Bo'ness, Kinneil Colliery
Colliery (19th Century)
Site Name Bo'ness, Kinneil Colliery
Classification Colliery (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Kinneil Park
Canmore ID 75301
Site Number NS98SE 81
NGR NS 98667 81212
NGR Description Centred NS 98667 81212
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/75301
- Council Falkirk
- Parish Bo'ness And Carriden
- Former Region Central
- Former District Falkirk
- Former County West Lothian
NS98SE 81 centred 9867 8121
For Kinneil Ironworks which occupied part of this site see NS98SE 160
(Location cites as NS 9866 8121 - centred on No. 1 Shaft). KINNEIL Colliery
Location: Bo'ness
Previous Owners: Kinneil Cannel & Coking Coal Company
Types of Coal: House, Coking, Gas and Manufacturing
Sinking/Production Commenced: 1880-90
Year Closed: 1982
Year Abandoned: 1983
Average Workforce: 1,184
Peak Workforce: 1,268
Peak Year: 1960
Shaft/Mine Details: 4 older shafts, Furnaceyard Pit 311m, No. 2 Snab 351m, No. 4 Snab 128m, and Lothians 196m deep. New project begun in 1951, and completed in 1956. The 2 new shafts were 6.71m diameter and concrete-lined. No. 1 (NS 9866 8121) was downcast and equipped with 2 Koepe single-rope winders mounted in a tower, and raised the coal in 2 sets of two cages, each cage having 3 decks capable of carrying a 2-ton capacity mine car. No. 2 (NS 9879 8128) had a single ground-mounted Koepe winder and steel headframe for winding men and materials, and was upcast. In 1951, the new shafts were expected to exceed 900m in depth. Kinneil was merged with Valleyfield (under the Forth) in 1965 (NT08NW 43).
Details in 1948: Output 650 tons per day, 194,584 per annum. 601 employees. Baum type washer with froth flotation tank. Baths (1933), no canteen, first-aid. Electricity AC, none bought from outside. Report dated 19-08-1948.
Other Details: National Coal Board (NCB) reconstruction commenced in 1951, and was described in the new colliery brochure as marking 'the beginning of a major project in the great reconstruction programmes for the coal mines of Scotland envisaged in the Board's national plan'. The new design, including the car hall, had emerged following a visit to Bismark Colliery in the Ruhr, West Germany, and was designed to handle 3,000 tons of coal a day. A new Coppee coal washery was added as part of the scheme, which also included new offices, baths, canteen and medical facilities, the new layout of the colliery being overseen by the NCB's Scottish region architect, Egon Riss. Closed on 14 December 1982 because of severe geological conditions.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
Characterisation
This site falls within the Corbiehall and Snab Area of Townscape Character (NS98SE 207), which was defined as part of the RCAHMS Urban Survey Programme 2013. Text relating to the historical development and topography, and present character of the Corbiehall and Snab Area of Townscape Character can be viewed at site NS98SE 207.
Information from RCAHMS (LK), January 2014
