Scottish shale Scottish shale

Greenfield No.1 pit

Parish:
Carnwath, Lanarkshire
Local authority:
South Lanarkshire
Ownership:
Lanark Oil Co. Ltd.
Seams worked:
Raeburn Shale
Opened:
c.1885
Closed:
c.1886
Current status of site:
Amid bog and moorland, substantial remains of building foundations survive
Regional overview:
Mines in the Cobbinshaw area

Greenfield No,.1 pit.jpg

Vertical shaft, 35 fathoms deep

Serving Tarbrax Oil Works

A short-lived pit developed by the Lanark Oil Company c.1885, which was abandoned when the company failed in 1886.

  • Location of Greenfield No.1 pit

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  • Detailed maps

    • Recent images

    P1030510.JPG c 771.jpg c 767.jpg c 750.jpg
  • Newspaper references

      • The seam, at present worked by a pit 27 fathoms deep, average 3 feet 5 inches in thickness, all clean shale. It lies at an easy angle of 1 foot in 8, has a good roof and pavement, requires little propwood, and is on the whole a fine working and favourable for cheap production.

      Lanark Oil Company Ltd prospectus, published in The Scotsman, 25th July 1883

      .......

      ...the Chairman supplemented his opening address by stating - as bearing on statements that had been circulated to the effect that there was no shale at Greenfield - that these had been carefully tested, and that the very first bore gave them a seam of shale of 3ft 6in., within five fathoms of the surface; another bore reported that afternoon, gave them a seam of 4ft 5in. (Applause.)

      AGM of the Lanark Oil Co, reported in the Scotsman, 17th April 1885 (The Lanark Oil Company Ltd was liquidated the following year

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