Cousland Mines

Also known as	Cousland No. 1 Mine, Cousland No. 2 Mine
Location	Cousland, north-east of Seafield, Livingston parish, West Lothian — 55.8860, -3.5826 (approximate)
Commodity	Oil Shale
Type	Mineral
Worked	By 1894–1913
Operators	Pumpherston Oil Company (?–1913, owner) — Owned the mines and the Seafield crude oil works they supplied

The Pumpherston Oil Company's two inclined shale mines at Cousland, north-east of Seafield, joined by tramway to the Seafield crude oil works; worked from before 1896 until 1913 and employing up to 179.

Location

Approximate location. The large pin is this mine; the small round markers are the nearest mines on record. Click one for its page. View on full map

History

Cousland No. 1 Mine lay about 800 metres north-east of the Pumpherston Oil Company's Seafield Crude Oil Works and was linked to them by a tramway; its workings in the Broxburn Shale dipped to the south-west. No. 2, opened after 1896 about 850 metres north-east of the works on the same tramway, worked the Dunnet Shale. Both were inclined adits.

The Lists of Mines show Cousland standing in 1894 and employing 99 in 1896, 147 in 1900, 178 in 1905 and 179 in 1910, working the Barracks and Dunnet Shales in 1905 and the Broxburn Shales as well by 1910. In March 1902 the company posted a notice at Seafield that No. 1 would close; many men were laid off, the manager finding work in the other mine for as many as he could, while the oncostmen had to leave the district.

On 21 February 1910 a fireman found gas at a break in an abandoned level of No. 2, and when he returned with the under-manager, John Haggie, it fired at his safety lamp; Haggie, 28, died of his burns. Workings at Cousland were abandoned in stages: in the Broxburn, Dunnet and Fells Shales in 1901, No. 1's Broxburn Shale workings in 1912 and No. 2's Pattison, Dunnet and Upper Dunnet workings in 1913.

Geology

Oil shales dipping to the south-west: the Broxburn Shale at No. 1; the Dunnet, Upper Dunnet and Pattison Shales at No. 2; the Barracks and Fells Shales are also recorded.

Workings

Two inclined adits, about 800 and 850 metres north-east of Seafield Crude Oil Works, linked to the works by a tramway.

Closure

The closure of No. 1 was announced in March 1902, and its Broxburn Shale workings were abandoned in 1912; No. 2 was abandoned in 1913.

What remains

No. 1's site is a waste water treatment plant; No. 2's approximate site is a cycleway in Easter Inch Moss and Seafield Law local nature reserve.

No trace of the surface workings survives at No. 1.

Related mines

Pumpherston Oil Works — Both belonged to the Pumpherston Oil Company; Cousland's shale went to the company's Seafield crude oil works.

Nearby mines

Starlaw Shale Pit — 0.2 miles (0.3 km) N
Deans No. 5 Mine — 0.7 miles (1.1 km) NE
Deans No. 7 Mine — 0.8 miles (1.2 km) NW
Gavieside No. 40 Mine — 1.4 miles (2.2 km) SE
Westwood No. 1 and 2 Pits — 1.7 miles (2.8 km) S

Straight-line distance, within 9 miles (15 km). Show on the map.

Recorded claims

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

Cousland No. 1 and No. 2, inclined adits about 800 and 850 metres north-east of Seafield Crude Oil Works, were linked to the works by tramway. ^1,2
Cousland employed 99 in 1896, 147 in 1900, 178 in 1905 and 179 in 1910. ³
In March 1902 the Pumpherston Oil Company gave notice that No. 1 Cousland Mine would close. ¹
On 21 February 1910 the under-manager John Haggie, 28, died after gas fired at a fireman's safety lamp in an abandoned level of No. 2. ^3,4
No. 1's Broxburn Shale workings were abandoned in 1912 and No. 2's Pattison, Dunnet and Upper Dunnet workings in 1913. ^1,2,5,6

Photographs & further reading

Cousland No.1 mine (Scottish Shale) (reference)

The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry's page for No. 1, with the 1895 OS map, site photographs, the 1902 closure notice and the abandonment references.

View source

Cousland No.2 mine (Scottish Shale) (reference)

The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry's page for No. 2, with maps and photographs of the site and the abandonment references.

View source

Sources

(secondary) Cousland No.1 mine (Scottish Shale) — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
(secondary) Cousland No.2 mine (Scottish Shale) — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
(primary) Cousland (Oil Shale) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) John Haggie, Cousland No. 2, 1910 (NMRS deaths database) — Northern Mine Research Society
(primary) BGS mine plan: COUSLAND NO.1, Broxburn seam — British Geological Survey
(primary) BGS mine plan: COUSLAND NO.2, Pattison and Upper Dunnet seams, abandoned 1913 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 3 November 2026 · Last researched: 3 November 2026