Archaeology Notes

Event ID 850882

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/850882

NS89SW 43 centred 837 914

For (associated) village of Fallin (centred NS 833 918), see NS89SW 42.

Fallin Pit [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1979.

(Location cited as NS 8386 9138 - centred on Shaft No.3). POLMAISE 3, 4 and 5 (also known as FALLIN Colliery)

Location: Fallin

Previous Owners: Archibald Russell Limited

Types of Coal: House, Steam (including navigation), and Anthracite

Sinking/Production Commenced: 1904

Year Closed: 1987

Year Abandoned: 1987

Average Workforce: 606

Peak Workforce: 778

Peak Year: 1957

Shaft/Mine Details: 3 shafts in 1948, Nos. 3 and 4 375m deep, but No. 4 wound from 311m. No. 5 shaft 301m, sunk in 1940 (for ventilation, pumping and upcast). No. 3 at NS 8386 9138, rectangular, downcast and wood-lined; No. 4 at NS 8384 9139, rectangular, upcast and wood-lined; No. 5 at NS 8378 9142, circular and concrete-lined, with tower-mounted electric winder.

Details in 1948: Output 700 tons per day, 175,000 tons per annum. 574 employees. Coppee Baum washer. Canteen, baths (1934, for 720 men, with 48 shower cubicles), first-aid. Electricity AC, generated at colliery (also supplies Polmaise 1 and 2 (NS89SW 44)). Report dated 16-08-1948.

Other Details: Shafts 4 and 5 had timber headframes until replacement with steel structures in the early 1940s. The National Coal Board (NCB) reconstruction scheme of 1954 added a tower-mounted winder and mechanised underground transport. The complex included a washery, which also handled coal from Polmaise 1 and 2 (NS89SW 44). By 1960, production had diverted to the Upper Hirst seams, supplying Kincardine Power Station (NS98NW 61.00). In 1984, Polmaise 3 and 4 was one of the major flashpoints triggering the miners' strike. A miners' memorial was unveiled on 2 July 1994.

M K Oglethorpe 2006.

Polmaise 3 and 4 Colliery Baths, Lanarkshire: This building was erected on made ground and had to be carried on a reinforced concrete foundation. The pit entrance, with boot cleasing and greasing rooms etc. , occupies the flat roofed porition on the left (see SC 1073899), that on the right contains the canteen ad clean enctrance. The pitched roofs of the locker rooms can be seen at the rear; the bath house lies between them. The building is finished externally in cream cement with bands of green-glazed bricks. Opened: 27th January , 1934. Accommodation: 720 men. Cost: £10, 150. Canteen £696. Architect: J A Dempster ARIBA, Miners' Welfare Committee.

Miners' Welfare Committee, 1935.