Pumpherston Oil Works

Including Pumpherston Refinery, Pumpherston Detergent Works, & Pumpherston Brickworks

A crude oil works and associated refinery established by the Pumpherston Oil Company in 1882, and fed by nearby mines in the rich, but steeply inclined, Pumpherston shales (Pumpherston No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 & No. 6 mines). The company subsequently developed or acquired crude oil works at Seafield, Deans, and Tarbrax, from where crude oil was transported by rail for refining at Pumpherston. Housing for the workforce was constructed in the nearby Pumpherston North and South villages.

Following the formation of Scottish Oils Ltd, the crude oil works at Pumpherston were closed in c.1926 as local supplies of shale could no longer be worked economically. The refinery however became the heart of the Scottish shale operations, refining the output of all the remaining crude oil works. Cracking plant were construced in the refinery c.1929, greatly increasing the output of road fuels that enjoyed a government tax preference.

In the later 1930's, a brickworks were on the former site of Pumpherston Mains to produce Scottish Oils Ltd (SOL) shale bricks from spent shale quarried from the adjacent bing. A synthetic detergent plant, fed by shale oil products, were established within the refinery c.1947. As part of BP, Pumpherston Refinery processed crude oil from various parts of mainland Britain and continued as a refinery after closure of the Scottish shale oil industry, processing crude petroleum from oil wells in Nottinghamshire. On closure of the refinery in 1964, the site became devoted to detergent production, laterly (and confusingly) under the banner of "Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company Ltd".

The detergent plant remained in operation until c.1993. Following an extended period of site clearance and extensive land remediation works, a new golf course was opened on the site in 2002. The brickworks remained in production until c. 1993; although not laterly using spent shale in the manufacturing process. This site remains derelict (in 2013).

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