Starlaw Shale Pit

Overview

The oil-shale pit of the Boghall (Starlaw) oil works, about three miles south-east of Bathgate, opened about 1867 by E. Meldrum and Co. and sending shale to their works for crude oil. On 9 April 1870 soot in its wooden upcast caught fire from the furnace and eight miners died; the works passed to the Uphall Mineral Oil Company in 1871.

History

Starlaw pit served the Boghall Shale and Coal Works, about three miles south-east of Bathgate, set up about 1867 by E. Meldrum and Co., a partnership of Edward Meldrum of Dechmont, Mr McLagan of Pumpherston and the Benhar coalmaster George Simpson. Shale from the pit was retorted at Boghall for crude oil, which went by branch railway to Uphall to be refined; the works employed 220 by 1872. The workers lived in Starlaw Rows.

The pit had a single shaft about forty fathoms deep, sunk on the slope of the seam, with workings running some 200 fathoms one way and 100 the other. The shaft was divided by planking into a downcast and an upcast, lined with timber, and ventilated by a furnace near the foot of the upcast. On 9 April 1870, with 56 men and boys below, soot on the upcast lining caught fire from the furnace and eight men died (see Disasters, below).

The works passed to the Uphall Mineral Oil Company in 1871. Its men were paid off early in 1873, oil-making ended in the later 1870s, and the works were dismantled around 1882, though shale was mined nearby for years after.

Geology

Oil shale, worked on the slope of the seam from a single shaft.

Workings

A single shaft about forty fathoms deep, divided into downcast and upcast by planking and lined with timber, with a ventilating furnace off the upcast; workings 200 fathoms to the rise and 100 to the dip.

Closure

Unknown.

What remains

The works site is partly farmland and partly public open space, partly buried by the spent-shale bing of the later Seafield works; Starlaw Rows were demolished in the late 1930s.

Redevelopment

Partly farmland and public open space; part of the area lies under the Seafield bing, now in the Easter Inch and Seafield Law nature reserve.

Disasters & major incidents

• Starlaw Shale Pit fire, 1870
  9 April 1870 · Fire · 8 fatalities
  Shortly after the furnace was fired at about half past eleven on 9 April 1870, soot on the timber lining of the upcast at Starlaw shale pit near Bathgate caught fire. A first attempt to douse it seemed to succeed, but the fire broke out again; eight miners were killed and several others badly burned.

Recorded claims

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

• Starlaw pit was part of the Boghall Shale and Coal Works of E. Meldrum and Co. ^1,2,3
• The pit had a single shaft about forty fathoms deep. ^1,2
• Fifty-six men and boys were at work in the pit on 9 April 1870. ¹
• Ownership passed to the Uphall Mineral Oil Company in 1871. ³
• A fire in the shaft on 9 April 1870 killed eight miners. ^1,2,4

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Starlaw Shale Pit, Bathgate, 1870 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Fearful accident at a shale pit near Bathgate, 1870 — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
3. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Boghall Oil Works — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
4. (secondary) Scottish Shale: Starlaw Rows — Scottish Shale (Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry)
5. (primary) BGS / Mining Remediation Authority mine plan: Starlaw (Raeburn Shale), abandoned 1900 — British Geological Survey

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026