Scottish shale Scottish shale

Grange No.3 pit

Parish:
West Calder, Midlothian
Local authority:
West Lothian
Ownership:
J.P. Raeburn
Midlothian Oil Co. Ltd.
Seams worked:
Raeburn Shale
Opened:
1860's?
Closed:
1870's?
Current status of site:
Waste bing remains as the only trace of surface workings
Regional overview:
Mines in the Polbeth area

grange3pit1.jpg

Vertical shaft, 23 fathoms deep

Serving Grange Shale Oil Works

The history and identity of this pit remains uncertain.

The pit marked as "old shaft" on the 1895 OS map accessed an area of Raeburn Shale which was separated from the seam worked by Grange No. 1 & No. 2 Pits only by shale left intact beneath the West Calder to Livingston road. The shaft lies close the site of Grange Shale Oil Works and is therefore assumed to have served them. We have used the title Grange No. 3, although no pit of that name appears in abandonment plan records or in "Mines and Pits Sunk".

Two shafts at the southernmost extent of the Raeburn Shale have been tentatively identified as Gavieside No. 3 Pit. This served Gavieside Paraffin Oil Works and might represent a second phase of working the Raeburn Shale following abandonment of Grange Shale Oil Works.

Shale-field: Polbeth and Gavieside shale-field.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of 1895, showing No. 3 as an "Old Shaft" adjacent to mine waste bing.

  • Location & workings at Grange No.3 pit

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    Charlesfield No.3 mine 55-¦52'6.99N 3-¦34'4.12W Charlesfield No.3 mine 55-¦52'6.99N 3-¦34'4.12W P1000593.JPG

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