Scottish shale Scottish shale

Boghead No.25 mine

Parish:
Bathgate, Linlithgowshire
Local authority:
West Lothian
Opened:
c.1880
Closed:
pre 1895

An inclined mine in the Boghead estate to the Boghead gas coal and the Colinburn coal. This dip mine was linked underground to Boghead No.10 pit. A short tramway seems to have linked the pit with Bathgate Chemical Works. The location is subject to confirmation. The Colinburn seam was a poor-quality coal, about 2'6" thick, that closely overlay the Boghead Gas Coal

The Inspector on Mines' Mineral Statistics for 1883 list two pits in the Boghead estate operated by Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Co. Ltd. No.25 was a dip mine to the Colinburn Coal which was worked by the longwall method, and employed 12 surface workers and 70 underground. The size of the downcast shaft was 10x6 ft and was 2,376 feet deep. It had 2 splits or currents, each current was 1,550 yards and the sectional area of airways was 20 sq.ft. With a throughput of 7,500 feet per minute. Ventilation was by furnace, and it was a non-fiery mine. No.10 pit served as the upcast shaft for these workings, the shaft being 10ft x 4 ft and 240 ft deep.