page_title: Industry and the Eglinton Castle estate
section_title: Industrial relations
hierarchical_section_title: Industry and the Eglinton Castle estate / Industrial relations
caption_attribution_description: English: A print of Lady Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton. Lived 1690 - 1780.
context_page_description: The Eglinton Castle estate was situated at Irvine, on the outskirts of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland in the former district of Cunninghame. Eglinton Castle, was once home to the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and chiefs of the Clan Montgomery. Eglinton Country Park now occupies part of the site.
  A dense network of mineral railway lines existed in the 19th and 20th centuries; the trackbed now being used as cycle paths in several places. A complex set of collieries, coal pits, tile works, fire-clay works and workers villages are evident from records such as OS maps. Little now remains of the buildings and railway lines, apart from at Lady Ha' Colliery, but irregular depressions in the ground, embankments, cuttings, coal bings and abandoned bridges all bear witness to what was at one time a very active coalfield with associated industries and infrastructure.
context_section_description: Usually the Earls left industrial relations to employees, however Lady Susanna, wife of the 9th Earl, was involved in the general supervision of miners on the estate as shown by her correspondence and the fact that she intervened in the 1749 – 50 labour unrest. A new grieve at the Earl's Millburn pit reduced the hewing rates and the hewers complained that they were like 'severest slaves' and had to work 14 hours a day, six days a week to make a living. They also claimed that at the end of the working day they were so exhausted that they struggled to even exit the pit.
  Susanna summoned the miners to Eglinton Castle to try and sort things out, as a result of which several of the miners signed a 'disclamation' which they later tried to repudiate. The lawyer who dealt with the case stated that it is probable a Lady of great Beauty of Address might prevail with some of the old Coalziers to sign any paper.
  The Eglinton miners in the 1749 dispute appear to have acted peaceably, causing no damage to pit-headgear, pumps, etc. Despite their good behaviour they were accused of being so many mutinous and unruly Coaliers who had ... without any just Cause or Colour deserted their Masters work. The employers also warned the courts of the dire consequences of leniency.
  In 1799 the Fergushill barony became the property of the 12th Earl of Eglinton and Winton, and the Fergushill miners were sold with the land, a normal practice for the time. The workers owned their bodies, however the Earl owned their labour and quitting their work was regarded as theft. This arose from an infamous labour Act of 1606.
  The Earl of Eglinton claimed to have given up a valuable colliery in 1766 due to the loss of profits caused by miners demands and labour practices.
  The bondage under which the miners (and Salters) worked was not removed until acts of Parliament in 1775 & 1799. By 1882 it was illegal for boys and girls below the age of ten to work in the mines.
caption: Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E4600", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6000.16386", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:06 21:42:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "254", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1/96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2296", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3091", "EXIF ExposureTime": "10/601", "EXIF FNumber": "26/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:08:06 12:50:19", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:08:06 12:50:19", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "7", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1712", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2288", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2164", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "42", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "-276"}