Description

Part 28 of 59, (pages 241-245), mineral lease, Seafield minerals, 1908

See index of all sixty leases and agreements contained in this volume.

In works book. Comp'd

Seafield Minerals – Minute of Agreement

Dates 19th January 1909

Agreement between Sir John Denison Pender K.C.M.G residing at 6 Grosvenor crescent, London; The Right Honourable John Hay commonly call Lord John Hay, G.C.B, residing at Fulmar Place Slough, in the county of Buckingham, Admiral of the Fleet and Alexander Robertson Hardie of Electra House. Moorgate in the city of London, Secretary of the Eastern Telegraph company, the surviving and accepting trustees, original and assumed acting under the last will and testament of the now deceased Sir John Pender, K.C.M.G of No 18 Arlington Street in the parish of St George, Hanover square, in the county of London, dated 31st July 1890, and with five relative co-dicils dated respectively 31st July, 1890, 31st July 1890, 18th April 1891, 30th November 1891,d 15th February 1895, proved and registered in the principal probate registry of her late Majesty's high court of justice on 28th July 1896, and as such trustees heritable vest in inter alia the lands and estate hereinafter mentioned (the said Sir John Denison Pender, Lord John Hay and Alexander Robertson Hardie and their successors in office as trustees foresaid being hereinafter referred to as "the trustees") on the one part, and the Pumpherston oil company limited incorporated under the companies acts 1862 to 1880 and 1883, having their head office at 135 Buchanan street . Glasgow (hereinafter referred to as "the company") on the other part: Whereas the then trustees of the said Sir John Pender by lease dated 16th June and 14th and 17th October all in the year 1903 let to the company for the space of thirty one years from and after the term of Whitsunday nineteen hundred and three all and whole the whole seams so far as not then already worked of bituminous oil shales and also of coal (except gas or parviot? Coal) in the trustees lands and estate of Seafield, Blackburn and Whitehill in the parish of Livingstone and county of Linlithgow delineated on the plan or sketch and duplicate thereof both signed with reference to the said lease: And where as it is provided by the said lessees shall be entitled to enter upon any part of the said lands delineated on the said plan or sketch except plantations, garden ground and ground situated within two hundred years of any then existing covered buildings; And whereas it is further provided by the said lease that "no surface operations shall be allowed" within said plantations, garden ground, and ground situated within two hundred yards of any existing covered buildings; and that the company shall inter alia be at liberty to work, win, raise, carry away and dispose of the whole seams of shale and coal hereinafter referred to; . . .

See page 9

. . . sink pits, or make open casts or mines, erect engines, and all requisite machinery, and make (but that only in such lines as shall be approved of by the trustees) such roads, tramways, or railways as be may be necessary for working, winning and recovering the said shale and coal and carrying away the same; And whereas the said lease further stipulates that the company shall pay to the trustees all damages of whatever kind which may be done or occasioned by the foresaids workings and operation to the said lands and to the crops and pasture thereon and produce thereof, and to any woods, plantations, roads, access, wells, watering places, walls, fences and railways, as also to any stream, water supply, or spring of water, or to any public or turnpike road or other road, and to free relieve and indemnify the trustees of all claims for any such damages on any account in respect of or in connection with, the said operations at the instance of any person or persons whatever, and of all loss and expense incurred by the trustees by reason of such claims; And whereas the company has requested the trustees to sanction the opening of a new mine as a spot situated less than two hundred yards from the farm steading and buildings on the farm of Seafield; And whereas the trustees have agreed and do hereby agree and consent to the opening of the said mine on the conditions aftermentioned: Therefore the parties hereto have arranged and agreed as follows:- . . .

First: Situation of mine

. . . The mouth of the new mine shall be situated in the field adjoining ther farm steading of Seafield and at that part of the field indicated on the plan annexed hereto and signed with reference to these presents. . . .

Second: Erection of engine house etc:

. . . The engine house and such other buildings as the company may require in connection with the working of the new mine shall be erected on such part of the area coloured pink. Hereonafter referred to as may be selected by the company, but it is understood between the parties that the engine and engine house will be placed as far from the farm steading as possible; . . .

