Among Highland villages Brora is unique, below it lies a coal-bed of considerable extent, estimated to be six tons.  It is a younger coal than that of the south, and not so good; but it has had a strong influence on the economic history of the district.

The existence of coal at Brora was known as early as 1529, but working on any considerable scale was not commenced until 1573.  The first shaft was sunk in 1598.

The coal - it lies within the Jurassie system - appears to have been used in the production of salt, then a thriving industry, but by and by both industries were found to be unremunerative and trade languished.  In 1614, however, a serious attempt was made to revive it, the local "coal heughs" were repaired and more salt pans erected, but after a time they were abandoned, and little more was heard of Brora for some time.  In 1798, the salt tax was 5/- per bushel, but after the then Marquis of Stafford saw that with the Brora coal and the salt water there was every appearance of a good revenue, arrangements were made for re-opening them, and £16,000 were spent in getting the works into order and constructing a railway 800 yards long to the harbour and the four large salt pans in the immediate neighborhood.  A these old works must have been, with their powerful water-wheel, capable of double motion, whereby coal was raised and water pumped out.  But the salt tax was abolished in 1823; its production then became unremunerative, and as coal was not in much demand among a people who were accustomed to, and could easily get, plenty of peat, the works, after languishing for nearly five years, were closed in 1828.  That much coal was used during that period in the manufacture of salt, the great heaps of ash could still be seen in the neighborhood of the pans up to 50 years ago, amply testify.  Brora, indeed, for a time supplied almost exclusively the salt needed by all the villages along the shores of the Moray Firth, and as it was produced chiefly because of the proximity of coal, the retail price of salt was reduced by more than on-third.  During 1818 there was shipped at Brora 11,580 bushels of salt, and in 1819, 8190 bushels.

Early in the last century there was set going a brick and agricultural drain tile works, with the necessary sheds and machinery, which were worked by a water-wheel, the whole then costing £650.  The bricks and tiles were all fired by Brora coal.

In 1872, the then Duke of Sutherland re-opened Brora Colliery, and for a number of years had it under estate management.  The works were afterwards leased to a Mr John Melville.  In 1914, when the clouds of war were gathering over Europe, the late Captain T.M. Hunter leased the colliery.  The firm of T. Ml Hunter Ltd., carried on until 1949.  The colliery and brickworks were taken over by a company named Brora Coal and Brick Co.  Afterwards, with a grant from the Highlands and Islands Development Board, the pit was run by Highland Colliery Ltd., and subsequently the miners themselves became shareholders.

In 1968 the pit was closed, and a walk-in mine constructed and opened in 1968.  The mine had been under construction before the pit had closed.

In June 1973, Highland Colliery Ltd went into liquidation.  A maintenance staff was retained, as water had to be pumped from the mine, otherwise it would be flooded.

On 1st October 1973, a Mr E. E. Pritchard, a mining engineer of vast experience from Stockport, Cheshire, took over the mine, but because of labor difficulties, including absenteeism, it closed on 1st March 1974.  Mr Pritchard, who died suddenly in May 1974, had plans to import miners from Yorkshire.  On his death the plans had never been carried out.  In the five months Mr Pritchard had worked the mine, several wagon loads of dross were dispatched weekly by rail to Kincardine Power Station, Fife, for the South of Scotland Electricity Board.  When the mine closed there was a quantity of dross on hand.

Had the mine not closed, the South of Scotland Electricity Board would have taken as much dross as could be supplied.

Negotiations were set afoot by a London firm but nothing came of them.  Eventually the works were closed and the pithead gear dismantled, and the plant sold at an auction sale.

During the history of Brora coal several shafts had been sunk, the last one being in 1810, and was 50 fathoms deep.  It was circular shaped and constructed of stone.  A mining engineer, on an inspection visit in the 1930's reported that he had been surprised to find such a well-constructed shaft, built so long-ago.

The water pumped from the pit and the mine contained a large percentage of sulphuric acid, and the main pump had to be manufactured of phosphor bronze to withstand the action of the water.  Sometimes one would find about a handful of sulphury material on a boggie (or hutch) as it came up the pit shaft.  There have been obtained from the marine beds in the district some very interesting and beautiful series of fossils, which enabled one to identify several of those clearly marked zones of life.  Numerous fossils were also found in the pit.

In 1926, the year of the national strike, it is believed Brora Colliery was the only pit producing coal while hte strike lasted, although some privately owned pits had produced coal during part of the strike.

In 1919, electricity took the place of steam in Brora Colliery, and, in the same year the telephone was installed, underground.

There were several disastrous fires in the life time of coal production in Brora.

Over the years there were several fatal accidents.

In 1910, the manager died as a result of a fire damp explosion; in 1931, this man's son ws killed by a fall of roof when the "long-wall" system was used to extract coal; and in 1968, a miner lost his life by being buried under a heavy fall of stone.

In the 1950's two cargoes of dross were exported, one to Holland and the other to The Faroes.  The ships were loaded at Invergordon and Helmsdale respectively.

This text was taken from a simple photocopied hand typed document, the only details of the originator are as follows:

Brora

13 March 1978

JMcL

For further details see "Coalmining in Brora 1529-1974" by John Owen.