Lady Victoria Colliery Newtongrange · Midlothian · Scotland

The Lothian Coal Company Ltd was formed in March 1890 through the combination of the Newbattle and Rosewell collieries, with the aim of sinking a showpiece pit. The company acquired the site at Newtongrange, Midlothian, and commenced sinking the Lady Victoria shaft in 1890 under the supervision of mining engineer John Morison and managing director Archibald Hood. Steelwork of the headgear, and probably of the rest of the colliery structure, was supplied by Sir William Arrol & Co.

The colliery was named in honour of Lady Victoria Alexandrina, wife of Schomberg Henry Kerr, the ninth Marquess of Lothian. The neighbouring village of Newtongrange was built by the Marquess of Lothian to house the miners. The shaft was sunk simultaneously with brick lining to render it watertight. Originally taken to its planned depth of 1,740 feet in 1894, the shaft was subsequently part-filled to an operational depth of 1,650 feet, making it one of the deepest coal mine shafts in Scotland at the time. The shaft diameter was the largest in Scotland at the time of sinking.

The winding engine, supplied by Grant, Ritchie & Company of Kilmarnock, was installed in 1894. It has cylinders of 3 feet 6 inches (1.06 metres) by 7 feet (2.13 metres) with Cornish drop valves, and was the most powerful winding engine fitted at any Scottish colliery. It is supplied with steam by a bank of Lancashire boilers. The colliery entered production in 1894, with the core complex of chimney, engine house, power station, and pithead built during 1890 to 1894.

The Lady Victoria Colliery worked six coal seams. The Jewel Seam provided high-class household coal; the Newbattle Cannel was worked for gas-making; the Splint and Kailblades seams produced steam coal; and the Coronation and Diamond seams gave household coal. The colliery was connected underground with the neighbouring Lingerwood Mine, which served as the upcast shaft and supplied ventilation, preventing the need for a second surface shaft at Lady Victoria.

From its earliest years the colliery was a proving ground for innovations, including new brick-lining techniques for shaft sinking, and among the first extensive uses of electric plant in Scotland. Steel pit props were introduced between approximately 1911 and 1919. A bad fire in the winding engine house in 1903 led to rebuilding in 1904, with new cylinders installed. The boilerhouse was later re-equipped with twelve war-surplus Lancashire boilers dating from around 1920. A washer and hopper were added to the surface complex around 1906 to 1914; the boilerhouse and power station were extended around 1924; the picking tables were extended in the 1930s.

The colliery's railway connections were critical to its commercial operation. The Lady Victoria served as the chief coal preparation plant for the Newbattle Collieries group, with direct connections to the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway (the North British Railway's Waverley Route). Coal also came from neighbouring collieries at Easthouses and Lingerwood, transported to Lady Victoria for washing and dispatch. In 1909 the Easthouses Extension Pit was opened, served by a cable tramway that the National Coal Board rebuilt in 1949 and converted to locomotive operation in 1955. Prior to the mechanisation of underground haulage, 120 ponies were employed underground.

The colliery passed to the National Coal Board on nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947. In the NCB era it became a major engineering workshop centre for the Lothians area. Pithead baths serving both Lady Victoria and Lingerwood were opened in 1954, with a reinforced concrete heated walkway over the A7 trunk road connecting them to the pithead, designed by NCB Scottish Division architect Egon Riss. The tub circuit was reconstructed in the 1960s, with a reduction from double to single decking. A modern coal washery was constructed at the southern end of the pithead, eventually rendering the old washer and dredger redundant. The peak workforce of 1,765 was reached in 1953. In its lifetime the colliery produced more coal than any other colliery in Scotland, with a total of over 40 million tons recorded.

The colliery closed in 1981. Following closure the shaft was blocked and all underground workings became inaccessible. The engine house was listed by Historic Scotland on 10 April 1981. The surface buildings were recognised as forming an almost complete survival of a major pre-First World War model colliery complex in the United Kingdom, with later additions. Some structures including the 1950s canteen and medical centre were subsequently demolished, but the vast bulk of the complex survived. With the assistance of Lothian Region, the site was transformed into the Scottish Mining Museum, initially operating as a dual site with Prestongrange in East Lothian from 1984. The National Mining Museum Scotland was formally opened at the site on 28 September 1984. From 1998 several of the main structures were stabilised and new visitor facilities opened. In 2008, to mark the centenary of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, a drawing of Lady Victoria Colliery won an online vote as Scotland's Most Treasured Place. The museum was renamed National Mining Museum Scotland in 2011. The entire surface complex is listed category A by Historic Environment Scotland (LB14604), and the site holds a collection recognised as Nationally Significant by Museums Galleries Scotland.