Third: Hutch track

. . . For the purpose of conveying the shale from the new mine to the company's works at Seafield, the company shall put down a hutch track of the usual type along the line indicated on the annexed plan; . . .

Fourth: Elevation of hutch track

. . . At the point where the hutch-track crosses the farm road which forms the eastern boundary of the field in which the new mine is to be opened, the company will by means of sloping and elevated platforms, or in such other way as they may think best, carry the hutch-track across that road at such an elevation as will permit the farm tenant and his employees to drive fully loaded carts of ay and straw underneath the hutch-track. . . .

Fifth: Fences

. . . Before the company begin to either open the mine or convey any materials or machinery to the ground, or do any work whatsoever on the ground, they will enclose by means of a substantial wire fence the area coloured pink on the annexed plan. The fence will be in on the public road at the point marked A on the annexed plan, and will terminate on the farm road a the point marked B on the annexed plan. The fence will be at least four feet high from the surface of the ground to the top of the stobs. It will be sheep proof, the wires on the side next the portions of the field not occupied by the company will be plain wires, and in addition, there will be a barbed wire along the whole length of the top and three barbed wire at regular intervals along the whole length of the fence on the side next to the area coloured pink on the annexed plan. There will be no gates or other openings in any part of the said fence. At the point marked A on said plan, the company will erect a suitable irongate. That gate will form the only entrance to and exit from the foresaid area of ground coloured pink. The fence and gate will be maintained by the company in a satisfactory and sufficient state of repair at their own expense during their whole tenancy under the foresaid lease. . . .

Sixth: Fence

. . . Before the company open the mine or build the engine house, or do any other work on the foresaid area coloured pink, they will erect a substantial fence of railway sleepers along the line C.D.E and B.E.F indicated on the plan annexed hereto. There will be no gateway or other opening along the line B.E.F but at the point F the company will leave the existing gateway which forms one of the entrances to the farm yard. The distance from the point C to the point D on said plan annexed hereto shall be at least one hundred feet. The fence shall be the same height and after the same style as the railway sleeper fence erected by the company along the west end of Seafield rows. Before erecting the foresaid sleeper fence, the company will remove the existing wire fence around the said farm yard; cart away the stones among which the present fence is set; and level the ground so that the small piece of ground to be added to the farm yard may be at the same level as the present farm yard. Earth only shall be used when levelling the ground to be added to the farm yard. . . .

Seventh: Fence.

. . . The company will also erect along each side of the whole length of the foresaid hutch, track or substantial wire fence of the same style and description as the fence around the foresaid area of ground coloured pink, but the three inside barbed wires may be dispensed with when erecting this fence. The fence along the line of the hutch track shall be maintained by the company in a sufficient and satisfactory state of repair at their own expense during the whole currency of the foresaid lease; . . .

Eighth

. . . The company will also remove the present fence along the line marked G.H on the foresaid plan annexed hereto, and will erect along the line marked H.I. on said plan a substantial sheep-proof wire fence at least three feet six inches high, with a gateway at such part thereof as may be pointed out by the trustees or the tenant of Seafield farm; . . .

Ninth: Mine water

. . . All water from the new mine shall be conveyed by the company a their own expense in suitable underground pipes to the ditch at the bottom of the field in which the new mine is to be situated; and the water shall then be carried in suitable underground pipes along that ditch to the company works. . . .

Tenth

. . . All the earth, stones, debris and other materials which the company may excavate while making the new mine shall be deposited on the foresaid area of ground coloured pink or conveyed by means of the hutch-track to some suitable place in the neighbourhood of the company's works. . . .

Eleventh: Rent for ground occupied.

. . . For (a) the foresaid area of ground coloured pink, (b) the site of the trial pit in the same field as the new mine, and (c) the ground to be occupied by the hutch-track, the company will pay the trustees a yearly rent at the rate of two pounds sterling per acre per annum. . . .

Twelfth

. . . All questions to (a) surface damages (b) compensation to the farm tenant for unexhausted manures, loss of grazing, dislocation of crops and disturbance of stock, and (c) pollution or loss of water supply, shall be settled in accordance with the provisions in the foresaid lease between the trustees and the company: In witness whereof