Polmaise Past and Present
Polmaise Pit 1&2
Polmaise 1 & 2
Coal had been mined in a small way for hundreds of year by the time the Alloa Mining Company began to mine coal locally at Greenyards, Sink Farm and Pirnhall amongst other[i]. The lands around Polmaise House to the East of Stirling, owned by the Murrays of Touchadam and Polmaise were found to be particularly suitable for development. The land was sold by the family to the Lanarkshire mining firm of Archibald Russell Ltd.
The first site selected for development was at what is now known as Millhall (a livestock market and garages now occupy the former colliery site). This developed into two mine shafts known as Polmaise 1 & 2.[ii] Work had started by 1895 and coal was being dug by 1902; the first Manager was Mr John McLaren[iii]. The coal mined was household coal, steam coal and anthracite, a hard smokeless coal used in stoves, and the coal seams were worked to a depth of around 500 feet:
“At Polmaise Colliery twelve seams of coal were passed through in the shafts, amounting in thickness to 23 feet 5 inches. The thicknesses of the seams which are at present being worked, and the depths at No. 1 pit, are as follows: — The Hartley seam, 2 feet at 291 feet deep; the Greenyard seam, 3 feet 3 inches at 372 feet; the Main seam, 3 feet 1 inch at 447 feet; and the Knott seam, 3 feet at 486 feet”.[1]
As well as the the shafts and associated buildings, the company also built offices and thirty cottages, mostly for officials. Although Polmaise 1 & 2 regularly employed 600 – 700 workers, with the proximity of Stirling, most miners lived in the town itself.[v]
The type of coal chiefly mined was anthracite, a very hard but smokeless coal, used in stoves. However mining at Polmaise 1 and 2 was always hard, with water from the nearby River Forth regularly entering the pit, especially at high tides. The mine was never as fully developed as Polmaise 3 and 4:
“My Granda, worked there in the 1030s. No lift shaft and ladders were used to get up and down the pit. To differing levels of coal seams…After loosing a leg and no compensation he looked after the Pit ponies and used to take clean towels and soap up to the miners that bathed in a pool outside the pit somewhere”.” Brian Shaun MacDonald, via Facebook
Eventually the mine became linked underground with Polmaise 3 and 4 and these original shafts were closed in 1958.
Today, little remains of Polmaise 1 and 2, except the pit baths. The mine shafts, bing, railway and offices have all gone.
[1] http://tompaterson.co.uk/mining/Polmaise.htm
[i] http://www.bannockburn.co.uk/coal-mining/
[ii] http://tompaterson.co.uk/mining/Polmaise.htm
[iii] Kerr Hugh G: Fallin – Tales from a Mining Village, Stirling District Libraries 1991
[v] Tom Paterson: Mining in Stirlingshire: http://tompaterson.co.uk/mining/mining_stirlingshire.htm
[vi] Scotlands Places: http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/112562/polmaise-colliery-1-2-colliery-offices/rcahms?item=1229227
[vii] .facebook_1460456100238.jpg
[viii] Photo: Kelvin Martin 2016
A view of Polmaise Colliery (1 and 2 ) showing the baths at the rear, the only part of the colliery still in existence.
Polmaise Colliery (1 & 2), Colliery Offices c 1995 and now demolished
Polmaise Colliery (1 and 2) after closure in 1958
