Handaxwood No.1 pit

Parish:

West Calder, Midlothian

Local authority:

West Lothian

Ownership:

William Dixon Ltd

Opened:

post 1855

Closed:

pre 1895

Current status of site:

Most surface traces obliterated by later quarrying activities

Regional overview:

Ironstone pits

Pit in the lands of Handaxwood, to the Curdly Ironstone at 12 fathoms.

Location of pit, and boundary of the lands of Handaxwood

6" OS map c.1895, Courtesy National Library of Scotland

aerial view

lidar view

Route of Inclined Tramway

The Wilsontown, Morningside, and Coltness Railway was opened in 1845 to link the mineral fields of West Lothian with the Ironworks of Lanarkshire. At Fauldhouse, various sidings served Wm. Dixon's coal and iron pits in the Greenburn area. At some time around 1860 an inclined tramway was constructed between Greenburn and the Dixon's ironstone pits high up on the hillside. The Caledonian Railway's Midcalder and Cleland's line opened in 1868, and was carried on a high viaduct above the Greenburn pits and the sidings that served them. The Caledonian also built a standard gauge branch from their new main line to serve the Muldron pits, which opened in about 1870 This branch line passed over the route of the inclined tramway on a low bridge so presumably remained in operation. By 1895, when the second edition OS map was surveyed, No.1, 2, 3. & 4 pits were closed, rails lifted, and route marked as an "old tramway".