Archaeology Notes

Event ID 851075

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/851075

NS77NW 59 centred 7015 7759

DUMBRECK Colliery

Location: Kilsyth

Previous Owners: William Baird & Company, later Bairds & Scottish Steel Limited

Types of Coal: Manufacturing, Coking, House and Steam

Sinking/Production Commenced: 1887

Year Closed: 1963

Average Workforce: 575

Peak Workforce: 669

Peak Year: 1947

Shaft/Mine Details: 3 shafts, No. 1 412m (NS 7015 7759), No. 2 411m (NS 7015 7757), and No. 3 243m deep (emergency shaft, NS 7018 7758, originally ironstone)

Details in 1948: Output 680 tons per day, 183,600 tons per annum. 644 employees. Coppee Baum-type washer [mechanical [equipment for the wet cleaning of coal]. Baths under construction (completed 1950), canteen, first-aid room. 90% electricity supply from Clyde Valley. Report dated 19-08-1948.

Other Details: Said to have had one of Scotland's first electrically-powered underground haulage and pumping plants in 1893, situated off No. 2 shaft. Famous for its coking coal, and had own coke ovens (upgraded in 1938). Retained by National Coal Board (NCB) after vesting because of its high-quality coal. Also remembered because of the tragedy of 1938 when eight men died after being overcome by smoke and fumes.

M K Oglethorpe 2006.