2014 Ogilvie Contractors at Dixons 3

During the middle of November 2014, I visited a construction site on the outskirts of Blantyre on Hillhouse Road.

At the invite of ‘Ogilvie Contractors’, I was permitted on to this modern construction site, which has a very special connection to Blantyre’s history. The site is of course the old site of Dixon’s Pit 3, the scene of the tragic explosion which left over 200 men and boys dead in 1877.

Building of a pub and hotel is currently underway on this

1877 Dixons Colliery 3

historic site, located at the entrance to Westcraigs housing estate. Located just behind Raeburn Brick at High Blantyre Industrial Estate, the contractors are first making safe the old mine workings telling me they were first drilling down to cap and make safe, the old pit shaft. Foundation work for the Farmhouse Inn and Carvery will then commence, which when completed, will create up to 65 jobs. The Inn will be one of TWO major new pubs coming to Blantyre.

Pictured in 1877 in exactly the same vantage point as my own photo, is the Dixon’s Colliery, the scene of the disaster where such tragedy occurred below the earth in that location.