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Castlebridge Colliery
Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Castlebridge Colliery
Classification Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 148279
Site Number NS99SW 41
NGR NS 9403 9267
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/148279
- Council Clackmannan
- Parish Clackmannan
- Former Region Central
- Former District Clackmannan
- Former County Clackmannanshire
NS99SW 41 9403 9267
CASTLEBRIDGE colliery
Location: Gartlove, near Alloa
Previous Owners: National Coal Board
Types of Coal: Upper Hirst
Sinking Commenced: 1978
Production Commenced: 1984
Year Closed: 1999
Average Workforce: 700
Peak Workforce: 1,200
Peak Year: 1990
Shaft/Mine Details: Shaft was 6.1m diameter, concrete-lined, 426m deep, with a 1,050hp multi-rope electrically-powered tower-mounted friction winder. It was sunk at a cost of £57 million as a satellite of the Longannet complex to reduce travelling times, improve ventilation, enhance material handling, and replace the three older drifts in the complex. The last deep-coal mine shaft to be sunk in Scotland in the NCB era, it was also at the time the first new sinking for 20 years. Closed and filled in 2001, production retreating to the Longannet access, which later closed after a catastrophic flood in 2002.
Other Details: All production was low-sulphur coal dedicated to supplying Longannet Power Station, to which it was taken by several kilometers of underground conveyor. The low sulphur content of the coal prevented the need for a flue-gas desulphurisation plant at Longannet, but its high ash content led to the creation of fly-ash lagoons in the Forth estuary around Culross, and nearby Preston Island. Castlebridge was one of the most productive collieries in Europe, breaking all productivity records in Scotland.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
The Longannet Complex (NS 945 863) commenced production in 1969, closing in 2002. Mining the Upper Hirst coal, it comprised Bogside [NS98NE 193], Castlebridge [NS99SW 41], Castlehill [NS99SE 5], Solsgirth [NS99SE 6] and Longannet Mine [NS98NW 65] collieries, directly serving Longannet Power Station and designed to supply 10,160 tons of coal per day. The 8.8km tunnel between Solsgirth and Longannet contained what was claimed to be the longest underground conveyor belt in the world at the time. It was described as a blueprint for modern mining, and many aspects of the development were duplicated elsewhere in the UK (e.g. Selby), and overseas. Despite geological problems, its miners regularly broke productivity records for output from single faces. The last deep coal mine in Scotland, it closed after a catastrophic flood in April 2002.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
