One of my ancestors was an overseer at the Caprington Colliery, c. mid-1800’s. Can you tell me where on the current Caprington estate the Caprington Colliery was located? We are visiting Riccarton in a week and I’d like to see this area.

Death records/obits show that one of my ancestors lived on Laputa Way,  one on Inchgotrick, one on Caprington Row (another row of cottages built for miners) and later Campbell Street, and my gggg granny lived on Academy Street, which is just to the north of that area. I’ve been able to find all of these streets on Google. They attended the Riccarton Parish Church. We will visit the church and graveyard and all of these streets on our upcoming trip to Scotland.

Family lore says that my gggg grandfather of Riccarton worked as a steward on a large local estate (his death record calls him a “master flesher”). I can’t help but think it was the Caprington Estate, since they lived near it and his sons worked in the Caprington mines.

Do you know if the current owners of the Caprington Estate or a local archives might have records of the early Caprington Estate and Collieries?

Thanks,

I think Caprington Colliery lay just to the north of Laputa Row, a row of cottages built for miners, which was situated on the West side of the Ayr-Kilmarnock road, very close to the junction of the old and new roads, not far from Inchgotrick Farm. The road is now the B7038 which links the new A77 with Riccarton on the south side of Kilmarnock.

Laputa Row, is now just an empty field with no remains of the row visible – It was built after 1857 and demolished before 1913.

For information and records you could try:-
The Muirkirk Museum - 33 Main Street, Muirkirk
www.muirkirk.org.uk/muirkirk-museum.html

The National Records of Scotland, 2 Princes Street Edinburgh
email: enquiries@nas.gov.uk
www.nas.gov.uk/about/where.asp

Mitchell Library in Glasgow
North Street
Glasgow G3 7DN
Phone: 0141 287 2910
Fax: 0141 287 2815
Email: archives@glasgowlife.org.uk
www.mitchelllibrary.org/virtualmitchell

Dear Mr Taylor
I've found your site very interesting and informative as I've recently been investigating my own mining ancestry. My ggg grandfather Robert Cunningham (c.1815 - 1855) drowned in an accident at no. 9 pit Caprington Colliery near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, in 1855 along with two other men. Apparently the official report into the incident (according to www.scottishmining.co.uk ) got his first name wrong and for some reason named him as Alexander Cunningham but he was definitely a Robert. I have his 1855 death certificate which gives a fairly detailed account of the accident at Caprington.

Kind regards
Alison Seton