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Littlemill Colliery
Brickworks (Period Unassigned), Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Littlemill Colliery
Classification Brickworks (Period Unassigned), Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Knockshinnock; Littlemill 2, 3 And 5
Canmore ID 124358
Site Number NS41SW 18
NGR NS 4438 1441
NGR Description Grid reference to N end of the colliery site
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/124358
- Council East Ayrshire
- Parish Coylton (East Ayrshire)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cumnock And Doon Valley
- Former County Ayrshire
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.
