Scottish shale Scottish shale

Burntisland No.2 mine

Former parish and county:
Parish of Burntisland, Fifeshire
Local authority:
Fife
Ownership:
Binnend Oil Co. Ltd.
Burntisland Oil Co. Ltd. (1881)
Burntisland Oil Co. Ltd. (1893)
Seams worked:
Dunnet Shale
Opened:
c.1880
Closed:
c.1894
Current status of site:
Derelict land with mature trees
Regional overview:
Mines in the Burntisland area

burntisland2mine.jpg

Inclined adit at a gradient of 1 in 3

Serving Binnend Oil & Mineral Works

Also known as Winnyhill No.2, this mine dipped to the NW, following the seam of Dunnet Shale into the hillside. Eventually linked underground to the other Burntisland mines.

Mineral Statistics (see below) for 1883 record that No.2 mine worked the Dunnet shale by the stoop and room method. The downcast shaft measured 11'x6' and was 830' deep. 11 persons were employed above and 65 below ground (8 and 85 in 1884) under the management of Jno. Louden. The mine was considered non-fiery and dipped at a gradient of 1 in 3.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1895, showing adit heading north west into the hillside.

  • Location & workings at Burntisland No.2 mine

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  • Detailed maps
  • Mineral Statistics

      • During much of the Victorian period, Her Majesty's Inspectors of Mines produced an annual report to the Secretary of State recording the output of coal and other minerals, plus a variety of associated statistics, including a list of mines. The format and detail of these "Mineral Statistics" varied considerably, each Mine Inspector compiling a report of this own area according to his own style. Scotland was served by two mines inspectors; being divided into eastern and western districts.

      MineralStatistics.jpg

      The most detailed of these reports provide substantial information on each pit, including details of shafts, ventilation and methods of working, and the number employed at each site. Others provide little more than name of the pit, the owner, and the seam worked. Mineral Statistics for certain years have been digitised in full and are available through www.archive.org., others are available, for a fee as Google books, and some have been partly transcribed (to varying degrees of accuracy) and made available through various mines research sites. Our museum holds a number of annual Mineral Statistics from the 1880's.

  • External references

      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. S5107, showing workings in unnamed shale and Dunnet Shale from Winnyhall or Burntisland, abandoned 1900.
      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 1524, showing workings in unnamed shale from Winnyhall or Burntisland, abandoned 1883.
      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 3186, showing workings in Dunnet Shale and an unnamed shale from Winnyhall or Burntisland, dated 1894.

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