Pencaitland Colliery

Overview

The Woodhall Coal Company's colliery west of Pencaitland in East Lothian, also called Woodhall or Tyneholm Colliery, opened in 1903 beside the Gifford and Garvald Light Railway. It employed about 200 from the 1910s, working household, manufacturing and steam coal from six seams, and closed in 1944.

History

Coal was worked at Pencaitland, in the East Lothian coalfield, well before the twentieth-century colliery: plans of Pencaitland workings in the Splint and No. 1 Diamond seams were abandoned in 1864 and 1879. In August 1865 an engineman and a man who went down to help him were suffocated by choke damp in an old shaft (see Disasters, below). In 1867 a sinker was killed when the engine slipped out of gear as he was lowered into a sinking pit.

The colliery west of Pencaitland village and station was opened by the Woodhall Coal Company in 1903 and was known also as Woodhall or Tyneholm Colliery. It stood on the south side of the Gifford and Garvald Light Railway, which served it by a siding and a long platform approached from the east. Employment rose from 61 in 1905 to 177 in 1910 and 226 in 1920, and about 200 worked there through the 1930s. It raised household, manufacturing and steam coal, from the Great seam at first and by 1920 from the Diamond, Gas, Jewel and Three, Four and Five Feet seams; plans of the Great, the Diamond and the Jewel or Tranent Splint were abandoned in 1911, 1919 and 1928. Mr Reid of Tynholme built the company's newest houses for its officials and miners, of three and four rooms, and a scheme to modernise older houses in the village was approved. The Three Feet, Four Feet, Gas and Diamond workings were abandoned in 1942, and the colliery closed in 1944. The railway past it closed in 1965; its trackbed is now a path, and the remains of the pit's platform survive.

Geology

East Lothian coalfield: the Great, Gas, Jewel (Tranent Splint), Parrot, Nos. 1 and 2 Diamond and Three, Four and Five Feet seams.

Workings

A colliery of 1903 with a railway siding and platform on the Gifford and Garvald Light Railway; earlier Pencaitland workings in the Splint and No. 1 Diamond.

Closure

Closed in 1944; the last plans (Three Feet, Four Feet, Gas, Nos. 1 and 2 Diamond) are dated 1942.

What remains

The colliery has gone; the railway trackbed beside it is a path, and the pit's platform remains can be found.

The remains of the colliery's railway platform and walls in woodland.

Redevelopment

Unknown.

Disasters & major incidents

• Pencaitland choke-damp deaths, 1865
  30 August 1865 · Gas / Asphyxiation · 2 fatalities
  On 30 August 1865 George Duncan, an engineman, went down a pit ladder near Pencaitland against orders and was overcome by choke damp from an old coal waste. Andrew Cairns, who saw him fall and went down to help, was suffocated beside him.

Recorded claims

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

• Pencaitland Pit was opened by the Woodhall Coal Company and worked from 1903 to 1944; it was also known as Woodhall or Tyneholm Colliery. ¹
• The colliery had a siding and long platform on the south side of the Gifford and Garvald Light Railway. ¹
• Pencaitland employed 61 in 1905, 177 in 1910, 226 in 1920 and 200 in 1933 and 1940. ²
• By 1920 it worked the Diamond, Five Feet, Four Feet, Gas, Jewel and Three Feet seams. ²
• The Woodhall Coal Company worked the minerals near Pencaitland, where Mr Reid of Tynholme built houses of three and four rooms for its officials and miners. ³
• Pencaitland workings in the Splint or No. 1 Diamond were abandoned in 1864. ⁴
• The Pencaitland or Woodhall Jewel workings were abandoned in 1928, and the Three Feet in 1942. ^5,6
• Pencaitland Colliery closed in 1944. ^2,1
• Pencaitland (Woodhall) is among the collieries of East Lothian. ⁷

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Pencaitland Pit — RAILSCOT
2. (primary) Pencaitland Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Cunningham Ch. 12 — Scottish Mining Website
4. (primary) BGS mine plan: Pencaitland, Splint or No. 1 Diamond, 1864 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
5. (primary) BGS mine plan: Pencaitland, Three Feet, 1942 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
6. (primary) BGS mine plan: Pencaitland or Woodhall, Jewel or Tranent Splint, 1928 — BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plans
7. (secondary) A Mine of Information: Coal Mining in East Lothian - Haddington's History — Haddington's History Society

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026