Murdostoun Colliery

Overview

A colliery on the Murdostoun estate at Cleland, near Omoa, worked by the Murdostoun Colliery Company from the 1900s, with Westwood Pit among its workings. Its records include a pitheadman drowned in the colliery reservoir when the electric light failed in 1914. Its Kiltongue and Virtuewell workings were abandoned in 1932.

History

Murdostoun Colliery worked the coal of the Murdostoun estate at Cleland, near Omoa. In July 1902 Howmere Pit, one of the pits on the estate near Omoa station, was being reopened by a recently formed company when a man fell down the shaft; the company's managing director, John M'Donald, went down in the kettle to rescue him and was overcome by blackdamp, and both died.

The Murdostoun Colliery Co. Ltd worked the colliery from at least 1909, and in 1915 the Murdostoun Coal Company had Westwood colliery at Cleland. Its recorded accidents include a roof fall in 1909, from between lypes; in 1911 a twenty-year-old chain runner riding up a dook on his rake struck his head on a roof only 21 inches above the hutch and fell under it, in Westwood Pit; in 1914 the night pitheadman, the electric light having failed, set off with a torch for the winding engine house and walked into the colliery reservoir and drowned; in 1915 the under-manager fell 12 fathoms down a shaft while lowering a coal-cutting machine between sections; and in 1920 a labourer was found electrocuted on the dirt bing.

The Splint and Virtuewell workings were abandoned in 1917, and the Virtuewell and Kiltongue in 1932. The later Hills of Murdostoun mines worked the same estate in the 1940s and 1950s.

Geology

The Splint, Virtuewell and Kiltongue coals.

Workings

Pits including No. 1 and Westwood Pit, with low dook roads, rope haulage, electric lighting and coal-cutting machines; a colliery reservoir at the surface.

Closure

Its Splint and Virtuewell workings were abandoned in 1917 and its Virtuewell and Kiltongue in 1932.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Spindleside Colliery — Both were worked by the Murdostoun Colliery Company at Cleland.

Recorded claims

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

• The Murdostoun Colliery Co. Ltd owned Murdostoun Colliery, Cleland, in 1909-1921. ^1,2,3
• In 1911 a chain runner in Westwood Pit struck his head on a roof only 21 inches above the hutch and fell under the rake. ^4,2
• In 1914 the night pitheadman, the electric light having failed, walked into the colliery reservoir and drowned. ⁵
• In 1915 the under-manager fell 12 fathoms down a shaft while lowering a coal-cutting machine. ⁴
• In 1902 two men died of blackdamp at Howmere Pit, on the Murdostoun estate, as it was being reopened. ⁴
• Its Kiltongue workings were abandoned in 1932. ⁶

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Murdostoun, 1909 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Murdostoun, No.1, 1911 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Murdostoun, 1920 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Shotts parish accidents post 1900 — Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Murdostoun, 1914 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Murdostoun, Kiltongue, abandoned 1932 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Murdostoun, Splint and Virtuewell, abandoned 1917 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 15 October 2026 · Last researched: 15 October 2026