Northfield Colliery

Overview

A Shotts Iron Company colliery at Shotts in Lanarkshire, sunk in 1917 and worked until 1961; also known as the Pennypit.

History

Northfield Colliery, also known as Northfield and Hall or the Pennypit, stood at Shotts, about ten and a half miles north-north-west of Lanark in North Lanarkshire, and was worked by the Shotts Iron Company. Canmore dates the sinking to 1917 and the closure to 1961. It had two shafts, Northfield seventy-three metres and Hall eighty-four metres deep, and worked the Gas, Main and Shotts seams for house and steam coal and blaes. A survey in 1948 recorded an output of about 490 tons a day and 129,524 tons in the year, worked longwall, with 395 employees, three picking tables and a Baum-type coal washer; pithead baths had opened in 1932. The pits passed to the National Coal Board at nationalisation in 1947, and the colliery supplied blaes to a local Coal Board brickworks that ran until the mid-1980s.

Geology

Worked the Gas, Main and Shotts seams of the Scottish Coal Measures, together with blaes (combustible shale).

Workings

Two shafts, Northfield (73 m) and Hall (84 m), worked longwall; the surface had three picking tables and a Baum-type washer.

Closure

Sunk in 1917 and closed in 1961; the pits had passed to the National Coal Board at nationalisation in 1947.

What remains

Unknown.

Unknown.

Redevelopment

A Coal Board brickworks nearby used the colliery's blaes until the mid-1980s.

Related mines

• Calderhead Colliery — Both worked by the Shotts Iron Company in the Lanarkshire coalfield.
• Castlehill Colliery — Both worked by the Shotts Iron Company in the Lanarkshire coalfield.

Nearby mines

• Shotts Iron Works — 0.8 km W
• Calderhead Colliery — 1.4 km NW
• Fallahill Colliery — 3.9 km NE, West Lothian
• Kingshill No. 3 Colliery — 3.9 km SW, South Lanarkshire
• Fauldhouse Colliery — 4.2 km E, West Lothian

Straight-line distance, within 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.

• Sunk in 1917 and closed in 1961. ¹
• Two shafts, Northfield 73 metres and Hall 84 metres deep. ¹
• In 1948 it raised about 490 tons a day, 129,524 tons in the year, worked longwall, with 395 employees. ¹
• Worked by the Shotts Iron Company, passing to the National Coal Board in 1947. ^2,1
• Worked the Gas, Main and Shotts seams. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Northfield Colliery — Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland)
2. (secondary) Northfield Colliery (DMM n221) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 22 September 2026 · Last researched: 22 September 2026