Stonecraigs Colliery

Overview

An old Coltness Iron Company colliery at Newmains, worked from at least the 1860s, whose principal pit ended as a pumping and coal-washing shaft before closing in 1910.

History

Stonecraigs lay at Newmains, in Cambusnethan parish, and belonged to the Coltness Iron Company. Its pits were working by the early 1860s: an abandonment plan of Stonecraigs No. 3 is dated 1863, and in 1864 a drawer was killed waiting for a loaded hutch at the colliers' wall face in the splint coal. Its recorded deaths over the next thirty years were mostly falls of coal, roof and side, many in the stoops of a seam nine feet high, and several boys died by cages or tubs: a drawer of 15 in 1869 and a collier of 15 in 1884 were crushed by the cage through mistakes over signals, and a boy of 14 was caught by passing tubs in 1886. On 1 October 1883 two colliers of 22, Alexander Bryson and William Mullen, were killed together by a fall of side at the face.

In 1893 Stonecraigs was listed under the Coltness company with John Wardlaw as manager, and in 1894 it employed 107 men raising gas, household, manufacturing and steam coal and fireclay. After that coal working fell away: from 1896 the principal pit served for pumping and coal washing, with 21 to 46 men, working the Ell coal on a small scale. The colliery closed in 1910, and plans of its abandoned workings are dated 1911.

Geology

The Splint and Ell coals, with fireclay; one seam worked in stoops was nine feet high.

Workings

Several pits (No. 3 and No. 5 are named on plans); stoop-and-room and wall faces; the principal pit later used for pumping and coal washing.

Closure

Closed in 1910; the last abandonment plans are dated 1911.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Bailliesmuir Colliery — Coltness Iron Company pits at Newmains.
• Herdshill Colliery — Coltness Iron Company pits at Newmains.

Recorded claims

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

• Stonecraigs, Newmains, belonged to the Coltness Iron Co.; in 1893 its manager was John Wardlaw. ^1,2
• Stonecraigs employed 107 men in 1894; from 1896 its principal pit was used for pumping and coal washing. ²
• In October 1883 the collier William Mullen, 22, was killed by a fall of side at the face at Stonecraigs. ^3,2
• Stonecraigs closed in 1910. ²
• Abandonment plans of Stonecraigs workings are dated from 1863 (No. 3) to 1911. ^4,5

Sources

1. (primary) List of Mines in Scotland, 1893 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) Stonecraigs Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: fatal accidents 1883 — Scottish Mining Website
4. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21859859: Stonecraigs No. 3, abandoned 1863 — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan 21915087: Stonecraigs, abandoned 1911 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 21 October 2026 · Last researched: 21 October 2026