Kilwinning Oil Works

One of a number of small oil works supplied from a seam of "parrot shale" or "shale coal" found in the Kilwinning area.

Redwood's "Practical Treatise on Mineral Oils" notes that the Kilwinning oil works, at "Ayre", operated between 1864 and 1871.

In about 1843, a major ironworks was constructed near Kilwinning by the Eglinton Iron Company; a firm associated with the Lanarkshire iron and coal masters William and James Baird. A newspaper advertisement dated February 1865 suggests that the firm had stockpiled a substantial amount of parrot coal as a by-product of their coal, iron and clay mining activities and were encouraging others to set up business in the area to produce oil from the mineral.

"The Engineer" of 17th August 1866 stated that "retorts have been erected at Kilwinning, Ayrshire for the iron firm of Messrs Baird of Gartsherrie and the Eglinton Iron Company", suggesting that the Eglinton Oil Company had chosen to enter the oil industry on their own account. This enterprise was apparently abandoned by August 1871 when they placed a newspaper advertisement offering the works for sale, equipped with 48 retorts.

Geological Survey Memoirs - Economic Geology of the Ayrshire Coalfields Area II, published in 1925 states;

"Shale coal...consists of an upper layer of oil shale resting on an equal thickness of coal. The shale was retorted in an old oil works which has since been destroyed by fire, near the farm of Bog. The material there treated was locally obtained, and although the seam is variable, it is probable that much remains to be wrought."

The 1896 OS shows an area of rough ground to the north east of Bog farm served by a siding from the mineral railway leading to Bogside colliery. This seems a possible location for the oil works.

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