Benhar Colliery
Colliery (19th Century), Explosives Factory (19th Century) - (20th Century), Miners Row(S) (19th Century)
Site Name Benhar Colliery
Classification Colliery (19th Century), Explosives Factory (19th Century) - (20th Century), Miners Row(S) (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) West Benhar; Fauldheads Colliery; Peden's Place
Canmore ID 79674
Site Number NS86SE 4
NGR NS 8900 6346
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/79674
- Council North Lanarkshire
- Parish Shotts (Motherwell)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Motherwell
- Former County Lanarkshire
(Location cited as NS 8899 6340 - shafts No. 3 and 19). BENHAR Colliery (see also NS86SE 4.02)
Location: Harthill
Previous Owners: Summerlee Iron Company from 1936
Types of Coal: House and Steam
Sinking/Production Commenced: 1914
Year Closed: 1962
Average Workforce: 545
Peak Workforce: 772
Peak Year: 1947
Shaft/Mine Details: 2 shafts: No. 19 209m, and No. 3 210 deep
Details in 1948: Output 750 tons per day, 222,000 tons per annum, longwall working. 755 employees. 4 bar tables [equipment for grading coal by size], Norton Washer [type of coal washing equipment]. No baths, but full-meal canteen, first-aid services. All electricity AC, generated at mine. Report dated 28-07-1948.
Other Details: Baths opened in 1950
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
Field Visit (September 1992)
NS86SE 4.00 89 63
The remains of the once extensive Benhar Colliery, situated to the SW of Harthill, comprise a number of bings and the earthworks of dismantled railways. Much of the site has been destroyed through opencast mining or the recycling of bings, and much of the ground is now occupied by an explosives manufacturer.
Mining had started in the area at least as early as 1793 (Grossart 1880), and it continued until the last pits closed in 1962 (NMRS, MS 819). Within this time-span the first three editions of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire sheet ix, published in 1864, 1899 and 1921 - the last resurveyed in 1910) give some indication of the development of the colliery. On the 1st edition (ibid) no working mines are depicted, although there is an 'Old Coal Pit' about 250m to the E of Benhar steading (NS 902 627; CSW 5059) which may be associated with a coal seam at Benhar which was being worked in 1827 (Mines Department 1931). By the 2nd edition (ibid), the picture had changed dramatically. Four working pits are shown, each linked by a siding to the NBR Shotts Branch: Pit No.21 (NS86SE 4.01), Pit No.1 (NS86SE 4.02), Pit No.18 (NS86SE 4.04) and Pit No.2 (NS86SE 4.05). A fifth pit, Fauldheads Colliery Pit No.24 is linked to Pit No.18 by a tramway, and a number of disused workings are also depicted, including Pit No.3 (NS86SE 4.03). A substantial village, West Benhar, had developed at the NW edge of this complex (NS86SE 4.06) and there were other rows - 'Peden's Place', close to the disused Pit No.5 (4.05). By 1910 all of these pits had ceased working, and the railway sidings had been removed. In 1914 the Summerlee Iron Company recommenced working at Benhar, and in 1948 two shafts were in use, Nos. 3 and 19 (NMRS MS 819).
4.01 NS 8956 6391 Benhar Colliery Coal Mines (CSW 4318, 4119, 4330)
4.02 NS 8901 6343 Benhar Colliery Coal Mine (CSW 4114, 4116) (see also NS86SE 4.00)
4.03 NS 8932 6328 Benhar Colliery Coal Mine (CSW 4117)
4.04 NS 8877 6290 Benhar Colliery (Alt Name: Fauldheads Colliery) Coal
Mines (CSW 4111, 4113, 4326)
4.05 NS 89 62 Benhar Colliery (Alt Name: Peden's Place) Coal Mines;
Miners' Rows (CSW 4103, 4106-8, 4110)
4.06 NS 887 633 West Benhar Miners' Rows (CSW 4112)
4.07 centres on NS 8908 6216 and 8932 6252 Benhar Colliery Explosives Works
Visited by RCAHMS (SDB, PJD) September 1992
