Scottish shale Scottish shale

Calderbank Oil Works

Former parish and county:
Parish of New Monkland, Lanarkshire
Local authority:
North Lanarkshire
Ownership:
Monkland Oil Refining Co. Ltd.
Opened:
Uncertain; shale retorts by 1880
Closed:
Retorts demolished c.1888
Current status of site:
Wooded river valley
Regional overview:
Oil works in North Lanarkshire

calderbankworks500.jpg

Calderbank Iron Works was one of the great ironworks of the Monklands, established 1798. As described in the snippet below, oil production was a short-lived and small scale experiment to obtain income from waste coal-shale. The Monkland Iron Company Limited was liquidated c.1888. A new company, the Calderbank Steel & Coal Company Ltd, was established in 1890 to develop the site as a steel works. The company prospectus indicated that "when acquired from the vendors, the site was occupied by an iron works now dismantled and cleared away." The oil retort was presumably cleared from the site at that time.

It seems possible that the oil retort was converted from one of the six iron furnaces shown on the 1864 OS map.

  • Rateable value by year
      • Date Rateable Value Owner Occupier Notes
      1884 £800 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Blast furnaces & Shale Retorts
      £54 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Chemical Works
      1885 £1800 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Blast furnaces & Shale Retorts
      £54 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Chemical Works
      1886 £1800 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Blast furnaces & Shale Retorts
      £54 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Chemical Works
      1887 £1800 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Blast Furnaces & Shale Retorts
      £1805 Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company Chemical Works
      1888 -- Monkland Oil Company Monkland Oil Company In Liquidation
  • Location map
  • Detailed maps

    • Recent images

    P1040274.JPG
  • Newspaper references

      • The outlay on the shale retort arises from an endeavour to realise the large quantity of shale in bings at the Monkland Pits, and to this end an old furnace has been converted into a retort. A quantity of oil and ammonia has been made by it, but the difficulty of finding a market for the oil has kept the retort in abeyance. However inquiries are now being made about the oil, and it is hoped a buyer will soon be found. The shale on the bing ready to be treated is 35,101 tons. Annual Report of the Monkland Iron Company (Limited).

      Scotsman, 16th September 1884

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