Scottish shale Scottish shale

Polbeth No. 7 & 7½ pits

Parish:
West Calder, Midlothian
Local authority:
West Lothian
Seams worked:
Fells Shale
Opened:
c.1868?
Closed:
1885
Current status of site:
Returned to agriculture; no surviving trace of pit head features
Regional overview:

POLBETH SEVEN1.jpg

Vertical shaft, 189 feet deep

Serving Addiewell Chemical Works

An early pit to the Fells Shale, sometimes referred to as Addiewell No. 7. Ultimately linked underground to Fells Shale workings from Polbeth No. 10 Pit, and perhaps also Polbeth No. 8 Pit and Polbeth No. 20 Mine. The pit was presumably linked by a railway siding from the west end of the station?

Shale-field: West Calder district.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1894, showing waste tip and "old shaft" on the site of No. 7 Pit.

  • Location & workings at Polbeth No. 7 & 7½ pits
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  • Detailed maps
  • Recent images

  • External references
    • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 1777A, showing workings in the Thick Shale from Polbeth No. 7, No. 7½, and No. 10, abandoned in 1885.