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Brora Coal Workings

Brora, Clyne, Sutherland.

Coal mine (infilled), one of five main shafts around Brora where 16th century bell pits were also worked.

These were the only Jurassic coal mines in Scotland, at least at a commercial level (cf. Vriskaig Point Mine, Skye). Bell pits were dug from 1529 (particularly around the Brora Links area) and deeper adit shafts were further used up until 1974.

The given coordinates for this entry are for the Brora Colliery 'Ross Pit' (No.1) that was sunk in 1811 and was 70m deep. This location (NC 8991 0403) is now a car park, following the demolition of the mine workings in 1970. As Ross Pit neared exhaustion, a new drift mine (Ross Pit No.2) was established a short distance west at Fascally (NC 8945 0397) in 1969, the same year a fire closed Ross Pit No.1. These Ross pits had replaced the earlier Inverbrora Shaft (NC 8951 0377) originally sunk in the 1770s, and the 'Old Pit' nearer the coast (NC 9068 0370).

Alternative Names: Brora Colliery, Ross Pit, Fascally Mines, East Brora

Notes: The first coal pit, opened in 1598, was probably near the salt pans which were in the vicinity of the now demolished Old Salt House (NC 9090 0362). In 1614 the workings were reopened and the shaft was visible 'some 200 yds N of the Old Salt House.' This must refer to the shaft published on the OS map, which remains as a slight depression filled with stones. The coal mining industry in Brora is now defunct, production having ended in 1975. [Canmore]

From 1598, for three, relatively short-lived phases, the coal was used to manufacture salt. The salt was used to preserve salmon caught in the River Brora and Loch Brora and, because Brora had access to cheap, home-made salt, its salmon was able to be exported to distant markets on the continent from as early as the 17th Century, when salmon in other Highland parishes could only exploit local markets... In 1810, a more traditional coal mine [Ross Pit] was established further inland, where the coal seam was found at a depth of 70m (240 ft). Coal from this mine was used to fuel two new industries of brick and whisky making. Ninety years later, Brora coal was used to produce electricity in Thomas Hunter's new woollen mill, which, from 1913, supplied the parish council with power to light its street lights. Because of this, Brora became known as 'Electric City'. [Venture North]

The final mine closed due to a combination of factors; increasing costs due to geological issues, competition from the NCB (who never incorporated the Brora mines), better-paid employment opportunities elsewhere (the new North Sea oil sector in particular), and the high-sulphur coal being of relatively poor quality with growths of iron pyrite that made it prone to spontaneous combustion.

At least 10 bell pits operated in the Brora Links area [mapped by Farey, 1813], which has been much altered since its early industrial days.

The source of the coal [up to 1.1m thick] is the shallow seams in the Bathonian Stage of the Middle Jurassic (170 mya), which dip inland from the coast until they are cut off by the NE-SW trending Helmsdale Fault... The history of the coal industry of Brora is well documented and is related in the leaflets which accompany walks of varying length around the town. [Hiscock]