Scottish Mining Accident, Shotts, Lanarkshire

Paternity or aliment cases are only one type of case which were heard by the Scottish Sheriff Courts. As in the present day, there are many reasons why our ancestors may have used the Sheriff Court. These records can help us uncover our family history and add some interesting details about their lives.

While indexing paternity cases in Airdrie Sheriff court our volunteer, Margaret, came across this interesting and heart-wrenching story. While reading the following you may find it helpful to know that a fathom is equal to 6 feet or 1.83 metres.

What follows is a transcription of the entry found on pages 431-433 of the Airdrie Sheriff Court Register of Extracted Decrees (National Records of Scotland reference SC35/7/3).

“At Airdrie the second & Thirteenth day of December eighteen hundred and fifty nine years Sitting in judgment William Logie Esquire Substitute of Sir Archibald Alison Baronet Advocate Sheriff of the County of Lanark, in an action before the Sheriff-Court of the said County, at the instance of (Poor) Oliver Braiden a Miner residing at number Thirty five Bell Street Airdrie Pursuer against Thomas Russell Coalmaster at Greenhill in the parish of Shotts and County of Lanark Defender; The summons in which action concludes for the sum of Two hundred pounds Sterling being for damages sustained by the Pursuer as solatium in consequence of the Pursuer having on or about the Thirty first day of December 1858 years whilst in the employment of the Defender at number two pit Greenhill fallen down the shaft of said pit, - the same having no covering of any description whilst the Pursuer was engaged in oiling a hutch at the pit-head to take wood from the pithead to below ground, the occurrence having taken place betwixt the hours of three and four o'Clock of the morning of that day, whereby the Pursuer was precipitated down the said shaft and sustained severe personal injury, having fallen Twenty seven fathoms or thereby and has his right arm broken in two places his right shoulder dislocated, his left leg much bruised and his whole body so much injured that he was confined to bed under medical treatment for upwards of three months, and will never be able to work being disabled for life and in particular he has lost the use of this right arm and right hand entirely all in and through the culpable negligence and omission of the Defender or of those for whom he is legally responsible in having no covering on the mouth of said pit nor protection of any kind for the safety of the men and to prevent accident with Interest & expenses. The said Sheriff Substitute on the first date hereof after sundry steps of procedure and in respect the Pursuer had failed to lead evidence in the support of his averments in the libel Sustained & hereby Sustains the defences stated for the Defender & Dismissed and hereby Dismisses the action and Found and hereby Finds the Defender entitled to expenses, And on the second date hereof the said Sheriff Substitute Decerned & Ordained and hereby Decerns and Ordains the said (Poor) Oliver Braiden Pursuer to make payment to the said Thomas Russell Defender of the sum of Five pounds nineteen shillings and one penny Sterling of Expenses of Process Attour the sum of eight shillings Sterling as the expense of extracting this Decree & of recording the same (signed) John Laing Sh[erif]f Cl[er]k Dep[ute] Signed 2 March 1860

Written by Alex[ander] Forbes

Collated by John Laing [Sheriff Clerk] Dep[ute]

Would you like us to help you uncover your family's past? Get in touch and see what we can do for you. Email Emma: info@scottishindexes.com

Beyond the census - Woodhead lead mines, Carsphairn

It’s difficult, sometimes, to look at places today and imagine how they used to be. It’s particularly poignant to see only ruins of places where whole communities once lived and thrived. Moss grows on old stones, and people forget small histories.

In the parish of Carsphairn, up in the hills, we find the long-abandoned Woodhead lead mines. It is peaceful – no echoes remain of the heavy sounds of industry that were once heard here. Although ruinous, we can still see the foundations of the manager’s home, the terraced houses of the miners, the schoolhouse and the smelt mill. The mine shafts themselves were blocked up with rubbish when the mine was closed – unassailed by the elements they remain in good condition.

Mining in Woodhead was started in 1838 by the proprietor Colonel MacAdam Cathcart. After discovering that greywacke on the surface was rich in lead, he led an excavation 20 feet deep which confirmed his hopes. There was a great deal of money to be made in lead at the time, and the Colonel was swift to construct not only a mine but an entire village surrounding the works. An 1856 publication described the process thus:

By degrees miners were collected, cottages reared, furnaces, smelting-houses, and other necessary accommodations followed; and where not a solitary shieling appeared before, rows, or streets of cottages now adorn heights eclipsing in size the village of Lagwyne [Carsphairn] below, to say nothing of public works and their gradual extension, which, in the course of little more than three years, have drawn together a body of artisans who have raised the population of the parish from 500 in 1831, to 790 souls in 1841.

(The Topographical, Statistical,and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland, 1856) 

The construction of entire model villages around mines was not unusual at the time, with many industrialists providing housing and community amenities for their workers. The village at Woodhead included a library and a school for workers’ children. Our census records for the schoolhouse read thus:  

Name

Relationship

Condition

Age

Sex

Occupation

Birthplace

James  Irvine

Head

Married

35

M

Teacher of English

Roxburgh, Ancrum

Ann Irvine

Wife

Married

35

F

Schoolmistress

Roxburgh, Jedburgh

James and Ann Irvine would have taught the children until only about twelve years of age. Boys from the age of eight were employed in the washing and dressing of the lead ore and would have attended school only during the winter, when the conditions became too harsh to work. Girls from around the same age would have assumed a number of household duties. Childhood was short, and practically prepared children for their future roles.

Lead mining continued at Woodhead until 1873, producing at its peak around 900 tons of lead a year.  Hundreds made their homes in this remote village in Scotland. Now, only ruins and passed-down memories can recall the mining community which once brought life to these hills.