Scottish shale Scottish shale

Limefield No.32 mine

Parish:
West Calder, Midlothian
Local authority:
West Lothian
Seams worked:
Dunnet Shale
Opened:
Date of opening uncertain c.1880, abandoned c.1892
Closed:
Reopened c.1900? and abandoned 1923
Current status of site:
Agricultural land; no surface features survive
Regional overview:
Mines in the Polbeth area

limefield32mine1.jpg

Vertical shafts?, subsequently inclined adits

Serving Addiewell Chemical Works

Workings in the Dunnet shale, associated with Polbeth No. 31 Pit. Following a period of closure, the mine was reconstructed and workings extended to exploit Dunnet Shale lying beneath the Charlesfield Estate.

Shale-field: Polbeth and Gavieside shale-field.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1895, appearing to show two abandoned shafts with headgear.

  • Location & workings at Limefield No.32 mine

      • Show seams:

  • Detailed maps

    • Drawings

    Limefield32mineBGS1.jpg Limefield32mineBGS2.jpg Limefield32mineDRAWING1.jpg Limefield32mineDRAWING2.jpg

    Recent images

    P1030099.JPG P1030101.JPG P1030104.JPG
  • Newspaper references

      • No.32 mine, Limefield has been abandoned, as it had become exhausted and the output, which had been retorted at Addiewell, has been replaced from other mines in the neighbourhood to which the men have been transferred. (December 1923).

      Scottish Oils Ltd, Managing Director's Monthly Report to the Board. (BP Archive No. 215662)

  • External references

      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 2834, showing workings in the Dunnet Shale from Polbeth No. 31 and Limefield No. 32, abandoned in 1892
      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 7791, showing workings in the Dunnet Shale from Limefield No. 32, abandoned in 1923
      • Agreement No. 417. Licence under the Explosives Act for a mixed explosives store at No.32 mine Limefield, April 1908. Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company Ltd; Inventory of Leases, Agreements &c. BP Archive 215854

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