Polbeth No. 26 mine

Inclined adit, at a gradient of 1 in 1.6

Serving Addiewell Chemical Works

Extensive, steeply inclined workings in the Dunnet Shale, north east of West Calder, with a cross cut mine proving access to further Dunnet Shale beneath Mossend.

Location & workings at Polbeth No.26 mine

updating map
Show seams:
Dunnet Shale

Detailed maps

Plans

See full record; 143495

See full record; 195309

Drawings

Sketch of workings, presumably early in their development (courtesy British Geological Survey LSP 461, 16370-01).

Incline carriage used in No.26 mine. From Sneddon, Caldwell & Stein, Seventy-Five years of shale mining, Institute of Petroleum, 1938.

From "Sections of Shale Seams", a notebook by Robert Crichton. BP Archive 183734

Production statistics since 1920.

Recent images

Polbeth Community Centre; former winding engine house. Looking east. April 2010.

Close up view. Looking east. April 2010.

Looking north east, with Polbeth nursery behind and St. Mary's RC Primary School to the far left of the picture. April 2010.

Newspaper references

The breaking of an axle of one of the carriages in the main line resulted in a collision and damage which caused the loss of output for a day and a half (June 1924). The new electric haulage to replace 4 ponies is being erected; one of sections has approached a large fault, and we are considering the advisability of going through this (October 1924). The new electric haulage has been put to work and is giving every satisfaction (November 1924).

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

.......

Steam is still used (for haulage) on a heavy duty at No.26 mine, Polbeth. In this case the average gradient of the mine is 32 degrees, and highly satisfactory results have been obtained by use of two-stepped steel carriages which hold four hutches.

Sneddon, Caldwell and Stein, Seventy Five Years of Oil Shale Mining, Institute of Petroleum, 1938

---

External references

• Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 14234, showing workings in the Dunnet Shale from Polbeth No. 26, abandoned in 1947
• Agreement No. 474. Licence under the Explosives Act for a mixed explosives store at No. 26 mine, Polbeth, in a small locked box at the pithead, March 1911. Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company Ltd; Inventory of Leases, Agreements &c. BP Archive 215854

Additional resources

• Oral history transcript: Mr A Balloch
• Oral history transcript: Mr James Brown
• Oral history transcript: Mr & Mrs Crilly
• Oral history transcript: Mr John Crombie
• Oral history transcript: Mr David Mackie
• Oral history transcript: Mr James McArthur

• 195309 - Lease between Robert Thornton and Others and Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited of Shale and Coal lying under the lands of [...] - Lease between Robert Thornton and Others and Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited of Shale and Coal lying under the lands of Hermand and Birniehill West Calder. The Lease is dated 28 March and 2 & 5 May 1917 and signed by Sir Thomas Mason and Hugh Brown, Directors Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company and for the other party by Robert Thornton, James Waddell Thornton, Margaret Thornton, Jeanie Thornton and Mary Thornton or Stevens. There is an Ordnace Survey Plan attached : Edinburghshire Sheet X1, N. W. Linlithgowshire Part of Sheet X11 Second Edition 1909. This Plan has been signed by Sir Thomas Mason and Hugh Brown, Directors Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company and for the other party by Robert Thornton, James Waddell Thornton, Margaret Thornton, Jeanie Thornton and Mary Thornton or Stevens. The workings are outlined in Red and the Area excluded from the workings shown at letter B and coloured Blue. The Scale is shown as Six Inches to One Statute Mile or 800 Feet to One Inch 1/10560. Attached inside is a copy letter of 2nd July 1940 relating to legal opinion as to whether the lease should be assigned to the Oakbank Oil Company Limited. There is also a Minute of Agreement annexed to Lease and a plan attached (undated) titled "No.26 Mine Polbeth Workings approaching reserved areas on Hermand Estate". The workings are outlined in red and the scale is shown in feet as 1"=100feet. The Minute of Agreement and Plan have been signed by Sir John Traill Cargill, Baronet and William Fraser, Directors Youngs Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company and for the other party by Robert Thornton, James Waddell Thornton, Margaret Thornton, Jeanie Thornton and Mary Thornton or Stevens and Thomas Thornton.
  
• 143495 - Minute of Agreement between the Trustees of Late John Young Esq. of Addiewell and Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited, dated 1929. - Minute of Agreement between the Trustees of the late John Young of Addiewell and Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited. Dated 19th, 23rd, 25th, 26th, and 30th July 1929. Details the agreement between the late John Young and Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited regarding the lands of Polbeth leased by Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company Limited to work the whole coal of every description and bituminous shale lying in and under these lands. It states that the Dunnet Seam have been left unworked in certain stoops to provide support for the buildings on top of the land, Woodend Cottage. Includes scale plan of 'No. 26 Mine Polbeth, Plan showing Dunnet Shale Working in connection with the protection of Raeburn Row and Gavieside Rows'. The area mentioned in the agreement is highlighted in red with Woodend Cottage, Raeburn Rows and Gavieside all noted. Scale of plan is 1/2 inch = 66ft. Dated 27/6/29