Skellyton Colliery

Overview

A Larkhall colliery worked from the 1860s to 1951: Hamilton and M'Culloch's pits and brickworks in the 1860s, the United Collieries' No. 3 pit in 1902, the Darngavil Coal Company's colliery from the 1910s to the 1940s, and finally the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company's small Skellyton Nos. 2 and 3 mines. Explosions killed two men in 1902 and the manager and fireman in 1937.

History

Skellyton Colliery was at Skellyton, by Larkhall in Dalserf parish. Messrs Hamilton and M'Culloch occupied it in the 1860s: a fourteen-year-old broke his leg under a fall of coal in its No. 3 pit in 1864, and in 1866 runaway hutches on an incline injured a drawer. The firm also made bricks there, selling composition bricks from the Skellyton Collieries at 20 to 23 shillings a thousand and fireclay bricks at 38 shillings in 1865. The Kiltongue workings of Nos. 2 and 3 pits were abandoned in 1869, Splint workings in 1878 and 1900, and in 1871 Millburn, Skellyton and Larkhall collieries were offered for sale.

By 1902 the United Collieries owned No. 3 pit, where in August gas that was known to collect at a brushing face was fired by a naked light and killed two men. The Darngavil Coal Company had the colliery by 1912, working the Kiltongue at machine-cut walls where the water rose fast: that year a fall of stone pinned Patrick Johnstone, and before his comrades could free him the choked pipes let the water rise and he drowned. In 1915 a thirty-hundredweight stone killed John Rodger, a junior international who had played left back for Burnbank Athletic when they won the Scottish Cup. Falls killed men through the 1910s to 1930s, and on 22 October 1937 an explosion killed the colliery manager and the fireman (see Disasters, below).

The Skellyton and Telfer mine workings in the Kiltongue, Lower Drumgray and Upper Splint Main were abandoned between 1942 and 1945, and in 1945 the plant of Skellyton and Cornsilloch collieries and the Telfer mine was sold at auction. The Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company then opened Skellyton Nos. 2 and 3 in 1944, two small mines for house coal, 14 and 50 metres deep. In 1948 they raised 120 tons a day, about 30,000 tons a year, by stoop and room and longwall, with 92 employees and no baths, canteen or washer. They closed in 1951.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Larkhall district: the Kiltongue, Virtuewell, Splint, Main and Upper and Lower Drumgray seams; the Kiltongue at Skellyton was wet, the water rising quickly in the workings. Fireclay was worked with the coal for bricks in the 1860s.

Workings

Numbered pits (No. 3 from the 1860s to 1902) with machine-cut walls in the Kiltongue by 1912; the Skellyton and Telfer mine in the 1940s; and Skellyton Nos. 2 and 3 (1944-51), two mines of 14 and 50 metres worked by stoop and room and longwall, with two-bar screens and a bagging platform.

Closure

The Darngavil company's workings were abandoned in 1942-45 and their plant sold in 1945; the Wilsons and Clyde Nos. 2 and 3 mines closed and were abandoned in 1951.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Cornsilloch Colliery — Both Darngavil Coal Company collieries at Larkhall; their plant was sold together at auction in 1945.

Disasters & major incidents

• Skellyton Colliery explosion, 1937
  1937 · Explosion · 2 fatalities
  On the afternoon of 22 October 1937 an explosion in the Clyde Head section of Skellyton Colliery, Larkhall, killed the colliery manager, David Baxter, and the fireman, Charles Laird Lyle. Gas had been found at the coal face there that morning and the men turned back; the two officials were in the section when it fired.

Recorded claims

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

• Messrs Hamilton and M'Culloch occupied Skellyton Colliery, whose No. 3 pit was working, in 1864-66. ¹
• In 1865 Hamilton and M'Culloch sold composition bricks from the Skellyton Collieries at 20s to 23s per 1000 and fireclay bricks at 38s. ²
• In August 1902 gas known to collect at a brushing face in Skellyton No. 3 pit was ignited by a naked light, killing two men; the United Collieries owned the pit. ^3,4
• John Rodger, killed by a fall in the Kiltongue seam at Skellyton in May 1915, had played left back for Burnbank Athletic when they won the Scottish Cup. ^5,6
• Skellyton Nos. 2 and 3, worked by the Wilsons and Clyde Coal Company from 1944 to 1951, raised about 30,000 tons a year in 1948 with 92 employees. ⁷
• The Skellyton and Telfer mine workings were abandoned in 1942-45 and the Skellyton Nos. 2 and 3 Main workings in 1951. ^7,8,9
• The plant of Skellyton and Cornsilloch collieries and the Telfer mine was sold by Shirlaw Allan, auctioneers of Hamilton, in 1945. ¹⁰

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Accidents to 1900 (Dalserf and Larkhall) — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Skellyton Colliery Brickworks, Larkhall, South Lanarkshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry (scottishbrickhistory.co.uk)
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Skellyton, No.3, 1902 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Skellyton, No.3, 1902 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Dalserf parish and accidents post-1901 — Scottish Mining Website
6. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Skellyton, 1915 — Northern Mine Research Society
7. (secondary) Canmore: Skellyton Nos. 2 And 3, Colliery (NS75SE 34) — Historic Environment Scotland (trove.scot / Canmore)
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Skellyton & Telfer Mine, Kiltongue, abandoned 1945 — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Skellyton Nos. 2 & 3, Main, abandoned 1951 — British Geological Survey
10. (primary) University of Glasgow Archives: DC102 Records of Shirlaw Allan, industrial auctioneers, Hamilton (item list) — University of Glasgow Archives
11. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Skellyton Nos. 2 & 3, Kiltongue, abandoned 1869 — British Geological Survey
12. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Skellyton, 1937 — Northern Mine Research Society
13. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Skellyton, 1937 — Northern Mine Research Society
14. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Skellyton, 1943 — Northern Mine Research Society
15. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Lanarkshire accidents (Dalserf, Larkhall) — Scottish Mining Website

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