1894 got off to a slow start when the miners returned to work at High Blantyre after their New Year break.
800 men and boys who turned up to their work at Dixon’s Collieries 2 and 3 after a couple of days holidays, were told they could not descend until things were made safer. In a rare instance where managers clearly did put the lives of the miners first, work stopped briefly.
The reason was that over the holiday, the large fanner machine had completely collapsed. The vital piece of equipment (perhaps similar to this one pictured at Cardowan) ,would normally bring a constant supply of fresh air into the mine, but on Monday 8th January 1894, it was broken.
The men were not allowed to descend into any of Dixon’s four mines in the area. The fanners situated at No 2 colliery (where today Priestfield Cemetery is located) were however repaired with all possible speed and were in working order by the Tuesday morning.
