Easter Breich No.1 & 2 pits

Parish:

Livingston, Linlithgowshire

Local authority:

West Lothian

Ownership:

Hermand Oil Co. Ltd (1890)

Seams worked:

Fells Shale

Opened:

c.1878

Closed:

c.1892

Current status of site:

Woodland with remains of bings and irregular ground. The "office" building survives

Regional overview:

Mines in the Breich area

Vertical shafts: No.1; 222ft (37 fathoms), No.2; 156 ft (26 fathoms)

Serving Breich Oil Works, previously the shale was sold to other companies

Thomas and James Thornton seem to have started mining at Easter Breich in c.1878, supplying shale to Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company and probably other oil companies. Following creation of the Hermand Oil Company Ltd, of which James Thornton was a director, output from Easter Breich was transported to Breich Oil Works by a tramway running parallel to the West Calder loop line. Houston Coal was worked at the nearby Easter Breich Coal Mine.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1897 appears to show the pits in a derelict condition.

Location & workings at Easter Breich No.1 & 2 pits

Detailed maps

Easter Breich No.1 & 2 Pits - 25" OS map c.1895, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Easter Breich No.1 & 2 Pits - 25" OS map c.1917, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Easter Breich No.1 & 2 Pits - Aerial, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Plan of workings

Detail from "Easter Breich Fell Shale Workings, 1878". (British Geological Survey LSP 48, 15647).

Section of mine plan, (LVSAV 1991.056)

Recent images

Possible mine office, viewed from main road. Looking north west. November 2011.

Possible mine office, viewed from rear. Looking south east. November 2011.

Site of No. 1 shaft (right foreground) taken from trackbed of the West Calder loop line. Looking north east. November 2011.

View from bing associated with No. 1 shaft, looking towards the "office". Looking north east. November 2011.