Hopetoun No.3 mine

Parish:

Kirkliston, Linlithgowshire and Midlothian

Local authority:

West Lothian

Seams worked:

Broxburn Shale

Closed:

1884

Current status of site:

Derelict ground set within farmland

Regional overview:

Mines in the Hopetoun area

Inclined adit

Serving Hopetoun Oil Works

Inclined mine working Broxburn Shales in the western arm of the Broxburn syncline. Also referred to as Niddry Mine.

A small opencast oil shale quarry operated at Niddry Farm Quarry; producing 2,464 tons of shale in 1945 and 3,743 in 1946.

Shale-field: Broxburn area.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1896, showing the bing and rough ground of the mine site (centre right) and course of tramway heading north west towards Hopetoun Oil Works.

Location & workings at Hopetoun No.3 mine

Detailed maps

Hopetoun No.3 Mine - 25" OS map c.1896, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Hopetoun No.3 Mine - 25" OS map c.1916, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Hopetoun No.3 Mine - 1:2,500 OS map c.1955, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Hopetoun No.3 Mine - Aerial, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Drawings

Detail of mine plan, showing entrance to No. 3 Mine. (Courtesy British Geological Survey LSP41 - 15668.01).

Recent images

Telephoto view from canal towpath to site of No. 3 Mine, marked by trees and tipped materials. Looking north west. April 2012.

View from canal towpath to site of No. 3 Mine, marked by trees and tipped materials. Looking north west. April 2012.

View from on top of the bing. April 2012.

External references

Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 9595, showing workings in the Broxburn shale from Hopetoun (Niddry) No. 3 Mine, abandoned in 1884.