Archaeology Notes

Event ID 850884

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/850884

NC80SE 44 8980 0400

See also NC80SE 61 and NC80SE 62 and NC90SW 4.

(Location cited as NC 898 040). Brora Colliery. The first modern sinking was made in 1811-14, and from this date there survive the manager's house and offices. The pithead gear was demolished in 1970, but a square-section brick chimney escaped demolition.

J R Hume 1977.

(Location cited as NC 8991 0403, centred). BRORA Colliery

Owners: Marquess of Stafford/Dukes of Sutherland, later T M Hunter Limited, a miners' co-operative, and from 1973, Mr E E Pritchard

Sinking/Production Commenced: 1811, new mine (Ross No. 2) in 1969

Year Closed: 1975

Abandoned: 1975

Shaft/Mine Details: 2 shafts, No. 1 NC 899 040 and No. 2 895 040. New surface mine, Ross No. 2 (1969) at NC 8980 0400

Other Details: The only Jurassic coal mine in Scotland. Never taken into state ownership by the National Coal Board (NCB). Re-named Ross Pit, the original shafts becoming Ross No. 1, the new drift mine, Ross No. 2, being driven in 1969. Ross No. 1 was closed after a fire in 1969 forced the fire brigade to flood the mine. Ross No. 2 closed six years later. Pithead baths were built by the Miners' Welfare Fund in 1936. An associated brickworks (re-established in 1954) produced bricks and tiles using local clays and shale from the mine, and operated from c.1907 to c.1971, supplying common building brick to customers all over the Highlands (NC80SE 43).

M K Oglethorpe 2006.