Lawhead No.1 mine

Parish:

Carnwath, Lanarkshire

Local authority:

South Lanarkshire

Ownership:

Tarbrax Oil Co. Ltd.

Seams worked:

Fells Shale

Opened:

c.1905

Closed:

c.1906

Current status of site:

Collapsed adit entrance, substantial brick foundations and earthworks survive in moorland site

Regional overview:

Mines in the Cobbinshaw area

No. 1 mine in the Lawhead estate was a short-lived working in the Fells shale by the Tarbrax Oil Co. Ltd. to serve Tarbrax oil works. The adit plunged into the ground at a gradient of about 1 in 5 heading westward beneath the village of Tarbrax. It was opened in about 1905, but was abandoned only two years later.

Abandonment records also include a "Lawhead No. 3, or Tarbrax No. 1", from which Caledonian Mineral Oil Company Ltd worked Fells Shale until abandonment in 1897. It is unclear whether any of the old air shafts in the area relate to this working.

Location & workings at Lawhead No.1 mine

Route of haulage between Lawhead and Tarbrax retorts, shown as disused tramway in the 1910 25" OS map

Detail from a postcard of North Terrace, Tarbrax (see LVSAV2018.066) showing staging carrying the tramway from Lawhead.

Detailed maps

1910 25" OS map, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Composite view

LIDAR view

Composite view

aerial view

Drawings

Detail of mine plan; (courtesy British Geological Survey LSP 460, -16369_01)

Recent images

6th ‎November ‎2011

6th ‎November ‎2011. Tramway crossing of the Maidwin burn

6th ‎November ‎2011

Newspaper references

TARBRAX OIL COMPANY. On the Lawhead property to the south of the works, operations, which were commenced at the formation of the company, have proved satisfactory. A mine has been sunk, and has reached the shale at a vertical depth of about twenty fathoms. The shale on this property has also been found of its usual thickness and equal in quality to that on Cobbinshaw

Report of the first AGM of the company from the West Lothian Courier, 19th May 1905

.......

TARBRAX OIL COMPANY. The directors, in their second annual report, state that since the last report, the development of...... Lawhead Mine has been vigorously prosecuted. Immediately to tho south of the pit an upthrow fault of 12 fathoms was encountered, which greatly delayed the development of the pit and added considerably to its cost. The fault has been cut, and the shale, which has been found in good form, is being rapidly opened out. The output from this pit is now about 250 tons per day, and is steadily increasing as development proceeds.

Report of the second AGM of the company from the Linlithgowshire Gazette, 25th May 1906

External references

Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 5014, showing workings in the Fells Shale from Tarbrax or Lawhead No. 1, abandoned in 1906.