Loganlea Colliery

Overview

United Collieries' largest pit, west of Addiewell in the West Lothian shale and coal country. It grew through the 1930s to over 700 people, was one of twenty Scottish pits on the National Coal Board's closure list of 1958, and shut in 1959. The village it built is still there; the pit is woodland.

History

Loganlea began about 1890, opened by United Collieries Limited and served by the Addiewell Loop of the Caledonian Railway. The village grew up around it and took its name, and it kept, in the phrase of its own account, a strong socialist tradition. It started small and did not stay so. The Lists of Mines give 224 employed in 1899, 201 in 1905 and 259 in 1910; then 473 in 1920, 720 in 1933 and 690 in 1940. Peak extraction came in 1946, with an average of 510 at work, and 633 were employed in 1947, the year it passed to the National Coal Board. It was by then the largest pit the United Colliery Company had held, with over six hundred men underground and workings running for miles to meet those of Foulshiels and Woodmuir. It sold manufacturing and steam coal for its first half-century, adding coking, household and industrial coal by 1947 and gas coal by 1954, and worked the China, Smithy, Wilsontown Main and Lady Morton seams. Output in 1947 was 165,000 tons. In 1958 the National Coal Board announced the closure of thirty-six pits, twenty of them in Scotland and two of those in West Lothian: Loganlea and Harwood, which between them employed five hundred men. Loganlea closed the following year. The site has been levelled and is now woodland with a network of footpaths through it.

Geology

The colliery worked the Coal Measures of the Central Scottish coalfield west of Addiewell, in ground that carries oil shale as well as coal — the Addiewell and Westwood shale works stood alongside it, and the district's memorial commemorates both industries together. The named seams are the China, Smithy and Wilsontown Main from 1905, with the Lady Morton added by 1915.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A shaft colliery with a mineral railway siding on the Caledonian Railway's Addiewell Loop. Over six hundred men worked below ground at its height, and the workings ran for several miles to link with those of the Foulshiels and Woodmuir pits.

Closure

Named in the National Coal Board's announcement of 1958 among thirty-six pits to close, twenty of them Scottish; closed in 1959.

What remains

Levelled. The site is now woodland served by a network of footpaths. A memorial cairn stands in the Addiewell and Loganlea Memorial Garden, dedicated to those who died in the two world wars and to those who died in the coal and oil shale industries the two villages were built on.

None. The colliery ground has been levelled and planted.

Redevelopment

Woodland and footpaths on the levelled site.

Nearby mines

• Addiewell Oil Works — 1.6 km E
• Whitrigg Colliery — 2.6 km N
• Riddochhill Colliery — 4.2 km N
• Polkemmet Colliery — 4.5 km NW
• Knowes Colliery — 4.7 km SW

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.

• Loganlea Colliery worked from 1890 to 1959, was opened by United Collieries Limited, and was served by the Addiewell Loop of the Caledonian Railway; it was also known as Loganlea Mine and as Dykes. ^1,2
• The residential settlement grew up around the adjacent colliery, an extensive coalmine owned by United Collieries; the colliery's peak year of extraction was 1946, when an average of 510 workers were employed, and Loganlea is a former mining community that historically had a strong socialist tradition. ²
• The Lists of Mines give 224 employed in 1899, 201 in 1905, 259 in 1910, 473 in 1920, 720 in 1933, 690 in 1940, 633 in 1947 and 495 in 1954. The colliery sold manufacturing and steam coal from 1899, coking, household, industrial, manufacturing and steam coal in 1947 — 165,000 tons that year — and gas, household and steam coal in 1954, working the China, Smithy, Wilsontown Main and Lady Morton seams. ³
• In 1958 the National Coal Board announced it would close thirty-six pits, twenty of them in Scotland, including two in West Lothian — Loganlea and Harwood — which together employed five hundred men. ²
• The site has been levelled and is now pleasant woodland served by a network of footpaths. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Loganlea Colliery — Railscot
2. (secondary) Loganlea, West Lothian — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) Loganlea Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 10 September 2026