Buckside Oil Works

Redwood notes that Buckside Oil Works, operated by McLagan, was in production between 1861 and 1867.

Primrose in "Strathbrock - or the history and antiquities of Uphall Parish" (1898) states

"In 1860 Mr. Peter McLagan, afterwards M.P. for the county, erected a few retorts for distilling oil from the bituminous shale which cropped out on the surface of his estate of Pumpherston, and shortly after he disovered a valuable seam of the Broxburn shale on his farm of Stankards, about 25 fathoms from the surface. To turn this to account, he set up, near Uphall Railway Station, a bench of horizontal retorts, somewhat different in form from those he had previously erected. These became the nucleus of the Uphall Works."

Peter McLagan was the local landowner and MP, and one of the first directors of the Uphall Mineral Oil Company Ltd. Although the location of the works is uncertain, reference in the valuation roll to railways and worker's housing suggests a site close to Uphall station, most likely incorporated into the site of Uphall Oil Works.

The name "Buckside" does not appear on any local OS map, however Primrose states:

"On Drumshoreland Moor, within the grounds of Pumpherston Oil Company, there is a stone, popularly styled Bucksides - its correct designation being Backsides - from its position at the backside of Pumpherston. 'This stone, a huge whinstone boulder about 12 feet long and 8 feet broad, was blasted in 1888, to make room for the site of a bench of retorts; a few fragments of the stone, however, yet remain by the roadside."

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1862 , showing the general area.