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Drum Mine

Wester Drum, High Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire.

Fireclay mine, 20th Century.

Highly-extensive pillar-and-stall complex near-contiguous with the Milnquarter Mine workings along its W side, the most extensive level being in the Upper Bonnybridge Fireclay. Complex extended S for c.1.6 km from the No.2 Pit [NS 8307 7906] at the N of the complex, down to approx [NS 8288 7745] to the W of South Drum farm.

Sunk c. 1907 as a safer replacement for an older, subsiding pit at the Bonnybridge Silica & Fireclay Works. The 1920 25" OS map shows a mine entrance at the S end of a mineral railway directly connecting this entrance (NS 8316 7859) with the now-demolished fireclay works site further north. A shaft is also marked on maps (NS 8322 7843), due south of the main rail entrance close to a junction NW of Drum Farm, probably an air shaft. Accident reports indicate Drum Mine was still in use in 1953.

"According to the maps... when the Bonnybridge Silica & Fireclay Works was started they were mining fireclay very close to their sheds etc. At some point they started mining the fireclay from a position south of the works and called it the Drum Fireclay Mine." [SBH]

The sites of the northern entrance and southerly shaft are now both occupied by woodland. The grounds of the fireclay works at High Bonnybridge are now a scrap yard (NS 830 791).

Alternative Names: Drum Fireclay Mine

Notes: Operated by Bonnybridge Silica and Fire Clay Co.

Given 8 fig. coordinates derived from OS georef' tool (using 1920 OS map). Features associated with this mine are absent from the 2nd ed. OS maps (surveyed 1896) and earlier OS maps. It is not acknowledged on the MRA map.

Not to be confused with Drum Fireclay Mine near Whitburn, West Lothian (database site #8214).

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14/09/1889 - Falkirk Herald - Accident. On Wednesday a young man, named John Young, about 30 years of age, met with a serious accident while following his work in the pit of the Bonnybridge Silica and Fireclay Works (Mr Griffiths.) While busily employed, a stone weighing close upon 12 cwt., fell from the roof burying poor Young beneath it, inflicting serious internal injury, in addition to injuring both legs. [note: this is probably not Drum Mine]

02/11/1907 - Falkirk Herald - Mining enterprise at High Bonnybridge. The Bonnybridge Silica and Fireclay Company (Messrs A. Griffith and' Co.) are at present engaged in sinking a now mine, with air shaft, on the farm of Drum, to the south of the present works. This step has been rendered necessary by a subsidence at the present pit workings, which has rendered the working of the pit a task fraught with difficulty and danger. Last Sunday workmen were busily engaged erecting the frame, for working the pit, and much progress was made. It is proposed to carry the clay deposits from the mine to the works means of hutches worked on an endless chain. The fireclay industry, which means much to the district, owes its success to the rich deposits of silica and fireclay abounding in this district.

24/12/1909 - Drum Fireclay Mine, Stirling - Bonnybridge Silica and Fireclay Co Ltd - Alexander Cook (26), Drawer - While engaged breaking up ganister to fill into a tub a large stone fell off the face and killed him instantly.

29/08/1953 - Falkirk Herald - Bonnybridge mine accident. Just after one o'clock on Tuesday, 22-year-old James McDermott, 15 Grahamsdyke Road, Bonnybridge was seriously injured by a fall of stone while working near the clay face in Drum Mine, High Bonnybridge