Cobbinshaw No. 5 Mine

Overview

A Fells Shale mine on the moor above Cobbinshaw Loch, opened by the Caledonian Mineral Oil Company in 1890 to feed Tarbrax Oil Works, re-opened by the Tarbrax Oil Company as No. 5 in 1912 and worked until the works closed in 1926.

History

Cobbinshaw Mine was opened in 1890 by the Caledonian Mineral Oil Company Ltd as part of its acquisition and redevelopment of the Tarbrax Oil Works. It stood on the site of Cobbinshaw South No. 28 Mine, which Young's Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company had worked between 1883 and 1885, and was driven as an inclined adit at about 1 in 12 into the Fells Shale, which dipped gently towards Cobbinshaw Loch. Its shale went to Tarbrax on a 2 ft 6 in gauge railway laid in a perfectly straight line across the moorland. Workings in the Fells Shale from Cobbinshaw South were abandoned in 1903.

The Caledonian company failed in 1903 and its mineral assets were bought by the Tarbrax Oil Company Ltd, which at first left the mine shut and sank Cobbinshaw Nos. 1 and 2 Pits half way along the railway instead. In 1912 the directors decided to re-open the old mine as No. 5: it was unwatered and repaired and fitted with electric pumping and haulage. No. 5 employed 90 in 1915 and 149 in 1920, working the Fells and Fraser shales. In September 1924 Scottish Oils was drawing its output from No. 5 and from Viewfield No. 5 Pit, and chose to keep both open, working the parts that gave the best shale at the lowest cost. Mining went on until Tarbrax Oil Works closed in 1926, by which time the workings reached almost to the northern shore of the loch.

Geology

The Fells Shale of the Cobbinshaw shale-field, dipping gently towards Cobbinshaw Loch; the Fraser Shale was also worked by 1920.

Workings

An inclined adit at about 1 in 12, re-equipped in 1912 with electric pumping and haulage; the workings extended almost to the northern shore of Cobbinshaw Loch. A 2 ft 6 in gauge railway ran straight across the moor to Tarbrax Oil Works.

Closure

The first workings were abandoned in 1903; the re-opened No. 5 worked until Tarbrax Oil Works closed in 1926.

What remains

Moorland.

The collapsed, brick-lined entrance of the adit, what may be a ventilation drift, some building foundations and the course of the narrow-gauge railway.

Related mines

• Cobbinshaw No. 1 and 2 Pits — Both were Tarbrax Oil Company workings on the railway to Tarbrax Oil Works; the company sank Nos. 1 and 2 before re-opening No. 5.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The Caledonian Mineral Oil Company opened Cobbinshaw Mine in 1890 and carried its shale to Tarbrax Oil Works on a 2 ft 6 in gauge railway. ¹
• In 1912 the Tarbrax Oil Company re-opened the mine as No. 5 and equipped it with electric pumping and haulage. ¹
• No. 5 employed 90 in 1915 and 149 in 1920. ²
• No. 5's workings in the Fells Shale were abandoned in 1926. ^1,3

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Cobbinshaw No.5 mine (Scottish Shale, Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry) — Almond Valley Heritage Trust
2. (primary) Cobbinshaw (Oil Shale) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: COBBINSHAW NO.5, Fells seam, abandoned 1926 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026