Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery
Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Knockshinnoch Castle Colliery
Classification Colliery (Period Unassigned)
Canmore ID 80656
Site Number NS61SW 17
NGR NS 6097 1255
NGR Description Centred
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/80656
- Council East Ayrshire
- Parish New Cumnock
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cumnock And Doon Valley
- Former County Ayrshire
NS61SW 17 6097 1255
(Location cited as NS6097 1250). KNOCKSHINNOCH CASTLE Colliery
Location: New Cumnock
Previous Owners: New Cumnock Collieries Limited
Types of Coal: House and Steam
Sinking/Production Commenced: 1940-44
Year Closed: 1968
Year Abandoned: 1969
Average Workforce: 578
Peak Workforce: 755
Peak Year: 1956
Shaft/Mine Details: 2 shafts, 187m and 128m deep
Details in 1948: Output 900 tons per day, 264,600 tons per annum, stoop and room working. 580 employees. 3 screens for dry coal. Baum (Simon Carves) type washer. No baths, but canteen available. Steam, electricity 100% from public supply. Report dated 09-08-1948. Pithead baths were built subsequently in 1949, and also served neighbouring pits.
Other Details: Best known for the disaster that occurred on 7 September 1950 when workings driven too close to the surface allowed a peat basin at the surface to burst into the mine, the ensuing inrush trapping 129 miners underground, of whom 13 subsequently died. Most of the trapped men were heroically rescued through workings connected to the neighbouring Bank No. 6 Colliery [NS51SE 21]. The disaster was subsequently dramatised in 1952 with the release of the British film, 'The Brave Don't Cry', starring John Gregson, Alex Keir and Fulton Mackay.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
