Oakerdykes Pit

Overview

A small privately owned coal pit near Jawcraig, north of Slamannan, opened by Charlie Whyte in 1936 and worked by his family for over forty years. Too small to be nationalised, it was lit by carbide lamps in a seam free of gas, and closed in August 1978 when one of the three Whyte brothers working it died.

History

Oakerdykes Pit lay in the Jawcraig and Slamannan area of Stirlingshire. Charlie Whyte started it in 1936; after his death in 1945 his wife ran it until 1960, and several of their sons worked there, staying on in a reserved occupation through the Second World War while serving in the Home Guard and the Royal Observer Corps. At its height up to eighteen men worked the pit. Falkirk Council's collection holds an aerial photograph catalogued as about 1925 showing a small pit there, with a few pithead buildings and a bing, reached by road with no railway and cut across the field drainage ditches.

The pit was too small to be taken into the nationalised industry in 1947 and stayed in private hands. A Falkirk Museum survey in 1977-78 found three Whyte brothers working it as a self-contained business, from cutting the coal to delivering it house to house, at seven or eight tons a week, all sold for domestic fires. Two inclined shafts dipped at 35 to 40 degrees, the first now kept only for air and the second sunk about 1963. The fourteen-inch seam was worked longwall, undercut by an Anderson Boyes chain cutter, and the mine made its own electricity, having no connection to the National Grid. It was free of firedamp, so the men used carbide lamps, and was said to be the only fully gas-free mine in Scotland.

The pit closed in August 1978 after the death of one of the partners, when the others could not carry on. Charlie Whyte junior had retired from mining in 1970. An opencast site named Oakerdykes later worked the Mid Drumgray, Coxrod and Balmoral seams and was abandoned in 1992.

Geology

A single coal seam fourteen inches thick, free of firedamp. The later opencast workings of the same name took the Mid Drumgray, Coxrod and Balmoral coals.

Workings

Two inclined shafts at 35 to 40 degrees, the older kept as an air shaft and the newer sunk about 1963; longwall working of a 14-inch seam undercut to four feet by a chain coal cutter; carbide lamps; a generator in one of the surface buildings.

Closure

Closed in August 1978 on the death of one of the three partners, the others being unable to continue.

What remains

The pit bings survive with some ramshackle buildings of corrugated iron and brick; the timber gantries have gone and the mine entrance has been filled.

Bings and ruined corrugated-iron and brick buildings.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• An aerial photograph by Skyviews & General Ltd, catalogued as about 1925, shows a small pit at Oakerdykes with a few pithead buildings and a bing, served by road only. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• Oakerdykes Pit began working in 1936 under Charlie Whyte, and up to eighteen men worked there. ¹
• An aerial photograph by Skyviews & General Ltd, catalogued as about 1925, shows a small pit at Oakerdykes with a few pithead buildings and a bing, served by road only. (disputed) ²
• The pit was too small to be included in the nationalisation of the coal industry and stayed privately owned. ¹
• In 1977-78 three Whyte brothers worked the pit, producing seven or eight tons a week from a 14-inch seam for house-to-house sale; it was gas-free and used carbide lamps. ¹
• Oakerdykes Pit closed in August 1978 after the death of one of the partners. ¹
• The Oakerdykes opencast workings in the Mid Drumgray, Coxrod and Balmoral seams were abandoned in 1992. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Falkirk Local History Society: Oakerdykes Pit (SMR 1757) — Falkirk Local History Society
2. (secondary) Falkirk Council Collections: Oakerdykes Pit (aerial photograph, P04371) — Falkirk Council (Falkirk Collections)
3. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Oakerdykes Opencast, Mid Drumgray, abandoned 1992 — British Geological Survey

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