Solsgirth Colliery

Overview

Solsgirth, a drift mine near Dollar opened in 1965, formed part of the pioneering Longannet complex that fed coal directly to Longannet power station by underground conveyor — and briefly held a European production record in 1975 before closing in 1990, a decade before floodwater finally silenced the rest of the complex it had helped build.

History

Solsgirth opened in 1965 as part of the newly developing Longannet complex, whose underground belt-conveyor system — construction of which began in 1964 — was built to feed coal directly from Solsgirth and several neighbouring drift mines to the coal-fired Longannet power station on the Firth of Forth, linked by a tunnel some five miles (eight kilometres) long. Working the Hirst steam-coal seam under National Coal Board and later Scottish Coal ownership, Solsgirth was a genuinely high-production mine: in 1975 it set a European record for coal output, raising 25,260 tons from a single coalface in a five-day period. Recorded underground workforce grew from 640 men in 1971 to 924 by the late 1970s and early 1980s under general manager W. M. I. Bell.

A planned extension of the belt-conveyor system linking Solsgirth to the separate Dollar Mine never went ahead, blocked by a large geological fault between the two. Solsgirth itself closed in January 1990, but the workings were retained afterward purely to ventilate the neighbouring Castlebridge Colliery, part of the same Longannet complex, which continued working into the following decade. The wider complex met its own end in March 2002, when floodwater breached a containment dam in its already-sealed northern workings; the 15 miners underground at the time, working in a different part of the complex, were evacuated safely, but the flood — striking a part of the complex Solsgirth itself had not worked for twelve years — brought deep coal mining in Scotland to an end for good.

Geology

The mine worked the Hirst steam-coal seam within the Carboniferous Coal Measures of the Clackmannanshire and Fife coalfield, linked underground to the neighbouring Bogside and Castlehill collieries of the Longannet complex.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A drift mine rather than a shaft, Solsgirth fed coal onto the underground belt-conveyor system running some five miles (eight kilometres) to Longannet power station, shared with the neighbouring Bogside and Castlehill collieries.

Closure

Solsgirth closed in January 1990 but was retained afterward to ventilate the neighbouring Castlebridge Colliery; the wider Longannet complex it had been part of was ultimately destroyed by flooding in March 2002, with no loss of life.

What remains

A small control hut that survived on the site in recent years has since been salvaged and removed, per site records.

Related mines

• Castlebridge Colliery — Both were part of the Longannet complex, their workings joined into one five-mile tunnel system; Solsgirth's reserves were worked out by the early 1990s, after which output came increasingly from Castlebridge.
• Longannet Colliery — Solsgirth fed coal directly into the Longannet complex's underground conveyor system from 1965.

Recorded claims

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

• In 1975 Solsgirth set a European record for coal output, raising 25,260 tons from a single coalface in a five-day period. ¹
• Recorded underground workforce grew from 640 men in 1971 to 924 by the late 1970s and early 1980s, under general manager W. M. I. Bell, working the Hirst steam-coal seam. ¹
• A planned conveyor link from Solsgirth to the separate Dollar Mine never went ahead, blocked by a large geological fault between the two; after its own 1990 closure Solsgirth was retained to ventilate the neighbouring Castlebridge Colliery. ¹
• The Longannet complex of which Solsgirth had been part connected Bogside, Castlehill and Solsgirth by a roughly five-mile underground tunnel to Longannet power station; it was destroyed in March 2002 when floodwater breached a dam in its sealed northern workings, with all 15 miners then underground evacuated safely. ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Solsgirth Mine, by Dollar — Fife Pits
2. (secondary) Longannet coal mine — Wikipedia

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 28 August 2026