Rothes Colliery
Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Rothes Colliery
Classification Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Thornton; Strathore
Canmore ID 70464
Site Number NT29NE 8
NGR NT 2805 9726
NGR Description Centred NT 2805 9726
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/70464
- Council Fife
- Parish Kirkcaldy And Dysart
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Kirkcaldy
- Former County Fife
NT29NE 8 centred 2805 9726
For adjacent Thornton railway marshalling yard, see NT29NE 14.00.
(Location cited as NT 2811 9727 - centred on winding tower No.1). ROTHES Colliery
Location: Thornton
Previous Owners: National Coal Board (NCB)
Sinking Commenced: 1946
Production Commenced: 1957
Year Closed: 1962
Year Abandoned: 1969
Average Workforce: 960
Peak Workforce: 1,235
Peak Year: 1960
Shaft Details: Two shafts with Koepe electric winders mounted in huge concrete towers (No. 1 at NT 2811 9727 and No. 2 at NT 2796 9726). The winders lifted conventional cages with minecars (not skips), which were ejected onto a minecar circuit at the pithead.
Other Details: The first and perhaps visually the finest of the new National Coal Board superpits, it was designed by NCB architect Egon Riss, although the plans for the development dated back to the Fife Coal Company era. It was opened amid great optimism by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 30 June 1958, and was described by Lord Forbes (Minister for State for Scotland) as having a lifespan of 100 years. The new town of Glenrothes was built in anticipation of its longevity, but it became the most spectacular failure of the NCB era in Scotland. Its estimated cost was £1.65 million, and it was expected to produce 5,000 tons per day. In reality, it cost £20 million, and geological problems and severe flooding resulted in only a fraction of the anticipated productivity, and closure after only five years. It became a huge political embarassment, and the associated records in the Public Record Office were therefore closed and inaccessible until 2000. Meanwhile, the shafts were subsequently used to test underwater equipment, some of which was used offshore in the development of the North Sea oil fields. In 1993, the two huge winding towers, which had become an important navigational aid in Glenrothes, were blown up, leaving other parts of the large surface facilities occupied by the local Fire Brigade, and a number of other tenants.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
