Photographic copy of map of blackband coal workings of the Bent Colliery Company, Hamilton Palace. Insc: 'Plan shewing Hamilton Palace Mineral Field leased to The Bent Colliery Company Limited by His ...

Description Photographic copy of map of blackband coal workings of the Bent Colliery Company, Hamilton Palace. Insc: 'Plan shewing Hamilton Palace Mineral Field leased to The Bent Colliery Company Limited by His Grace Duke of Hamilton. 1928. Blackband Coal Workings'.

Date 1928

Collection Copies of records from Lennoxlove House Ltd, East Lothian, Scotland

Catalogue Number E 33599 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 765649

Scope and Content Photographic copy of map of coal workings, Hamilton Palace Colliery (site), Bothwellhaugh, North Lanarkshire This large-scale drawing of the underground workings also incidentally shows the layout of the colliery, complete with associated housing and community buildings, as it existed in the year which probably marked a final stage in the demolition of Hamilton Palace. Although the colliery stood about 2km north of the palace and on the opposite bank of the River Clyde, as this mineral map clearly shows, the workings associated with its twin mine-shafts extended underneath much of the Low Parks. Instrumental in creating structural instability and subsidence in the area, the workings eventually approached a point close to the palace during World War I. The remaining coal from the area under the actual site of the palace was removed in the 1950s. By the late 19th century, numerous collieries were operational in the Bothwell and Hamilton areas, exploiting the rich coal measures of the Central Scotland coalfield. The southern portion of this coalfield was of very wide extent, spreading across the middle reaches of the River Clyde almost as far as Lanark and including much land under Hamilton ownership. Established by the Bent Colliery Company on the east bank of the River Clyde at Bothwellhaugh in 1884, Hamilton Palace Colliery was operational until 1959. At its peak in 1948 it had a workforce of 605 employees and annually produced 137,500 tons of rich coal for house, gas and manufacturing use from two main shafts, each 291m deep. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Colour negative

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