Quarrelton Colliery

Overview

The coal pits at Quarrelton, half a mile south of Johnstone in Renfrewshire, on a seam reckoned among the thickest in Britain, up to 100 feet in places, but poor and wet. Coal was worked at Johnstone from 1634. In May 1818 a pit broke into flooded old workings; five men died and two were found alive after ten days.

History

Quarrelton, a colliers' village half a mile south of Johnstone, stood over one of the thickest coal seams in the United Kingdom, up to 100 feet thick in places, though the coal was not of high quality and constant flooding made it hard and dangerous to work. Coal was being mined at Johnstone by 1634, and in 1790 thirty men and twelve horses raised about 20,000 tons a year from the local pits.

The first recorded fatal accident at Quarrelton came on 5 January 1805, when the rope broke as three men were going down in a bucket; all three died. In 1818 the pits belonged to Mr Houston of Johnstone. On 2 May that year, with twenty-five men and four horses below, the miners took the coal too close to an old flooded pit and the water broke in. Two men were found alive after ten days; five died (see Disasters, below). The Johnstone coal miners' cairn, built in 1994, commemorates them.

Geology

An exceptionally thick coal seam, up to 100 feet in places, of poor quality and heavily watered, with old flooded workings around.

Workings

Pits worked by shafts and buckets, pumped by a powerful steam engine by 1818, alongside older flooded workings.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

The Johnstone and Elderslie coal miners' memorial cairn stands in the Wee Wood at the corner of Beith Road and Quarrelton Road.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Quarrelton Colliery inrush, 1818
  2 May 1818 · Flooding / Inundation · 5 fatalities
  On the morning of 2 May 1818 miners at Mr Houston's Quarrelton pit by Johnstone took the coal too close to an old pit full of water, and it broke in. Of those cut off, five died; two were found alive ten days later, having lived on pit water and three pieces of oatcake found in the pockets of men who escaped.

Recorded claims

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

• The coal seam at Quarrelton reached up to 100 feet thick in places. ¹
• Coal was mined at Johnstone by 1634. ¹
• On 5 January 1805 three men died when the rope broke as they went down in a bucket. ¹
• In 1818 the pits belonged to Mr Houston of Johnstone. ^2,1
• In May 1818 water from an old pit flooded the workings; five miners died and two were rescued alive after ten days. ^3,2,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Johnstone History Society: Johnstone Coal Miners Memorial Cairn — Johnstone History Society
2. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Quarrelton 1818 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (secondary) Nitshill Memories: Coal Mining and the Victoria Pit Disaster — Nitshill Memories

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026