Wellshot Colliery

Overview

A colliery and brickworks at Wellshot, Cambuslang, worked from 1873 to 1905 by the Dunn family, then by Dunn and Glen and finally United Collieries Limited. Its fireclay went into bricks stamped 'Wellshot', turned out at about 30,000 a day by 1899; its manager George Canning was killed in 1894 when the winding engine failed and the cage was carried over the pulley.

History

Wellshot Colliery lay at Cambuslang, four miles south-east of Glasgow, and is recorded as working from 1873 to 1905. Its owners were Dunn Brothers, the Glasgow coalmasters, and David Gardner Dunn. In August 1895 Dunn and Glen was registered with a capital of £10,000 to take over the business of D. G. Dunn and Hugh Glen, coal masters at Wellshot, as coal masters, brick and tile makers and quarry masters, with its registered office at Wellshot Colliery. Hugh Glen, who had learned brickmaking with a firm in Parkhead, had started the Cambuslang brickwork; he died at Wellshot House in 1907.

In 1898 the newly floated United Collieries Limited acquired the Wellshot Brickwork among its collieries and works, keeping Glen on to help manage it and run the brick sales. Brickmaking at Wellshot proved very remunerative, and early in 1899 the directors built an additional kiln that roughly doubled the output to about 30,000 bricks a day. Bricks stamped 'Wellshot' have been found around Glasgow and in Rutherglen.

The colliery employed 142 people in 1894, 240 in 1900 and 76 in 1905, raising household, manufacturing and steam coal and, in 1905, fireclay. Plans survive of its workings in the Upper, Main, Ell, Humph, Splint, Kiltongue and Virgin coals, some catalogued with the neighbouring Bullions and Law pits. On 6 December 1894 the manager, George Canning, was killed when the winding engine broke down and the cage was carried over the pulley and fell on him. By 1910 the map showed only the site of the old Wellshot Colliery, with a small group of buildings still standing.

Geology

The Upper, Main, Ell, Humph, Splint, Kiltongue and Virgin coals of the Lanarkshire coalfield, with fireclay.

Workings

Wellshot No. 1 and No. 2 pits, with a brickworks at the colliery enlarged by a second kiln in 1899.

Closure

Closed in 1905; by 1910 the map showed only the site of the old colliery.

What remains

Unknown.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Related mines

• Kenmuirhill Colliery — Both worked by Dunn Brothers, the Glasgow coalmasters, in the 1890s.

Recorded claims

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

• The colliery is listed as working from 1873 to 1905, under Dunn Brothers, D. G. Dunn and United Collieries Ltd. ¹
• Dunn and Glen was registered in August 1895 with £10,000 capital to carry on the Wellshot business of D. G. Dunn and Hugh Glen, with its office at Wellshot Colliery. ²
• United Collieries Limited acquired the Wellshot Brickwork on its formation in 1898. ^1,2
• An additional kiln built early in 1899 roughly doubled the Wellshot brick output to about 30,000 a day. ²
• Bricks stamped 'Wellshot' have been found in the Glasgow area and in Rutherglen. ³
• The colliery employed 142 people in 1894, 240 in 1900 and 76 in 1905. ¹
• The manager, George Canning, was killed on 6 December 1894 when the winding engine broke down and the cage was carried over the pulley and fell on him. ¹
• Plans survive of Wellshot's workings in the Upper, Main, Ell, Humph, Splint, Kiltongue and Virgin coals. ^4,5
• By 1910 the map showed the site of the old Wellshot Colliery with a small group of buildings. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Wellshot Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Wellshot Brickworks, Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
3. (secondary) Wellshot (brickmarks gallery) — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
4. (primary) CAMBUSLANG, WELLSHOT, Humph, Splint, Kiltongue, Upper Soft, Virgin: abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority
5. (primary) BULLIONS, LAW, WELLSHOT NO 1, 2, Main and Ell: abandonment plan catalogue entry — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026