Orbiston Colliery

Overview

The Mossend ironmasters' colliery at Orbiston, Bellshill, later the Summerlee and Mossend company's 'Old Orbiston' pit, whose miners lived in the Orbiston Old and New Rows. Firedamp burned six in 1873, and in May 1893 three men were suffocated fighting an underground fire. Its seams were abandoned in 1925.

History

Orbiston Colliery lay at Orbiston, Bellshill, on the lands of the old Orbiston estate. In 1873 its No. 1 pit belonged to the Mossend Iron Company; in February that year a feeder of firedamp caught fire, and when the under-manager, a fireman and four miners went back in to see if the place was clear a second explosion burned all six. In January 1879, when the pit belonged to Neilson and Co. of Mossend, a sixteen-foot brick arch built round an engine seat in the Ell seam collapsed as its centring was removed.

A new Orbiston pit was being driven in 1892. On the night of 26-27 May 1893 three men died of white damp fighting a fire in the Splint coal (see Disasters, below).

The Summerlee and Mossend company, later the Summerlee Iron Co., worked 'Old Orbiston' and its Nos. 1 to 3 pits into the 1920s, and the colliery's Ell, Pyotshaw, Main, Splint, Blackband, Virtuewell and Lower Drumgray workings were abandoned in 1925.

Geology

The Ell, Pyotshaw, Main, Splint, Virtuewell and Lower Drumgray coals and the Blackband ironstone of the Lanarkshire coalfield; firedamp feeders were met in No. 1 pit.

Workings

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 pits, including the 'Old Orbiston' pit and a new pit driven in 1892, with engine seats and pumps underground.

Closure

Abandonment plans for all its seams are dated 1925.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Orbiston Colliery fire, 1893
  27 May 1893 · Fire · 3 fatalities
  About midnight on Friday 26 May 1893 fire was found in the Splint coal of Orbiston Colliery, Bellshill, where a fall of coal and rubbish had come down by a working pump. Seven men sent to put it out stayed too long and were overcome by 'white damp'; most were got out, but Peter M'Allister, John M'Killop and William Maddison, who went in to save a fellow-workman, died. The fire was under control by midday on Saturday.

Recorded claims

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

• No. 1 pit, Orbiston Colliery, belonged to the Mossend Iron Company in 1873. ¹
• In February 1873 a second explosion of firedamp burned six men who went in after a fire. ¹
• Old Orbiston Colliery belonged to the Summerlee and Mossend Iron and Steel Co. in 1900. ^2,3
• Old Orbiston pit was still working under the Summerlee Iron Co. in 1924. ⁴
• The colliery's seams were abandoned in 1925. ^5,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Lanarkshire accidents 1870-1899 (Bothwell, Bellshill, Uddingston) — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Orbiston (Old Orbiston Colliery), 1900 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Bellshill, No.3 Pit, Orbiston, 1900 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Orbiston (Old Orbiston Pit), 1924 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Orbiston, Ell, Pyotshaw, Main, Splint and Blackband, abandoned 1925 — British Geological Survey
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Orbiston, Virtuewell, abandoned 1925 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Orbiston, 1921 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 13 October 2026 · Last researched: 13 October 2026