EARLY coalworks of Cardenden Colliery ‘discovered’ by the Fife Pits website team include: the Dean, George, Hyndloup, Jane, Spion Kop (No. 5), No. 6, Brandies (No. 7), Den (No. 8 Mine), Bank and Mid.

The locations of the Bank and Mid Pits are not known but, from an abandonment plan for Cardenden, they are known to have worked the Little Splint, Lochgelly Splint and Rough Splint coals.

The Dean Pit of the Cardenden Colliery was sunk to the Cardenden Smithy Coal just north of the Den No. 8 mine in Carden Den. It was in existence in 1867 at the time of the flooding disaster in the Cardenden No. 6 Pit but its opening/closing dates are not known.

Located a few hundred yards to the west of Hyndloup Pit, the George and its engine house lay within Carden Den on the east bank of the Den Burn. Sunk to a depth of 24 fathoms, probably around 1840, one source states that it was disused by 1880. However, a record from 1890 lists the George Pit working the Duddie Davie Coal seam under manager William Johnstone with a healthy workforce of 56 underground workers and 15 surface workers.

A tram road is known to have run to this pit from the junction just east of Cardenden Station.

The Hyndloup Pit, Cardenden, with its engine house was located approx ¼ mile east of the northern section of Carden Den, in the fields south of today’s township of Cardenden.

Sunk to the Lochgelly Splint at a depth of 24 fathoms, probably around 1840, this pit is stated to have become disused by 1880. A second Hyndloup shaft is believed to have been sunk in this vicinity but, to date, no details have been uncovered. Closure and then later re-opening was not uncommon in many pits and mines of the Fife coalfield.

The Jane Pit, Cardenden, with its engine house, lay north of the Hyndloup Pit and east of Carden Den. Sunk to the Lochgelly Splint seam at a depth of 35 fathoms, also probably around 1840, the pit is reported as disused by 1880.

A tram road is also known to have linked this pit to the main rail junction just east of Cardenden Station. No information (other than present in abandonment plans) is known of the nature of the workings of the Jane Pit, or the reason why it is so-named.

Lying between Cardenden Station and Cardenden Cottages, to the north-east of Denend Colliery, was the “Big Pit” or No. 5 (Engine) Pit of Cardenden Colliery which apparently was also known as ‘Spion Kop’. It was sunk to a depth of around 285 ft. and was badly flooded in November, 1867, when water rushed in from the neighbouring, smaller No. 6 Pit (see newspaper reports later).

One source indicates that the Cardenden Smithy Coal was encountered in the shaft at only 7 fathoms; the Lochgelly Splint and Parrot Coal seams at 47 fathoms.

Located just to the north-east of the “Big Pit” or No. 5 Pit of the Colliery, the Cardenden No. 6 Pit - known as the “Little” or “Wee Pit”, and only 132 feet deep - was the scene of the unfortunate flooding incident of November, 1867, when water rushed in from the old workings drowning four miners in the No. 5 Pit.

Located between Cardenden Cottages and Whitehall, to the north-east of the Jane Pit, the Brandies Pit, or Cardenden No. 7, was named after the Brandies Burn which ran by the workings. Probably sunk around 1875, this small pit is believed to have closed around 1878.

The No. 8 Den Mine was located in the north of Carden Den just south of the Dean Pit of the Cardenden Colliery. It worked the Cardenden Smithy Coal seam which ran northwards through this area towards the No. 5 Pit.

The Adam James Pit was sunk to around 21 fathoms, probably during 1876, and was operating under Cardenden Colliery by 1877. It is possible that these same shafts later functioned as part of the Cluny Nos. 1, 2 under the ownership of the Bowhill Coal Company, Ltd.