Spindleside Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Cleland, known locally as 'The Midge', whose workings go back to the 1860s and whose Nos. 6 and 7 pits, on the Cleland Extension line, had opened by 1910. The Murdostoun Colliery Company worked it in the 1920s; in 1921 a crane jib killed its manager and electrical engineer. It had closed by 1939.

History

Spindleside Colliery lay at Cleland, North Lanarkshire. Workings in the Splint and Virtuewell coals and the Bellside ironstone at Spindleside were abandoned as early as 1865, and others in 1870, 1892 and 1900. Its Pits Nos. 6 and 7 had opened by 1910, close to the Cleland Extension line.

In the 1920s it belonged to the Murdostoun Colliery Co. Ltd. On 18 March 1921 a jib crane snapped while a haulage engine was being unloaded, killing the manager and the electrical engineer (see Disasters, below). In April 1929 Thomas Sommerville, a miner of 30 and goalkeeper for Cleland Juniors, was killed by a fall of roof in the pit, known locally as 'The Midge', and that October a miner was killed by a shot he thought had failed to light.

Its Kiltongue and Upper and Lower Drumgray workings were abandoned in 1917, and its Humph, Main and Shaley in 1932. The colliery had closed by 1939.

Geology

The Splint, Virtuewell, Kiltongue, Upper and Lower Drumgray, Humph, Main and Shaley coals and the Bellside ironstone.

Workings

Pits Nos. 6 and 7 by 1910, with an engine-driven haulage.

Closure

Its Humph, Main and Shaley workings were abandoned in 1932; the colliery had closed by 1939.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Murdostoun Colliery — Both were worked by the Murdostoun Colliery Company at Cleland.

Disasters & major incidents

• Spindleside Colliery crane accident, 1921
  18 March 1921 · Machinery · 2 fatalities
  On the afternoon of Friday 18 March 1921 the manager of Spindleside Colliery, Cleland, Robert Mackay, and its electrical engineer, Thomas Buchanan, were unloading part of a haulage engine from a motor lorry with a jib crane when the crane snapped and the jib fell on them. Both died in Glasgow Royal Infirmary that evening.

Recorded claims

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

• Spindleside Colliery Pits Nos. 6 and 7 had opened by 1910, close to the Cleland Extension line, and had closed by 1939. ^1,2
• The colliery was known locally as 'The Midge'. ³
• The Murdostoun Colliery Co. Ltd owned Spindleside Colliery in 1921-1929. ^4,5,6
• Splint, Virtuewell and Bellside ironstone workings at Spindleside were abandoned in 1865. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Wikipedia: Cleland (Old) railway station — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) RailScot: Bellside Junction — RailScot
3. (primary) Shotts parish accidents post 1900 — Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Spindleside, 1921 (MacKay) — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Spindleside, 1929 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Spindleside, 1929 (Scott) — Northern Mine Research Society
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Spindleside, Splint / Virtuewell and Bellside ironstone, abandoned 1865 — British Geological Survey
8. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Spindleside, Humph and Main, abandoned 1932 — British Geological Survey
9. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Spindleside, 1921 (Buchanan) — Northern Mine Research Society

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