Muldron Ironstone Pits

Overview

A group of shallow ironstone pits on the lands of Muldron, on the moors south of Fauldhouse, worked by the Shotts Iron Company and then the Coltness Iron Company for the Curdly ironstone until the 1880s. Their bings still dot the ground among the wind turbines.

History

The lands of Muldron lie at the western end of West Calder parish, on the moorland of the Gladsmuir hills south of Fauldhouse. A nineteenth-century account of the parish recorded that the Shotts Iron Company had been working ironstone on the Muldron estate for three years, while the Wilsontown company worked it on neighbouring Handaxwood.

The numbered pits of the Coltness Iron Company, sunk after 1855, worked the Curdly ironstone at shallow depths: No. 6 at 10 fathoms, No. 8 at 14, No. 9 at 17 and No. 7 at 27. The 1873 list of mines records Muldron Nos. 6, 7 and 8 under Coltness in West Calder. In 1886 Nos. 7 and 9, under the manager Robert Russel, were working the Curley ironstone by longwall, No. 7 with a downcast shaft 180 feet deep and an upcast of 215, but both were then noted as stopped, and the pits had closed by about 1885 to 1895. A dozen further, unnumbered pits are known on the Muldron lands.

Geology

The Curdly (Curley) ironstone, a clayband ironstone, reached at 10 to 27 fathoms.

Workings

Numbered shafts Nos. 6 to 9 and about a dozen others, worked longwall; No. 7 had a downcast shaft 12 ft by 5½ ft and 180 ft deep and an upcast 215 ft deep in 1886.

Closure

Nos. 7 and 9 were noted as stopped in 1886; the pits had closed by about 1885 to 1895.

What remains

The bings of Nos. 7, 8 and 9 largely survive, with subsidence at the shaft sites; No. 6's bing has been partly cleared for windfarm works.

Pit bings and subsidence hollows over the shafts.

Redevelopment

Part of the ground has been used for a windfarm.

Recorded claims

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

• The Shotts Iron Company worked ironstone on the Muldron estate, at the western extremity of West Calder parish. ¹
• The 1873 list of mines records Muldron Nos. 6, 7 and 8 in West Calder, owned by the Coltness Iron Company. ²
• The Muldron pits reached the Curdly ironstone at 10 fathoms (No. 6), 14 (No. 8), 17 (No. 9) and 27 (No. 7). ^3,4,5,6
• In 1886 Muldron Nos. 7 and 9, managed by Robert Russel for the Coltness Iron Company, were noted as stopped. ^4,6

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) History of West Calder, chapter 7 (Electric Scotland) — Electric Scotland
2. (primary) Scottish Mining Website: List of Mines in Scotland 1873, Part 2 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Muldron No.6 pit — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
4. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Muldron No.7 pit — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
5. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Muldron No.8 pit — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)
6. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Muldron No.9 pit — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, Almond Valley Heritage Trust)

Record created: 16 October 2026 · Last researched: 16 October 2026