Tynemount Colliery

Overview

Tynemount, west of Ormiston, was the Ormiston Coal Company's last pit and a small one: a single shaft ninety-one metres deep, about three hundred men, and house and steam coal washed on site until the washery closed in 1953. It stopped work in 1952 and was formally abandoned ten years later, by which time there were no working pits left in the parish.

History

The Ormiston Coal Company was formed in 1892 with capital of £25,000, John Clark director, and sank Limeylands two years later. Tynemount came thirty years after that, sinking and production commencing in 1924 on Historic Environment Scotland's record and in 1925 on the Fourth Statistical Account's. It was one of a sequence of pits in a small parish — White's Pit, Limeylands, Ormiston Station, Meadow Pit, the Cockum mine, Tynemount and finally Winton — which between them transformed the village and at their peak employed over seven hundred hands. A single shaft was sunk ninety-one metres deep. The colliery employed 330 people in 1933 and 330 again in 1940, and 283 at nationalisation in 1947, when it turned out 87,000 tons of household, manufacturing and steam coal. The National Coal Board's report of 15 July 1948 gives it an output of 335 tons a day and 83,750 tons a year with 334 employees, a Baum-type washer by the Blantyre Engineering Company, a canteen, first-aid and ambulance provision, and electricity bought in from the South East Scotland Electricity Board. Its average workforce over its life was 301 and its peak 370, in 1948. The washery closed in 1953 and Tynemount coal went to the new washery at Dalkeith. Historic Environment Scotland gives the colliery as closed in 1952 and abandoned in 1962; the Fourth Statistical Account says simply that it closed in 1962. Limeylands closed in 1953 and its men went to Bellyford, which closed in 1962 as well. Winton, started in 1949, was the last pit working in the village and closed in the late sixties, after which Ormiston miners commuted to what was left in the Lothians.

Geology

Tynemount worked the East Lothian coalfield west of Ormiston, raising house and steam coal. No seam names have been found in the sources read for this record. The Ormiston Station pit nearby worked the Four Foot and Three Foot, and Limeylands was down to a five foot coal by 1905.

Geological setting: Sedimentary Beds and Seams (well documented example)

Workings

A single shaft ninety-one metres deep, with a Baum-type washer by the Blantyre Engineering Company on the surface, four screens, a canteen, a first-aid room and ambulance provision. Electricity was bought in rather than generated on site. A mineral line served the collieries by Tynemount.

Closure

Historic Environment Scotland records the colliery as closed in 1952 and abandoned in 1962. The washery closed in 1953 and the coal already raised went to the new washery at Dalkeith. The Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian gives the closure simply as 1962.

What remains

The bings of Tynemount Colliery stand beside a track near Ormiston, and the course of the mineral line that served the pits is traceable. Ormiston has been much built over in recent years.

The colliery bings.

Related mines

• Limeylands Colliery — Both Ormiston Coal Company pits in the same parish, Limeylands sunk in 1894 and Tynemount thirty years later.
• Smeaton Colliery — Tynemount was one of the seven neighbouring collieries whose output went to the new washery built beside Smeaton No. 9 in 1953.

Nearby mines

• Limeylands Colliery — 1.0 km NW
• Elphingstone Colliery — 1.5 km NE
• Smeaton Colliery — 3.8 km W, Midlothian
• Carberry Colliery — 4.1 km W
• Fordel Mains Colliery — 4.1 km SW, Midlothian

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.

• Historic Environment Scotland records sinking and production as commencing in 1924. The Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian says the colliery was sunk in 1925. (disputed) ^1,2
• Historic Environment Scotland gives the colliery as closed in 1952 and abandoned in 1962. The Fourth Statistical Account gives the closure as 1962, which is the abandonment date rather than the end of working. (disputed) ^1,2
• A National Coal Board report dated 15 July 1948 gives Tynemount an output of 335 tons a day and 83,750 tons a year with 334 employees, a Baum-type washer by the Blantyre Engineering Company, canteen, first-aid and ambulance provision, and electricity bought from the South East Scotland Electricity Board. ¹

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Tynemount Colliery — Historic Environment Scotland
2. (secondary) Ormiston: Economy — The Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian
3. (observational) Track, Tynemount (Geograph 4476563) — Geograph Britain and Ireland, Richard Webb
4. (secondary) Tynemount Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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