Colliery

Also known as	Gateside Pit (Muiravonside)
Location	Muiravonside parish, near Gateside, south of Falkirk — 55.9467, -3.7213 (approximate)
Commodity	Coal
Type	Coal
Worked	By 1882–1926
Maximum depth	Unknown.
Operators	James Nimmo and Company (?–1926), Nimmo and McKillop

Overview

James Nimmo and Company's colliery in Muiravonside parish, south of Falkirk, which included the Gateside Pit and worked the Main, Mill, Ball, Mid and Coxrod coals with up to 276 men until its seams were abandoned in 1926.

History

Muiravonside Colliery lay in Muiravonside parish, in the former county of Stirlingshire, and included the Gateside Pit. It was owned by Nimmo and McKillop, then by James Nimmo and Company and James Nimmo and Company Limited. Abandonment plans of its Ball and Main workings are dated 1900, and of the Gateside Pit's Mid and Ball workings 1902. The colliery raised household, manufacturing and steam coal, and from 1915 some ironstone, from the Coxrod and Main seams in 1905 and from the Main, Mill, Ball, Mid and Twenty Foot coals by 1920.

Its workforce stood at 162 in 1894, 207 in 1900, 134 in 1910, 208 in 1915 and 276 in 1920. Among those killed there were a 14-year-old collier run over by a hutch on a dook in 1882 when the hook slipped off its drawbar, and an oncost worker fatally burned in 1924 when a spark from his naked light set off the gunpowder charges he was carrying to fire in a machine-cut face. The colliery's Mill, Ball, Splint, Mid, Coxrod and Main seams were all abandoned in 1926.

Geology

Coals of the Falkirk district: the Main, Mill, Ball, Mid, Coxrod (Cuxrod), Splint and Twenty Foot seams, with ironstone.

Workings

Shafts including the Gateside Pit.

Closure

All seams abandoned in 1926.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

Redding Colliery — A combined Redding/Muiravonside abandonment plan (1877) covers both; both James Nimmo and Company collieries.

Nearby mines

Craigend Colliery, Maddiston — 1.1 miles (1.7 km) N
Redding Colliery — 2.7 miles (4.4 km) N
Gardrum Colliery — 2.8 miles (4.6 km) W
Barbauchlaw Colliery — 3.4 miles (5.4 km) S, West Lothian
Bathville Colliery — 3.5 miles (5.7 km) S, West Lothian

Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (15 km). Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

Canmore records Muiravonside Colliery and its Gateside Pit in Muiravonside parish, Falkirk. ^1,2
Owned by Nimmo and McKillop and by James Nimmo and Company (Limited), employing 162 in 1894 and 276 in 1920. ³
The Gateside Pit's Mid and Ball workings were abandoned in 1902, and the colliery's seams in 1926. ^4,5
In 1924 an oncost worker died after a spark from his naked light ignited the gunpowder charges he was carrying; keeping the light four feet away, as the 1919 order required, would have prevented it. ³

Sources

(secondary) Muiravonside Colliery (NRHE 330656) — Canmore / Historic Environment Scotland
(secondary) Muiravonside Colliery, Gateside Pit (NRHE 330655) — Canmore / Historic Environment Scotland
(primary) Muiravonside Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) BGS mine plan: Muiravonside - Gateside Pit, Mid and Ball (abandoned 1902) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
(primary) BGS mine plan: Muiravonside, Main seam (abandoned 1926) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 17 October 2026 · Last researched: 17 October 2026