Kames Colliery
Colliery (19th Century)
Site Name Kames Colliery
Classification Colliery (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Muirkirk, Kames Colliery
Canmore ID 87613
Site Number NS62NE 42
NGR NS 6847 2619
NGR Description Centred NS 6847 2619
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/87613
- Council East Ayrshire
- Parish Muirkirk
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Cumnock And Doon Valley
- Former County Ayrshire
NS62NE 42 6847 2619
This colliery is depicted on the 1:10560 scale Ordnance Survey map (Provisional Edition, 1958).
Information from RCAHMS (MMD) 20 August 1998.
(Location cited as NS 6848 2622). KAMES Colliery
Location: Muirkirk
Previous Owners: Bairds & Dalmellington Limited from 1931
Types of Coal: Gas and Steam
Sinking/Production Commenced: c.1870
Year Closed: 1968
Year Abandoned: 1968
Average Workforce: 569
Peak Workforce: 634
Peak Year: 1957
Shaft/Mine Details: 2 shafts, No. 1 249m, No. 2 251m
Details in 1948: Output 660 tons per day, 165,000 tons per annum, longwall and stoop and room working. 606 employees. 3 screens for dry coal, Baum-type washer (Blantyre Engineering Company). Baths (1933, for 540 men, with 40 shower cubicles), canteen, morphia administration scheme. Steam and electricity, all generated on site. Report dated 09-08-1948.
Other Details: Thought to be a gas-free pit until a gas/dust explosion killed 17 men in 1957. Reconstructed in 1950s, headframes and engine houses being replaced by tower-mounted Koepe winders, and major developments underground. No. 1 shaft was equipped with automatic skip winding, with a single 3.5 ton skip and counter balance. No. 2 shaft had two double-deck cages, accommodating 5 men or 1 hutch per deck. The electric winding equipment was supplied by the Swedish company, ASEA. Clean air was provided by 'forced ventilation', an unusual arrangement compared with most pits, where exhaust ventilation was the norm.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
External Reference (12 February 2015)
The automatic skip winder was installed in the No. 2 shaft and not as described in your description of the pit. No. 1 shaft was exclusively used for winding men and supplies.
Information from S H Purdie, Kames Colliery engineer, 12 February 2015
