Vogrie Colliery

Overview

A colliery and fireclay works on the Vogrie estate near Gorebridge, Midlothian, with pits worked before 1823. A string of companies held it in the 1880s and 1890s, the last liquidated in 1895; the Arniston Coal Company followed, and Gavin Paul and Sons worked it from the 1910s until it was abandoned in 1939. Three of its brick kilns still stood in 2019.

History

Vogrie Colliery worked the coal and fireclay of the Vogrie estate near Gorebridge, Midlothian. Coal was mined there early: the Splint workings of Vogrie Nos. 6 and 7 pits were abandoned in 1823 and those of the Green Pit in 1864. In October 1863 a miner ascending Vogrie pit fell from the cage about 40 fathoms to the bottom. John Christie had the Arniston and Vogrie works in 1867.

By 1886 the Vogrie Colliery Co. Ltd was running it with a large brick and fireclay works, and that September the colliery, its kilns and the tenant's right to the mineral field on the Vogrie estate, about 2,000 acres with over 200 acres proved, were offered for sale. In 1893 the Vogrie Coal and Fire Clay Co. Ltd was formed with £20,000 to take over the business; in the coal strike of 1894 the pit usually employed about 60 miners and the brick and pipe works 50. The company went into liquidation in 1895, and in March 1896 the works shut, putting 120 people out of work. The Arniston Coal Company was expected to reopen it that June, and in 1903 it sold off the brickwork, electric and colliery plant and the branch railway.

Gavin Paul and Sons Ltd were working Vogrie, with a New Pit and No. 2 pit, from at least 1913, when a hanger-on was killed by stone falling from the side of a haulage road; a miner was killed by a fall of coal in the New Pit in 1922, and in 1937 a shunter was crushed during shunting near Fushiebridge station. Its Great Parrot seam was abandoned in 1927, the Bryant in 1929 and the Great, Diamond and Sillerwillie in 1933. In May 1939 the colliery plant, cleaning plant, sidings, locomotives and wagons were put up for sale owing to the abandonment of the colliery. Three of the brick kilns were still standing in 2019.

Geology

The Splint, Parrot, Great Parrot, Kailblades, Silver Willie (Sillerwillie), Bryant, Great and Diamond coals, with fireclay.

Workings

Numbered pits from early in the nineteenth century, later the Green Pit, the New Pit and No. 2 pit; a brick, pipe and fireclay works with kilns, and a branch railway.

Closure

Abandoned in 1939, when the plant, locomotives and wagons were offered for sale; its last seams had been abandoned in 1927-1933.

What remains

Three of the brick kilns were standing in 2019, modified at both ends.

Three brick kilns.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Arniston Colliery — The Arniston Coal Company took over the Vogrie field, was expected to reopen Vogrie in 1896 and sold its plant in 1903.

Recorded claims

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

• The Splint workings of Vogrie Nos. 6 and 7 pits were abandoned in 1823. ¹
• In October 1863 a miner fell about 40 fathoms from the cage while ascending Vogrie pit. ²
• In 1894 the Vogrie pit usually employed about 60 miners, and its brick and pipe works 50 people. ³
• The Vogrie Coal and Fire Clay Co. Ltd went into liquidation in 1895, and in March 1896 the works shut, putting 120 out of work. ³
• Gavin Paul and Sons Ltd owned Vogrie Colliery from at least 1913 to 1937. ^4,5,6
• Rights to the Vogrie estate's coal passed from the Vogrie Coal Company to the Arniston Coal Company. ^7,8
• In May 1939 the colliery plant was offered for sale owing to the abandonment of the colliery. ³
• Three of the brick kilns were standing in 2019. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Vogrie Nos. 6 and 7, Splint, abandoned 1823 — British Geological Survey
2. (secondary) Accidents 1855-1870 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (secondary) Scottish Brick History: Vogrie Coal and Fire Clay Works, Gorebridge, Midlothian — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
4. (secondary) Accidents 1921-1930 — Scottish Mining Website
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Vogrie, 1913 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Vogrie, 1937 — Northern Mine Research Society
7. (secondary) RailScot: Vogrie Colliery — RailScot
8. (secondary) Scottish Cave and Mine Database: Vogrie Country Park (adit) — Grampian Speleological Group: Scottish Cave and Mine Database
9. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Vogrie (Green Pit), Splint, abandoned 1864 — British Geological Survey
10. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Vogrie, Sillerwillie, abandoned 1933 — British Geological Survey
11. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Vogrie, New Pit, 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society

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