In 1947 the NCB made a statement
concerning Stane Pit:- "A new steel frame is being erected over
the old wooden frame
while full production of 260 tons a day is
being maintained.
The pit has greater potential than any other in
the district."
The life expectancy of Stane Pit in 1947 was 50
years. However, in October 1949, despite investment, it was threatened
with closure. With low output and heavy losses, it continued until May
1954, when 60 men were paid off. Finally, in spite of optimistic news in
March 1955 that manpower was to be increased, by October only 125 men
were employed and the pit closed on 16th December, 1955.
Stane Mine, a separate entity from Stane Pit,
which was opened in 1948 and employed 100 men, closed on 16th October,
1953.
At the beginning of 1947, the President of the
Scottish NUM, Abe Moffat's message to the Shotts Miners was full of
confidence. The operation of the five-day week, expected in May, was
introduced by the eleven-day fortnight which started in the local pits
on 1st November 1947. Many improvements in working conditions were
negotiated. However, there was a fundamental conflict between the
expectations of government policy and the economic position of the
industry. In December 1948 the NCB announced that 40 Scottish pits were
to be closed during 1949-50. Thirty four pits were classed as exhausted
and six as uneconomic. Although the NUM negotiated the proposed number
of closures to 29, this was only a temporary stay.
In spite of the large reserves of coal at
Fortissat it was classed as uneconomic. An alternative plan to open up
the Colinburn seam at Hillhouseridge colliery, and so make it viable,
was abandoned. These two pits closed on 19th April 1949. Many miners
boycotted official NCB interviews ( for intended transfers to other
collieries), and some men refused to accept alternative employment. As a
result, many had their redundancy payment and unemployment benefit
stopped. Of the 490 men at these two pits, only 23 got jobs locally.
Seventy men were transferred to Fife, Lothians and Ayrshire. Three
hundred and sixty eight men were put on the dole. After salvage,
Hillhouseridge Colliery became a pumping station. Seven men were
retained to operate the pumps underground and the winding engine. In
December that year, Headless Cross No 1 Mine closed.
By this time the Productive Coal Measures, of
which Shotts coalfield was part , in a shallow geological basin, were
worked out. The potential reserves were considered to be too expensive
to extract. Although, mindful of the social problems of adjustment
created by closures, the National Coal Board Records of the period
document the managed decline of the Shotts pits and others in the
surrounding area:-
Baton Colliery closed on 16th June 1950, but
was retained as a pumping station, employing 6 men underground and four
men on the surface.
Headless Cross No 2 closed on 26th February
1952 with the loss of 83 jobs. It had the highest output in Britain of
50 cwt. per man-shift in 1951.
Shotts Power Station closed on 7th January
1954.
Northfield , reprieved in 1954, was the last
colliery in Shotts to close on 14th July 1961.
After nationalisation, the emphasis within the
Scottish coal-mining industry was on larger and more profitable mines,
such as those with thicker seams in the Limestone Coal Group, which
could be modernised and mechanised. Nonetheless, in spite of the
development and investment in mines working this coal, they too faced
closure during the 1960s.
For example :-
Kingshill No2 at Forth closed in
November 1963.
Kingshill No 1 at Allanton closed in November
1968 and
Kingshill No 3 at Allanton closed in July 1974
-
thus bringing to an end deep coal mining in the
Shotts area.
The population of the town of Shotts reached a
peak of around 15000 in 1948. Although a large number of Shotts miners
commuted to some of the more profitable pits, many more left the area.
Post-war, through to the 1960s, there were numerous employment
opportunities elsewhere in Scotland and in the new industries in the U.
K. Some Shotts families and young people, eager to secure a better
future, emigrated either to Australia, New Zealand or Canada. Migration
continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The 1971 census recorded a
population figure in the region of 11000. It was increasing by the
1980s, and then stabilised at around the 13000 level by 1985.
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