Pumpherston No. 4 Mine

Overview

The Pumpherston Oil Company's shale mine whose workings in the Camps Shale reached under eastern Livingston, employing over 200 in 1920 until Scottish Oils closed it in May 1927.

History

Pumpherston No. 4 Mine was an inclined adit serving the Pumpherston Oil Company's works. It was developed after about 1907, and its workings in the Camps Shale were extensive, reaching beneath what is now the eastern part of Livingston: the Geological Survey later recorded that a large area of the Camps shale between Pumpherston and Nettlehill had been worked, almost all of it from No. 4. It employed 211 in 1920, and in 1925, when Pumpherston No. 5 closed, its miners and drawers were transferred to No. 4, which was double-shifted.

In May 1927 the Pumpherston Oil Company, at the instance of Scottish Oils, gave notice that No. 4 Mine and the Pumpherston crude works would not reopen and that all contracts of service there would end on 14 May; the Broxburn Oilworks and Dunnet Mine were abandoned at the same time. The workings were abandoned in 1927, and the site is now waste ground.

Geology

The Camps Shale of the Pumpherston shale-field, worked between Pumpherston and Nettlehill.

Workings

An inclined adit with extensive workings beneath eastern Livingston.

Closure

Closed in May 1927 at the instance of Scottish Oils, with the Pumpherston crude works; workings abandoned the same year.

What remains

Waste ground.

Related mines

• Pumpherston No. 5 Mine — When No. 5 closed in 1925 its miners and drawers were transferred to No. 4.
• Roman Camp No. 5 Mine — Pumpherston No. 4 worked the larger part of the same Camps Shale seam that Roman Camp No. 5 reached from the north.

Recorded claims

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

• A large area of the Camps shale between Pumpherston and Nettlehill was worked, most of it from Pumpherston No. 4 Mine. ¹
• No. 4 employed 211 people in 1920, working the Camps Shale. ²
• In May 1927 notice was given that No. 4 Mine and the Pumpherston crude works would not reopen. ¹
• The abandonment plan of Pumpherston No. 4 in the Camps shale is dated 1927. ³

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Pumpherston No.4 mine (Scottish Shale, Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry) — Almond Valley Heritage Trust
2. (primary) Pumpherston (Oil Shale) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) BGS mine plan: PUMPHERSTON NO.4, Camps, abandoned 1927 — British Geological Survey / Mining Remediation Authority

Record created: 25 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026