Hopetoun No.1 pit

Parish:

Kirkliston, Linlithgowshire and Midlothian

Local authority:

West Lothian

Ownership:

Uphall Mineral Oil Co.

Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Co. Ltd.

Seams worked:

Broxburn Shale

Opened:

c.1872

Closed:

Abandoned 1876 and/or 1881

Current status of site:

Wooded waste tip

Regional overview:

Mines in the Hopetoun area

A vertical shaft, originally known at Lady Hopetoun No. 1 pit, serving Hopetoun oil works. 10 fathoms deep to the Broxburn shale. The location appears to be marked as an air shaft on the 1897 OS map.

Location & workings at Hopetoun No.1 pit

Detailed maps

Hopetoun No.1 Pit - 25" OS map c.1916, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Hopetoun No.1 Pit - 1:2,500 OS map c.1955, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Hopetoun No.1 Pit - Aerial, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Drawings

Detail of mine plan, showing shaft to No. 1 Mine and location of Niddry Rows on the surface. Latest date of working shown on the plan is September 1880. (Courtesy British Geological Survey LSP41 - 15668.01).

Recent images

View towards site of No. 1 Pit, beneath bing, behind bus. Looking north. May 2012.

View of No. 1 Pit, buried beneat h Hopetoun Oil Works bing. Looking north. May 2012.

May 2012.

External references

Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 478, showing workings in the Broxburn Shale from Hopetoun No. 1 Mine, abandoned in 1876.
Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 1253, showing workings in the Main Shale from Hopetoun No.1 Mine, abandoned in 1881.