Valleyfield Colliery
Colliery (20th Century)
Site Name Valleyfield Colliery
Classification Colliery (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Low Valleyfield Coal Works; High Valleyfield Colliery
Canmore ID 49465
Site Number NT08NW 43
NGR NT 00984 86396
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/49465
- Council Fife
- Parish Culross
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Dunfermline
- Former County Fife
NT08NW 43 00984 86396
(Location cited as NT 010 683). Valleyfield Colliery, sunk 1908. 2-shaft colliery, with brick surface buildings and 'traditional' headgear.
J R Hume 1976.
Closed c. 1984 and buildings demolished.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
(Location cited as NT 0095 8641 - centred on Shaft No. 1). VALLEYFIELD 1 and 2 Colliery
Location: Newmills
Previous Owners: Fife Coal Company
Types of Coal: House, Steam, and Navigation
Sinking/Production Commenced: 1908-11
Year Closed: 1978
Year Abandoned: 1979
Average Workforce: 982
Peak Workforce: 1,052
Peak Year: 1959
Shaft/Mine Details: 2 oval brick-lined shafts, No. 1 393m (NT 0095 8641), and No. 2 384m deep (NT 0097 8641), deepened to 686m in 1950s reconstruction. Originally equipped with steam winders built by Douglas & Grant of Kirkcaldy. Surface mine at NT 0093 8622 driven in 1945 as an airway. Colliery merged under the Forth with Kinneil (NS98SE 81) in 1965. Kinneil was closed in 1982 and abandoned in 1983.
Details in 1948: Output, 930 tons per day, 240,000 tons per annum. 843 employees. Baum-type washery (wet coal cleaning system). New baths opened 25-06-1949, accommodation for 1,044 men, modern canteen and medical centre attached. Steam for winding, electricity for other purposes, supplied from National Coal Board (NCB) Central Power Station. Original report dated 18-08-1948.
Other Details: Said to produce the best coking and navigation coal in Scotland. Reconstructed in 1930s, at which time ponies were replaced by mechanised haulage. Valleyfield House was demolished in 1941 to build the miners' village of High Valleyfield. Reconstruction in progress in 1946, involving a major reorganisation of underground transport including the introduction of large mine cars with direct-rope and locomotive haulage. At the same time, new mine-car handling facilities were installed at the surface, along with a new surface drift mine for ventilation. Augmented by NCB's addition of Valleyfield 3 in 1954 [NT08NW 43.01]... Prone to methane problems, and the gas was extracted to be added to local town gas supplies. Gas explosions killed three men in 1911, and 35 in 1939, shortly after the oubreak of World War II. Conveniently positioned to supply navigation coal to the Royal Navy at nearby Rosyth.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
