Archaeology Notes

Event ID 850536

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/850536

NS41SW 18 4438 1441

(Location cited as NS 4435 1428). LITTLEMILL 2, 3 and 5 Colliery

Location: Rankiston

Previous Owners: Originally the Coylton Coal Company, Bairds & Dalmellington Limited from 1937

Types of Coal: House

Sinking/Production Commenced: from 1860

Year Closed: 1974

Average Workforce: 495

Peak Workforce: 810

Peak Year: 1960

Shaft/Mine Details: 3 shafts. No. 5 begun during re-organisation in 1952, 4.88m diameter, 325m deep, concrete-lined, new tandem-type steel headframe 23m high, used standard NCB 2.5-ton mine cars, lifted by new 805 hp electric winder with dynamic braking.

Details in 1948: Output 150 tons per day, 40,000 tons per annum. Longwall advancing working. 158 employees. 2 screens for dry coal, no washing. Baths, medical health centre and canteen under construction. Electricity, but no public supply. Report dated 06-08-1948.

Other Details: Baths extended in the 1950s, with full-meal canteen added. The reconstruction of the 1950s was designed to increase production from 180 to 1,000 tons per day. Improvements included locomotive haulage underground, and a new coal preparation plant designed also to serve neighbouring Polquhairn (NS41NE 11.00). Compressed air was supplied by five air compressors at the surface, and two underground. From the 1950s, electricity was provided from public suppy by the South of Scotland Electricity Board.

M K Oglethorpe 2006.