Shettleston Colliery

Overview

A group of pits at Shettleston and Baillieston, on the east side of Glasgow, worked by the Mount Vernon Colliery Company in the 1910s-1930s. Its accidents include a foreman electrocuted by an unearthed pump switchbox in 1916 and a gas explosion that burned five men in 1927. The company went into liquidation in 1931, and the last workings were abandoned in 1936.

History

Shettleston Colliery was a group of pits on the east side of Glasgow, Nos. 1 and 2 at Shettleston and Nos. 3 and 4, and later No. 13, towards Baillieston. Coal was worked under Shettleston long before: Main coal workings were abandoned in 1862 and Upper coal workings of Nos. 3 and 4 in 1871. In 1912 Shettleston Colliery and brickwork plant at Cranhill was put up for auction.

From at least 1913 the pits belonged to the Mount Vernon Colliery Co. Ltd. The records show the hazards of electricity and gas in its pits. In 1914 a fireman whose safety lamp was put out by firedamp opened it to relight it, and an explosion followed; in 1916 a foreman brusher was killed by an electric shock from the metal tube carrying the leads of a pump motor, its switchbox not earthed; in 1922 a bed of soft, damp blaes over a three-foot seam collapsed on a miner. On 13 October 1927 an explosion of gas at Nos. 3 and 4, where no naked light was allowed within twenty yards of the face and the men used electric hand lamps, burned five men, one of whom died four days later. In 1930 a Lithuanian miner died when detonators exploded in his pocket as he fell on them, and a 21-year-old fell about 300 feet down No. 3 shaft from the Main coal section; the pit stopped for the rest of the day.

Plant at Nos. 1 and 2 was auctioned in 1922. The Mount Vernon Colliery Company was in liquidation by 1931, when its pits and brickworks were offered for sale; No. 13 pit belonged to the Gartocher Coal and Brick Company in 1936, the year the 22 Fathom Clay seam of Nos. 3 and 4 was abandoned.

Geology

The Main, Upper, Ell, Lower Drumgray and 22 Fathom Clay seams; a three-foot seam under soft lipey blaes and strong sandstone.

Workings

Pits Nos. 1 and 2, Nos. 3 and 4 and No. 13, with endless-rope haulage, electric pumps and electric hand lamps, and an upcast shaft; brickworks alongside.

Closure

The Mount Vernon Colliery Company went into liquidation by 1931; the 22 Fathom Clay seam of Nos. 3 and 4 was abandoned in 1936.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Kenmuirhill Colliery — Both were worked by the Mount Vernon Colliery Company in the 1920s.

Recorded claims

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

• The Mount Vernon Colliery Co. Ltd owned Shettleston Colliery from at least 1913. ^1,2,3
• In 1916 a foreman brusher at Nos. 1 and 2 pits was killed by an electric shock from a pump motor's lead tube; the switchbox was not earthed. ⁴
• On 13 October 1927 a gas explosion at Nos. 3 and 4 burned five men, one fatally. ³
• In 1930 a miner fell about 300 feet down No. 3 shaft, and the pit stopped for the rest of the day. ¹
• Plant at Nos. 1 and 2 Shettleston Collieries was auctioned in 1922, and the Mount Vernon Colliery Company was in liquidation by 1931. ⁵
• Main coal workings at Shettleston were abandoned in 1862. ⁶
• The 22 Fathom Clay seam of Nos. 3 and 4 pits was abandoned in 1936. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Accidents post-1926 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, 1913 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, Nos 3 & 4 Pits, 1927 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, Nos 1 & 2 Pits, 1916 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) Scottish Brick History: Shettleston Colliery Brickworks, Shettleston, Glasgow — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Shettleston, Main, abandoned 1862 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Shettleston Nos. 3 and 4 Pits, 22 Fathom Clay seam, abandoned 1936 — British Geological Survey
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Barrachnie / Shettleston Nos. 3 and 4, Lower Drumgray, abandoned 1930 — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, 1914 — Northern Mine Research Society
10. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, No.13 Pit, 1930 — Northern Mine Research Society
11. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, No.13 Pit, 1936 — Northern Mine Research Society
12. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Shettleston, Nos 3 & 4 Pits, 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society

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