Holmes Mine

Overview

The Holmes Oil Company's steeply inclined shale mine near Uphall, opened about 1884 on the Pumpherston anticline and abandoned in 1900.

History

Holmes Mine, near Uphall, was opened about 1884 by the Holmes Oil Company to supply its Holmes Oil Works. It was one of a string of steeply inclined mines following the outcrop of the Pumpherston Shales along the western arm of the Pumpherston anticline, and worked the shales lying west and north of its entrance. A tramway carried the shale north across the Edinburgh-Bathgate railway to the works.

At the company's general meeting in June 1885 the chairman dismissed rumours that the mine was in trouble and would last only two or three years: the Holmes field, he said, was small but good, and the present mine would last twenty years. It employed 126 in 1894 and 141 in 1896. In fact it was worked out within about fifteen years. Its workings in the Jubilee, Maybrick, Plain, Wee and Bottom shales were abandoned in 1900, when 82 were still employed; a plan of Houston Coal workings from Holmes had been abandoned in 1890. The site is now derelict ground.

Geology

The Pumpherston Shales (Jubilee, Maybrick, Plain, Wee and Bottom) on the western arm of the Pumpherston anticline, with the Houston Coal.

Workings

A steeply inclined adit following the shale outcrop; a tramway north across the Edinburgh-Bathgate railway to Holmes Oil Works.

Closure

Abandoned in 1900.

What remains

Derelict ground.

Recorded claims

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

• Holmes Mine was opened about 1884 to supply Holmes Oil Works, by a tramway across the Edinburgh-Bathgate railway. ¹
• In 1885 the Holmes Oil Company's chairman told shareholders the mine would last twenty years. ¹
• It employed 126 people in 1894 and 141 in 1896. ²
• The mine was abandoned in 1900, when it still employed 82. ^2,1

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Holmes mine (Scottish Shale, Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry) — Almond Valley Heritage Trust
2. (primary) Holmes (Oil shale) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum

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