Scottish shale Scottish shale

Greendykes South mine

Parish:
Uphall, Linlithgowshire
Local authority:
West Lothian
Ownership:
Robert Bell & Co.
Broxburn Oil Co. Ltd.
Seams worked:
Broxburn Shale
Opened:
Pre 1878
Closed:
1915
Current status of site:
Buried beneath Greendykes bing
Regional overview:
Mines in the Broxburn area

greendykessouthmine1.jpg

Inclined adit

Serving Broxburn Oil Works

Shale was first worked at South Greendykes by Robert Bell, prior to the formation of the Broxburn Oil Co. in 1878

Mineral statistics for 1883 and 1884 record that Greendykes South mine worked the Broxburn shale by stoop and room working. It employed two on the surface and eight underground under the management of Alex Kennedy. Both downcast and upcast shafts measured 8'x5'. It was a non-fiery mine and was ventilated by steam.

In c.1898, the Broxburn Oil Co. drove a new mine on the site accessing deeper seams of shale. These working were abandoned in 1915

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1916, showing the mine in production.

  • Location & workings at Greendykes South mine

      • Show seams:

  • Detailed maps

    • Recent images

    P1030930.JPG P1040050.JPG P1010554.JPG P1010547.JPG
  • Newspaper references

      • The Broxburn Oil Company are opening up a new mine at South Greendykes, on the surface occupied by one of the old mines worked out by the late Robert Bell of Clifton Hall, the founder of the Broxburn Oil Company. One of the deeper seams it to be worked from this mine.

      Linlithgowshire Gazette, 1st January 1898

  • External references

      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 6481, showing workings in the Broxburn Grey and Curly Shales from Greendykes South Mine, abandoned in 1915.

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