This large-scale drawing of the underground workings also incidentally shows the layout of the colliery, complete with associated housing and community buildings, as it existed in the year which probably marked a final stage in the demolition of Hamilton Palace. Although the colliery stood about 2km north of the palace and on the opposite bank of the River Clyde, as this mineral map clearly shows, the workings associated with its twin mine-shafts extended underneath much of the Low Parks. Instrumental in creating structural instability and subsidence in the area, the workings eventually approached a point close to the palace during World War I. The remaining coal from the area under the actual site of the palace was removed in the 1950s.

By the late 19th century, numerous collieries were operational in the Bothwell and Hamilton areas, exploiting the rich coal measures of the Central Scotland coalfield. The southern portion of this coalfield was of very wide extent, spreading across the middle reaches of the River Clyde almost as far as Lanark and including much land under Hamilton ownership.