Bardykes Colliery 1940

Bardykes Colliery, sunk on the site of an infectious disease hospital, was nicknamed the ‘Spittal Colliery’. A dispute closed it in 1907 but the Summerlee Iron Company reopened it in 1908. In 1949 shaft No.2 caved in but No.1 shaft worked coal until 1962.

The remaining No.1 shaft (1,632 feet deep) and its steam engine house are on the right. Shaft No.2 was on the left where the ramp can be seen. In the distance, the waste tip or ‘bing’ (right) belongs to neighbouring Bothwell Castle Nos.3 and 4 Colliery.

Bardykes, Newton, Blantyreferme No.3 and Bothwell Castle Nos.3 and 4 Collieries all became linked by an extensive network of underground passages.