Trees No.1 pit

Parish:

Bathgate, Linlithgowshire

Local authority:

West Lothian

Ownership:

James Russel and Son

James Wood & Co.

Opened:

c.1858

Closed:

post 1895

Current status of site:

Rough shrubland beside railway

Pit in the Trees estate, to Armadale Ball Coal at 28 fathoms, Armadale Main Coal at 33 fathoms and Boghead Gas Coal at 42 fathoms. Probably worked by James Russel & Son until c.1875

Mineral Statistics for 1883 records Trees No.1 pit , owned by James Wood, manager Arch. Robertson, working the Main, Ball, and Colinburn Coals by the longwall method, employing 10 on the surface and 31 underground, with a downcast shaft 8.5' and 257 ft deep, and an upcast shaft 12' x 5' and 240 ft deep. It was a non-fiery mine with a fan 14' x 4.5'. Workings were linked underground to Trees No.2 pit.

Location of pit, and boundary of the lands of Trees

25" OS map c.1895. courtesy National Library of Scotland

aerial view

lidar view

We are also glad to learn that the ironstone being brought from the new pit, of the Messrs. Russell & Son, at the Trees, promises to surpass in quality that of any other pit in the district. The seam to two feet thick, and a valuable stratum of gas coal lies immedutely above it. All must rejoice in these new tokens of the extension of the material prosperity of the district.

Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser, 30th October 1858