Scottish shale Scottish shale

Mid Breich No.2 mine

Parish:
Livingston, Linlithgowshire
Local authority:
West Lothian
Seams worked:
Fells Shale
Opened:
c.1900
Closed:
1903
Current status of site:
Waste bing survives within pasture
Regional overview:
Mines in the Breich area

midbreich2mine1.jpg

Inclined shaft at an angle of 1 in 3

Serving Breich Oil Works

A short-lived mine, apparently exploiting the same reserve of Fells Shale as Mid Breich No.4 Pit. This is presumably the new mine in Wester Breich referred to at the first AGM of the New Hermand Oil Company in 1900 (see snippets).

See also Early Shale Workings in the Breich Area.

Shale-field: Breich shale-field.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1897, presumably prior to driving the mine.

  • Location & workings at Mid Breich No.2 mine

      • Show seams:

  • Detailed maps
  • Newspaper references

      • It was pretty well understood that when the works of any company had stood idle for about eight years it could not be started right away without hitches here and there...They had to rely upon No.4 pit for a full supply of shale. They were disappointed, and within the past few months they had made sure of new supplies of shale. They were now pretty well off in that respect, and within the next week they would be opening a new mine at West Breich, in addition to one on Mid Breich, on their own property.

      First annual general meeting of the New Hermand Oil Company, reported in Glasgow Herald, 24th July 1900

  • External references

      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. S4841, showing workings in the Broxburn, Fells, and Thick Shale from Breich, abandoned in 1901.
      • Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 4396, showing workings in the Fells Shale (1903) and Houston Coal (1901) from Breich.

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