Tannochside Colliery

Overview

A colliery at Tannochside near Uddingston, worked from 1870 through a succession of owners before passing to Archibald Russell Ltd, which built an adjoining brickworks in 1936 and ran the pit until its closure in 1945.

History

Tannochside Colliery was worked from 1870 by the Monkland Iron Company, passing to the Monkland Iron & Coal Co. Ltd from 1873 to 1880 and later to the Calderbank Steel & Coal Co. from 1890 to 1895. Archibald Russell, already a coal owner and shipowner elsewhere in Lanarkshire, took over the colliery from 1900, with Archibald Russell Ltd formally operating it from 1905; under the company's later ownership the colliery, managed by Walter Gibb, employed over 600 men underground and around 120 on the surface. In December 1935 Archibald Russell Ltd announced plans to build a new brickworks immediately next to the colliery, recruiting its entire workforce locally; the Tannochside Brickworks opened in 1936 with capacity for 150,000 bricks a week. The colliery itself closed in September 1945, part of the wider Archibald Russell Ltd group that also included Dechmont, Cambuslang, Spittal and Whistleberry collieries.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Lanarkshire coalfield: the abandonment plans name the Virgin, Splint, Kiltongue, Virtuewell, Blackband, Main, Pyotshaw, Ell, Upper and Lower Drumgray seams as worked.

Workings

Underground and surface workings employing over 600 men below ground and around 120 above, managed under Archibald Russell Ltd by Walter Gibb.

Closure

Closed in September 1945.

What remains

Unknown.

Related mines

• Dechmont Colliery — Both Archibald Russell Ltd collieries in Lanarkshire.
• Ferniegair Colliery — Both worked by Archibald Russell Ltd.

Recorded claims

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

• Tannochside Colliery was worked from 1870 by the Monkland Iron Company, then Monkland Iron & Coal Co. Ltd (1873-1880) and Calderbank Steel & Coal Co. (1890-1895), before passing to Archibald Russell from 1900 and Archibald Russell Ltd formally from 1905 until closure in September 1945. ¹
• Under Archibald Russell Ltd, managed by Walter Gibb, the colliery employed over 600 men underground and around 120 on the surface; in 1936 the company built the adjoining Tannochside Brickworks, recruiting its workforce locally to produce 150,000 bricks a week. ²
• The Scottish Mining Website's account of Bothwell parish has the district's pits closing from the 1930s: Hattonrig and Bothwell Park in 1932, Holytown and Wood Hall in 1939, Viewpark in 1942, Tannochside in 1945 and Thankerton in 1953. ³
• The 1944 List of Mines enters Tannochside under Archibald Russell Ltd in the Bellshill district. ⁴
• The Mining Remediation Authority's abandonment plans for Tannochside, 26 sheets in all, cover the Virgin, Splint, Kiltongue, Virtuewell and Blackband seams (9717), the Main and Pyotshaw (12439), the Ell and Upper (14000) and the Lower Drumgray (10892). ⁵

Sources

1. (secondary) Tannochside Colliery, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK — Mindat
2. (primary) Archibald Russell Ltd — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Bothwell Parish (Scottish Mining Website) — Scottish Mining Website
4. (primary) 1944 List of Mines (Scottish Mining Website transcription) — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) Tannochside abandonment plans 9717 and others (BGS mine plans catalogue) — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 30 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026