Ardenrigg Colliery
Building(S) (19th Century), Colliery (20th Century) (1926)-(1963), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Site Name Ardenrigg Colliery
Classification Building(S) (19th Century), Colliery (20th Century) (1926)-(1963), Rig And Furrow (Medieval) - (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Watch Moss, Earlshill; Ardenrigg No. 6
Canmore ID 83281
Site Number NS86NW 19
NGR NS 8267 6569
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/83281
- Council North Lanarkshire
- Parish Shotts (Monklands)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Monklands
- Former County Lanarkshire
Field Visit (31 May 1991)
NS86NW 19 8267 6569
This coal mine (Ardenrigg Pit no.6) is situated at the base of the escarpment on the W side of Black Hill; it opened in 1926 and closed in 1963 (NMRS, MS 819). Half of the bing shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10,000 map has been removed, and what may have been the pit-head is visible at the E edge of the spoil. The sleepers for the conveyor are still visible on the southern half of the bing. The farmer at Stepends stated that an aerial ropeway used to run from the mine to Stepends Colliery (NS 806 669, NS86NW 31).
The field to the S of the bing is ridged, and in a gap in the cultivation, there are the footings of a three-compartment building (CSW 4525), which is shown as unroofed on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1896-7, sheet viii). It measures 15m from ENE to WSW by 2.8m transversely within stone footings 0.8m in thickness and 0.4m in height.
To the WNW of the mine there is a roofed brick building (CSW 4524), with electrical fittings, which may have been associated with the mine. This structure lies at the WSW end of a ruinous building about 35m in length which is depicted with an enclosure on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1859, sheet viii) under the name of 'Earlshill'. By the 2nd edition of the OS map (ibid) the NE half of the building is roofless and, on the revised edition of the OS 6-inch map (Lanarkshire 1914, sheet viii), the building appears to have fallen completely out of use.
(CSW 4524-6)
Visited by RCAHMS (DCC) 31 May 1991
Note (2006)
(Location cited as NS 8275 6565 -centred on main mine). ARDENRIGG 6 Colliery
Location: Plains, by Airdrie
Previous Owners: Ardenrigg Coal Company Limited
Types of Coal: Anthracite
Sinking/Production Commenced: 1926
Year Closed: 1963
Average Workforce: 282
Peak Workforce: 304
Peak Year: 1951
Shaft/Mine Details: Main mine, 1 in 8, 61m long to upper levels, and 134m at 1 in 5 to lower levels
Details in 1948: Output 280 tons per day, 77,000 tons per annum, longwall working. 249 employees. Screening plant and access to railway 4km away to the north-west at Stepends, supplied by aerial ropeway. Baum-type washery [coal cleaning system] by Blantyre Engineering Company. Baths (1938, for 238 men), canteen (not operating), first-aid services. All electricity from public supply. Report dated 28-07-1948.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
