Kilrenny Oil Works

Overview

The oil works built beside the Pitcorthie shale mines in 1866, at the eastern extremity of the Scottish shale-oil industry. It was run by Rowatt and Yooll — an Edinburgh lamp manufacturer in partnership with the man who oversaw the mines — and advertised its product as 'white non-explosive oil'. A serious explosion in 1873 seems to have ended production, and the works stood disused for years afterwards. Its site is not marked on any known map.

History

Shale in the Lands of Kellie was advertised to lease in February 1866, and by the end of May that year the new excavation at West Pitcorthie was in full operation with about a dozen retorts on the ground. The Kilrenny Oil Works was built close to the mines and began production the same year. It was operated by Rowatt and Yooll: Thomas Rowatt, an established Edinburgh lamp manufacturer trading as T. Rowatt and Sons of Edinburgh and London, in partnership with Alexander Yoole — the spelling varies between Yool, Yooll and Youle in the sources — who had come to the district to oversee the mining at Pitcorthie and kept a private interest in it. Redwood's standard list of the industry records the works as Rowatt and Yooll Works, Anstruther, with James Spence as original proprietor, operational between 1865 and 1870. The partnership sold the product through Rowatt's own lamp trade. An advertisement in the Falkirk Herald of October 1867 offers the firm's patent Anucupnic lamp — 'no chimney, smoke, nor smell' — above a line for 'WHITE NON-EXPLOSIVE OIL manufactured by ROWATTS & YOOLL, Kilrenny Oil Works'. The rateable value tells the same story of a short rise and a long decline: £75 in 1866, £150 from 1867, £225 from 1870 to 1878, then £100 in 1879 and no further entries at all. The venture never really prospered. The Fife Herald complained in February 1868 of 'another of those unfortunate hitches which have only been too frequent in the brief and seemingly unprosperous progress of the Pitcorthie shale mines and the Kilrenny oil works', blaming the dullness of the mineral market. Work resumed and stopped more than once — by 1870 the mines had been idle for months and were to be taken up again after harvest by the lessees, Messrs Rowatt's and Yool. Production at the works appears to have continued until 1873, when it was damaged by a serious explosion. The buildings survived disused until at least 1878, and the Kilrenny works were recorded as 'standing' that year.

Geology

The works retorted oil shale from the narrow seam at Pitcorthie, in the Calciferous Sandstone measures of eastern Fife — the easternmost true oil shale worked anywhere in Scotland, a long way from the West Lothian ground where the industry was concentrated. The same workings yielded ironstone and a coal known as the Pitcorthie Coal, described at the time as coarse and dirty and one of the few coals in the Calciferous Sandstones of Fife then being worked commercially.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (historical documentary reference)

Workings

A retorting works rather than a mine: about a dozen cast-iron retorts were erected when the venture began, on ground extending to some five acres, with more added week by week through 1866. Furnace coal came from the company's own pits, including workings near Kellie Castle a few miles west.

Closure

Production seems to have ended with the serious explosion of 1873, though the works stood disused until at least 1878 and still carried a rateable value in 1879. There are no entries after that.

What remains

The site is not marked on any known map. The Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry's suggested location is an area of rough ground close to the mine sites, carrying mounds that appear to be red spent shale, where aerial photographs reveal the outline of substantial foundations; the presumed site now lies within a private garden.

Mounds of red spent shale — blaes — and, on aerial photographs, the outlines of substantial foundations. Nothing standing.

Related mines

• West Pitcorthie Shale Mines — The works and the mines that fed it: Kilrenny Oil Works was built in 1866 close to the shale workings at West Pitcorthie, both were run by the same men, and the press of the day reported their stoppages and restarts as a single concern.

Nearby mines

• West Pitcorthie Shale Mines — 1.0 km N

Straight-line distance, within 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.

• The works was operated by Rowatt & Yooll, presumably built about 1866 and presumably dismantled after 1879; Redwood lists it as Rowatt & Yooll Works, Anstruther, original proprietor Jas. Spence, operational between 1865 and 1870. ¹
• Alexander Yoole, originally involved in overseeing the mining works at Pitcorthie, appears to have gone into partnership with Thomas Rowatt, an established Edinburgh-based lamp manufacturer, to operate Kilrenny Oil Works. ¹
• An advertisement in the Falkirk Herald of 10 October 1867 offers T. Rowatt and Sons' patent Anucupnic lamp and 'WHITE NON-EXPLOSIVE OIL manufactured by ROWATTS & YOOLL, Kilrenny Oil Works'. ¹
• Despite the collapse in the price of oil, production seems to have continued until 1873, when the works was damaged by a serious explosion; the buildings survived disused until at least 1878, and the Kilrenny works were recorded as 'standing' that year. ^1,2
• The works was rated at £75 in 1866, £150 from 1867 to 1869, £225 from 1870 to 1878 and £100 in 1879, after which there are no further entries. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Kilrenny Oil Works — with the Pitcorthie mines and contemporary press notices — Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry
2. (secondary) Kilrenny Pit, near Anstruther — Fife Pits (Michael Martin)

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 6 September 2026