Whistleberry Colliery

Overview

Archibald Russell's two-pit colliery at Whistleberry, between Blantyre and Hamilton, working by 1900 and closed on 27 May 1935, when a rush of water forced the owners to stop. Falls of thick head coal and of roof stone killed men through its life. In 1938 the site was sold for a brickworks, later Raeburn Bricks.

History

Whistleberry Colliery lay at Whistleberry, between Blantyre and Hamilton, and belonged to Archibald Russell, the Lanarkshire coalmaster, and then Archibald Russell Ltd. Its Nos. 1 and 2 pits were working by 1900, when a miner was killed by a fall of roof in No. 2. The recorded deaths show thick coal worked with head coal left overhead: in 1904 a miner was killed by a fall of head coal he was working beneath, unpropped as the regulations required; in 1909 another fell on a man standing holing; and in 1911 a fall of coal knocked out the props holding up the head coal. In 1903 a miner at the top of a cuddie brae, putting a loaded hutch back on the rails without hooking it to the rope, was run over by it.

In April 1918 John Primrose, a 68-year-old shanksman, was pinned against the cage at the bottom of No. 2 pit by hutches that ran down a slight slope. Roof falls killed men in 1925; in 1926, when a 65-year-old was crushed by a stone of over two tons while his son escaped; and in 1931. The greyhound track at Craighead Park, Blantyre, opened in 1933, was popular with the miners of Whistleberry and its neighbours.

Long troubled by water, the colliery closed on the evening of Monday 27 May 1935, after a working life of forty years, when a rush of water forced the owners to stop. Its Ell, Humph, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virgin and Blackband workings were all abandoned that year, and its two double shafts were later filled in. In 1938 John and R. D. Finlay bought the site of the former colliery from Hamilton town council to build a brickworks, which became Whistleberry Brickworks Ltd, on Whistleberry Road, Blantyre, and later Raeburn Bricks.

Geology

The Ell, Humph, Main, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virgin coals and the Blackband ironstone; thick coal worked with head coal left above.

Workings

Nos. 1 and 2 pits, with cuddie braes and rope haulage underground.

Closure

Closed on 27 May 1935 after an inrush of water; all its workings were abandoned that year and the site was sold for a brickworks in 1938.

What remains

The site was used for a brickworks from 1938, later Whistleberry Brickworks Ltd and Raeburn Bricks, on Whistleberry Road.

Redevelopment

Whistleberry Brickworks (later Raeburn Bricks), from 1938.

Recorded claims

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

• Whistleberry Colliery belonged to Archibald Russell and later Archibald Russell Ltd. ^1,2,3
• In 1904 a miner was killed by a fall of head coal he was working beneath, which had not been propped as the regulations required. ⁴
• In April 1918 a 68-year-old shanksman was pinned against the cage at the bottom of No. 2 pit by runaway hutches. ^1,5
• Whistleberry's workings were abandoned in 1935. ^6,7
• In 1938 John and R. D. Finlay bought the site of the former Whistleberry Colliery for a brickworks. ⁸
• The Blantyre greyhound track opened in 1933 was popular with miners from Whistleberry colliery. ⁹
• Whistleberry Colliery, owned by Archibald Russell and Co. Ltd, closed on the evening of Monday 27 May 1935 after a working life of forty years, the closure forced on the owners by a rush of water. ¹⁰
• The two double shafts at Whistleberry Colliery, owned by Archibald Russell, were filled in after it closed. ¹⁰

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Blantyre accidents post 1914 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Whistleberry, No.2 Pit, 1900 — Northern Mine Research Society
3. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Whistleberry, No.2 Pit, 1926 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Whistleberry, No.2 Pit, 1904 — Northern Mine Research Society
5. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Whistleberry, No.2 Pit, 1918 — Northern Mine Research Society
6. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Whistleberry, Pyotshaw, Splint and Virgin, abandoned 1935 — British Geological Survey
7. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Whistleberry, Blackband, abandoned 1935 — British Geological Survey
8. (secondary) Scottish Brick History: Whistleberry Brickworks, Blantyre, South Lanarkshire — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
9. (secondary) Wikipedia: Blantyre Greyhound Stadium — Wikipedia
10. (secondary) Blantyre Project: tag 'whistleberry' (1935 Closure of Whistleberry Colliery; Filling up Whistleberry Shafts) — Blantyre Project
11. (primary) NMRS Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths: Whistleberry, No.1 Pit, 1903 — Northern Mine Research Society

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