Northrigg Colliery

Overview

James Wood's colliery at Bathville, between Armadale and Bathgate, opened about 1899 on the sites of the old Torbane and Torbanehill pits, and worked by the United Collieries from about 1902. Its pits were closed in 1927; No. 7 later supplied fireclay to United Fireclay Products until Pottishaw Mine replaced it in 1963.

History

Northrigg Colliery was opened about 1899 by James Wood and Co. on the lands of Torbane and Torbanehill, south-west of Bathgate, where the Boghead coal had been dug half a century before. No. 7 pit was sunk on the site of Torbanehill No. 7, perhaps reusing its shaft of about 1855, through the Mill coal at 14 fathoms and the Armadale Main at 28 to the Colinburn at 42, 249 feet in all. No. 2 was sunk on the site of Torbane No. 2, 381 feet deep, and the two were joined underground. No. 2 was wet: in February 1901 the big direct pumping engine from Hopetoun No. 8 was refitted there to clear the field. In January 1902 fire, thought to have started in the pitheadman's box, burned No. 7's wooden screes and framework, machinery and new coal-cleaning plant to the ground, leaving only the engine house and stalk; the pit, opened about two years before, had over 200 men raising more than 400 tons a day.

The United Collieries Ltd took the colliery over from Wood about 1902. Shaft accidents killed a pit bottomer in 1901 and, in 1903, an overman who fell with a cage that broke away near the top of a 61-fathom shaft. No. 7 was stood idle in 1905 for want of trade, and from 1908 its coal was drawn out through No. 2. In May 1927, with markets lost in the strike of the year before, Nos. 2 and 7, employing 300 men from Armadale, Whitburn and Bathgate, were closed for an indefinite period.

No. 7 later supplied fireclay for pipes and some coal to United Fireclay Products, with the Northrigg Nos. 1 and 2 fireclay mines beside it; the fireclay mines closed in 1962, and in 1963 Pottishaw Mine took Northrigg's place. The ground was later opencast.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Bathgate field: the Mill coal (14 fathoms), Armadale Main (28) and Colinburn (42) coals at No. 7, with fireclay; the same lands held the Boghead coal worked by the earlier Torbanehill pits.

Workings

No. 2 pit (381 ft, on the site of Torbane No. 2) and No. 7 pit (249 ft, on the site of Torbanehill No. 7), linked underground; Northrigg Nos. 1 and 2 fireclay mines beside No. 7, joined to its pithead by tramway.

Closure

Nos. 2 and 7 were closed indefinitely in May 1927; No. 7 and the fireclay mines worked on for United Fireclay Products until 1962, replaced by Pottishaw Mine in 1963.

What remains

The site of No. 7 was opencast and is largely landscaped, with woodland across much of it; a bricked-up adit of No. 2 fireclay mine survives in the woodland.

A bricked-up adit of Northrigg No. 2 fireclay mine.

Redevelopment

Opencast working, landscaping and woodland.

Related mines

• Pottishaw Mine — Pottishaw Mine replaced Northrigg as United Fireclay Products' fireclay supply in 1963.
• Torbanehill Pits — Northrigg No. 7 pit was sunk on the site of Torbanehill No. 7, perhaps reusing its shaft, and No. 2 on the site of Torbane No. 2.

Recorded claims

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

• Northrigg No. 7 pit was sunk on the site of Torbanehill No. 7 to the Colinburn coal at 42 fathoms, 249 feet in all, with workings linked to No. 2. ¹
• In January 1902 fire destroyed the screes, framework, machinery and coal-cleaning plant at Northrigg No. 7 pit, then employing over 200 and raising over 400 tons a day. ¹
• In 1903 an overman at Northrigg was killed when the cage he was riding fell away near the top of a 61-fathom shaft; the owners were the United Collieries Ltd. ²
• In May 1927 the United Collieries closed Northrigg Nos. 2 and 7, employing 300 men, for an indefinite period. ^3,1
• Northrigg No. 7 pit supplied fireclay for pipes and some coal to United Fireclay Products, and Pottishaw Mine replaced Northrigg in 1963. ^4,5

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Northrigg No.7 pit — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Northrigg, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Northrigg No.2 pit — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
4. (secondary) Scottish Cave and Mine Database: Northrigg Mine — Scottish Cave and Mine Database (Grampian Speleological Group)
5. (secondary) Drum Fireclay Pits, East Whitburn, West Lothian — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry (scottishbrickhistory.co.uk)
6. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Northrigg, 1901 — Northern Mine Research Society
7. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Northrigg, No.2 Pit, 1917 — Northern Mine Research Society
8. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Northrigg No.1 mine — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
9. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Northrigg No.2 mine — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)

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