Newbattle Collieries

Overview

Not one pit but the Marquis of Lothian’s colliery undertaking on the Newbattle estate in Midlothian, worked from the late eighteenth century and returned in the official list of collieries at work in 1880 simply as “Newbattle, Marquis of Lothian”. It ran pits, a lime works and a brick and tile works together under one management, moved its coal on its own waggonway, and in 1890 was reorganised as the Lothian Coal Company, which extended the line to Lingerwood and to the new Lady Victoria Colliery and worked the field into the twentieth century.

History

Three-quarters of Newbattle parish belonged to the Marquis of Lothian, whose seat was Newbattle Abbey, and the parish’s mineral wealth was described in the 1868 National Gazetteer as by then equal to any in the kingdom of the same size. Lingerwood Mine, the pit that anchored the estate’s working and was also known as Dicksons Pit or the Engine Pit, was opened by the Marquis in 1798. By the middle of the nineteenth century the undertaking was being run as a single concern of pits and clay works: directories record Newbattle Collieries Lime, Brick & Tile Works at Dalkeith in 1862 under James Davidson, and Davidson again as manager and mining engineer of “The most noble, The Marquis of Lothian — Newbattle Colliery” in 1867. A Newbattle brick and tile works had opened in 1840 and the estate also had a fireclay works, leased out from 1876. When the workmen of Newbattle Collieries and Brickwork subscribed £55 18s 10d to the rebuilding of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in 1869, they gave their employer as the Marquis of Lothian, per J. Davidson Esq., manager. In 1890 additions and adaptations were made to the Marquis of Lothian’s waggonway, extending it south to Lingerwood Mine and to the site where the Lady Victoria Colliery was then being developed, and northwards to Easthouses Pit and Shaw’s Coal Depot. Coal was brought from the various mines to Lingerwood, and later to Lady Victoria, for preparation. The system became known as the Newbattle Collieries Railway and its locomotives carried the name; one of them, Andrew Barclay No. 3, survives in preservation at Lady Victoria. The connection into the main line from Newbattle signal box was replaced by a new one alongside Lady Victoria when that colliery opened in 1895.

Geology

Coal Measures of the Midlothian coalfield, in the basin that runs south from Dalkeith. The parish was described in 1868 as productive of good coal, lime and sandstone, and the estate worked clay for brick, tile and fireclay alongside its coal.

Workings

Several pits across the estate, of which Lingerwood was the principal and oldest, with Easthouses to the north and Lady Victoria added at the south end from the 1890s. A lime works and a brick and tile works were run with the collieries under one management, and a fireclay works was leased separately from 1876. The Marquis of Lothian’s waggonway served the whole, reaching the North British main line by a reversing spur from Newbattle signal box onto the West Bryans siding — a layout that kept runaway wagons off the main line and the Newbattle viaduct.

Closure

The undertaking did not close so much as change hands: from 1890 the Marquis’s collieries and waggonway were reorganised as the Lothian Coal Company, which extended the line and sank Lady Victoria. Lingerwood and Lady Victoria each have their own record in this archive and each worked well into the twentieth century.

What remains

Little trace remains of the northern section of the Newbattle Collieries mineral line, which ran through woods and farmland. The southern end of the undertaking survives in the best possible condition: Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange is preserved as the National Mining Museum Scotland, and one of the Newbattle Collieries locomotives is preserved there.

The Lady Victoria Colliery buildings at Newtongrange, preserved as a museum, and the Lothian Coal Company’s rows of houses along Lingerwood Road; almost nothing of the northern mineral line.

Related mines

• Lady Victoria Colliery — Lady Victoria was sunk at the south end of the Marquis of Lothian’s Newbattle undertaking as it became the Lothian Coal Company; the 1890 waggonway extension was made to reach its site, and it took over coal preparation from Lingerwood.
• Lingerwood Colliery — Lingerwood was the Marquis of Lothian’s principal Newbattle pit, opened by him in 1798 and the point to which the estate’s waggonway brought coal for preparation before Lady Victoria was built.

Nearby mines

• Lingerwood Colliery — 0.4 km SE
• Lady Victoria Colliery — 0.5 km S
• Bilston Glen Colliery — 3.7 km W
• Whitehill Colliery — 4.6 km W
• Loanhead (Ramsay) Colliery — 5.7 km W

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.

• Three-fourths of Newbattle parish belonged to the Marquis of Lothian, whose seat was Newbattle Abbey, and the 1868 National Gazetteer described the district’s mineral wealth as having become of late years equal to any in the kingdom of the same proportion. ¹
• Lingerwood Mine, also known as Dicksons Pit or the Engine Pit, was opened by the Marquis of Lothian in 1798. ²
• Directories return the concern as Newbattle Collieries Lime, Brick & Tile Works at Dalkeith under James Davidson in 1862, and as the Marquis of Lothian’s Newbattle Colliery with Davidson as manager and mining engineer in 1867. ³
• In 1890 the Marquis of Lothian’s waggonway was extended south to Lingerwood Mine and the developing Lady Victoria site, and northwards to Easthouses Pit and Shaw’s Coal Depot, with coal taken to Lingerwood — later Lady Victoria — for preparation. ²
• The system was known as the Newbattle Collieries Railway and its locomotives were marked "Newbattle Collieries"; No. 3, an Andrew Barclay, survives in preservation at Lady Victoria Colliery. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Newbattle — National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868 — GENUKI
2. (secondary) Newbattle Collieries Railway (Lothian Coal Co Ltd) — RAILSCOT
3. (secondary) Newbattle Brickworks, Newtongrange, Midlothian — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
4. (secondary) List of coal mines UK 1880 — Coalmining History Resource Centre

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