Scottish shale Scottish shale

Pumpherston No.5 mine

Parish:
Midcalder, Midlothian
Local authority:
West Lothian
Seams worked:
Dunnet Shale
Opened:
1899
Closed:
1925
Current status of site:
Part of mine site within golf course, the remainder wooded waste land
Regional overview:

pumpherston5mine.jpg

Inclined adit at gradient of 1 in 1.3

Serving Pumpherston Oil Works

Steeply inclined working in the Dunnet Shales. Shale was transported by the tramway that also served Pumpherston No. 3 Mine.

Shale-field: Pumpherston shale-field.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1897, prior to development of the mine.

  • Location & workings at Pumpherston No.5 mine
    • Show seams:

  • Detailed maps
  • Recent images

  • Newspaper references
    • Work has now been stopped and the withdrawal of materials ( e.g. rails, sleepers etc) is in progress. All miners and drawers have been transferred to No.4 Mine, which has been double shifted, but a few of the on cost men are idle.

      From Scottish Oils Ltd, Managing Director's Monthly Report to the Board. (BP Archive No. 215662)


  • External references
    • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 8147, showing workings in the Dunnet Shales; No. 1 or Upper, No. 2 or Gavin, and No. 3 or Lower, from Pumpherston No. 5, abandoned in 1925.