Category B listed steam winding engine and riveted steel headframe of Highhouse Colliery preserved in situ within an industrial estate at Auchinleck.
Highhouse Colliery was a coal mine developed at Merlinhill Farm near Auchinleck, East Ayrshire, by William Baird & Company to supply coal to the Lugar Ironworks. The colliery was sunk in 1895 to 1896 and operated with two shafts reaching 177 and 174 metres in depth. A steam winding engine built around 1896 by Grant, Ritchie & Company of Kilmarnock was installed on one shaft, and the wooden headframe was replaced in steel around 1968.
The colliery was acquired by Bairds & Dalmellington Ltd in 1931 and passed to the National Coal Board on nationalisation in 1947. A pit fire in 1908 required rebuilding. The colliery closed in 1983.
The 1896 winding engine and its engine house, together with the steel headframe, survive in situ on the site of the former Highhouse Industrial Estate and are category B listed buildings, listed in 1992. The headframe is considered to be the last 'traditional' headframe built in Scotland and the engine is, apart from that at Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, the only steam winding engine remaining in situ in Scotland.
Highhouse Colliery was developed by William Baird & Company at Merlinhill Farm, to the south of Auchinleck station, to supply coal to the Lugar Ironworks. The colliery was sunk between 1895 and 1896 with two shafts; No. 1 reached 177 metres and No. 2 reached 174 metres in depth. The colliery was served by a short, tightly curved branch railway making a trailing connection to the northbound main line at Auchinleck, with exchange sidings in the fork of the junction at the station.
At the time of opening, a secondhand beam engine was employed as a haulage engine at the colliery. This engine had originally been built in Bridgeton, Glasgow in 1790 by Walkinshaw and had previously been used in the Blair collieries. In 1875 it was relocated to Craigston Pit, ironstone mines near the Lugar Iron Works, before being moved to Highhouse around 1894. The engine was subsequently removed to Heriot Watt College in Edinburgh in 1956. In addition to this haulage engine, a steam winding engine was installed around 1896, built by Grant, Ritchie & Company of Kilmarnock, with two horizontal cylinders of 20-inch (0.5 metre) diameter by 4-foot (1.22 metre) stroke, and a drum 10 feet (3.05 metres) by 6 feet 7 inches (2.01 metres) wide. The engine was fitted with Stephenson's link valve gear, operating slide valves, with reversing by hand.
In 1908 a pit fire broke out at Highhouse, after which rebuilding was required. New headgear with metalwork by Dorman Long was erected following the fire. The colliery was working house and steam coal seams. The surface buildings were of steel-framed, corrugated-iron-clad construction.
In 1931 William Baird & Company merged with the Dalmellington Iron Company to form Bairds & Dalmellington Ltd, which thereby acquired Highhouse Colliery. The colliery had been acquired by Bairds & Dalmellington by 1931, according to the Coal and Community research record, which identifies it as having been acquired in 1931. The colliery passed to the National Coal Board on nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947.
The wooden headframe on the winding engine shaft was replaced by a steel headframe around 1968. The new steel frame was of unusual design, with dog-leg raking struts required to span the engine house, and was built with riveted steel construction carrying two pulleys side by side. It is considered by sources to be the last 'traditional' headframe built in Scotland. The colliery closed in 1983.
Following closure, the colliery site became the Highhouse Industrial Estate. The 1896 Grant, Ritchie & Company steam winding engine and its engine house, together with the c.1968 steel headframe situated over a capped shaft, survived in situ within the industrial estate. The engine house, single storey and of brick construction, has pilasters separating bays on its lower walls with a linking frieze, and large openings inserted in the north wall. The headframe sits directly over the capped shaft. The engine and engine house, together with the headframe, were given category B listed building status on 4 September 1992 (LB6580), listed under the designation 'Highhouse Industrial Estate Headframe and Steam Winding Engine in House'. The listing notes that the steam winding engine is, apart from that at Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, the only steam winding engine remaining in situ in Scotland.
