Westwood No.13 pit

Parish:

Livingston, Linlithgowshire

Local authority:

West Lothian

Ownership:

Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Co. Ltd.

Seams worked:

Fells Shale

Opened:

c.1870

Closed:

1887

Current status of site:

Storage yard of concrete block plant; no trace of surface features remain

Regional overview:

Mines in the Polbeth area

Vertical shaft, 203 ft (34 fathoms) deep

Serving Addiewell Chemical Works

Worked in association with Westwood No. 12, both pits were in operation prior to 1870 and continued to be worked into the 1880's. Both were served by a branch of the Addiewell and Polbeth railway, crossing the Breich Water by viaduct.

Shale-field: West Calder district.

Mapped by the Ordnance Survey of c.1897, with the site of Westwood No. 13 marked by waste bings and a disused shaft.

Location & workings at Westwood No.13 pit

Detailed maps

Westwood No.13 Pit - 25" OS map c.1897, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Westwood No.13 Pit - 25" OS map c.1916, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Westwood No.13 Pit - 1:2,500 OS map c.1955, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Westwood No.13 Pit - Aerial, courtesy National Library of Scotland

Recent images

Location of No.13 pit. May 2013.

External references

Coal Authority Mine Abandonment Catalogue No. 2130, showing workings in the Thick Shale from Westwood No. 12 & 13, abandoned in 1887.