Gartcloss Colliery, near Coatbridge, around1835

Drawing by R. Findlater of Gartcloss Colliery, on the Glasgow and Garnkirk Railway, around 1835. This is typical of the small mines which began to appear in Lanarkshire in the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, and is named after a nearby farm. Many of these were in fairly remote locations and workers' housing had to be built nearby.

These communities often had to move elsewhere once the mines had been exhausted. Gartcloss seems to have popped up around the opening of the Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway in 1831 as the very first commercial cargo on the line was taken from Gartcloss. The colliery was operated by Wm Baird and Company into the 1840s. It probably acted as a feeder of coal to nearby Gartsherrie Ironworks.

Gartcloss Row survived for some time after closure - probably because of other mines nearby - but is shown on the map as ruins by the time of the 1896/7 Ordnance Survey.