Tarbrax No.2 pit

Parish:

Carnwath, Lanarkshire

Local authority:

South Lanarkshire

Ownership:

North British Oil & Candle Co. Ltd.

Lanark Oil Co. Ltd.

Caledonian Mineral Oil Co. Ltd. (1889)

Caledonian Mineral Oil Co. Ltd. (1898)

Seams worked:

Fells Shale

Opened:

Opened 1881, linked to No.1 in 1891

Closed:

1903

Current status of site:

Site of mine within wasteground and ruins of the oil works

Regional overview:

Mines in the Cobbinshaw area

Vertical shaft 26 fathoms deep

Serving Tarbrax Oil Works

Sunk in 1881 to exploit the Fells Shale, linked underground to Tarbrax No. 1 in 1891; thereafter all shale appears to have been wound up No. 2 pit. Closed in 1903 following failure of the Caledonian Mineral Oil Company Ltd.

Shale-field: Cobbinshaw shale-field.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1898. In use by the Caledonian Mineral Oil Company Ltd, showing shaft (and winding engine house?)

Location & workings at Tarbrax No.2 pit

Detailed maps

Tarbrax No.2 Pit - 25" OS map c.1898, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Tarbrax No.2 Pit - 25" OS map c.1911, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Tarbrax No.2 Pit - Aerial, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Recent images

Bolts protruding from the concrete foundations perhaps secured the spent shale haulage engine. The darker grass to the right of the concrete foundation might mark the site of the shaft of Tarbrax No. 2 Pit. November 2011.

View across banks of un-retorted shale waste and cinder towards the site of No. 2. Looking west. November 2011.

External references

Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 4424, showing workings in the Fells Shale from Tarbrax No. 1 and 2, abandoned in 1903.