Scottish shale Scottish shale

Deans (Caputhall) mine

Parish:
Bathgate, Linlithgowshire
Local authority:
West Lothian
Ownership:
West Lothian Oil Co. Ltd
Seams worked:
Fells Shale
Closed:
Abandoned c.1886
Current status of site:
Verge of the M8 motorway
Regional overview:
Mines in the Deans area

deanscaputhallmine.jpg

Inclined shaft

Serving Deans Crude Oil Works

The early history of mining in the Deans area is unclear. A mine to the Dunnet Shale was referred to at the first AGM of the West Lothian Oil Company in 1885. Mining plan LSP46 indicates that the Fells Shale was last worked in 1886, whilst the second edition OS map (c.1897) shows the mine site vacant other than some small buildings, or foundations, and waste material.

Surprisingly therefore, Caputhall is listed in the Mine Abandonment Catalogue (Plan 4940) as being abandoned in 1906. Perhaps this indicates that the mine was re-opened by Pumpherston Oil Company?

Shale-field: Deans shale-field.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1895 showing abandoned site of Caputhall Mine.

  • Location & workings at Deans (Caputhall) mine

      • Show seams:

  • Detailed maps

    • Drawings

    deanscaputhallmineBGS1.jpg

    Recent images

    deanscaputhallmineRECENT2.jpg deanscaputhallmineRECENT.jpg
  • External references

      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 4940, showing workings in the Stanley, Dunnet and Pattison Shales from Deans No. 1, No. 2, Caputhall, abandoned in 1906.

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