Westwood No. 1 and 2 Pits

Overview

The deepest and longest-lived of the Scottish oil-shale pits, sunk near West Calder by the Oakbank Oil Company in 1915 to the Dunnet Shale at 700 feet, the industry's showcase pit between the wars and the last shale pit working when it closed in 1962.

History

Westwood Nos. 1 and 2 Pits, north of West Calder, were sunk in 1915 by the Oakbank Oil Company to the Dunnet Shale, and commanded some 500 acres of shale in the Broxburn and Dunnet seams. Fifty were employed while sinking went on. The two circular shafts, 16 and 14 feet across, were 700 feet deep and brick-lined from top to bottom; only the downcast wound shale, with cages running on eight wire-rope guides.

The two seams lay 380 feet apart, the Broxburn about five feet thick and the Dunnet twelve to fourteen, and both were worked by stoop and room. Mechanical haulage brought the shale to the pit bottom, three electric turbine pumps kept the water down, and three Lancashire boilers fed the winding engines and a power station. At one point the pit was raising 650 tons a day and was equipped for 800 tons in an eight-hour shift. It employed 223 in 1920.

Through the 1920s and 1930s Westwood was Scottish Oils' showcase pit, filmed for the company's promotional films and shown to many important visitors. From about 1942 it supplied the Westwood crude oil works. It still employed 420 in 1954, working the Broxburn and Middle Dunnet, and was the last oil-shale pit in Scotland when it closed in 1962.

Geology

The Broxburn Shale, about five feet thick, and the Dunnet Shale, twelve to fourteen feet thick, 380 feet apart, in the West Calder shale-field; the Middle Dunnet was worked in the 1950s.

Workings

Two circular brick-lined shafts 700 feet deep, 16 ft (downcast, winding) and 14 ft (upcast); stoop and room working with endless-rope, dook and self-acting haulages; turbine pumping; steam winding with a Barclay overwind controller.

Closure

Closed in 1962, the last oil-shale pit in Scotland to remain in operation.

What remains

The site is the yard of a concrete block factory.

None; no surface features survive.

Recorded claims

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

• The Westwood pits were sunk by the Oakbank Oil Company in 1915 to the Dunnet Shale. ^1,2
• Both shafts were 700 feet deep and brick-lined, the downcast 16 feet and the upcast 14 feet across. ²
• The pits employed 223 people in 1920 and 420 in 1954. ¹
• Westwood was Scottish Oils' showcase pit in the 1920s and 1930s. ²
• It was the last oil-shale pit in Scotland to remain in operation and closed in 1962. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (primary) Westwood (Oil shale) (Durham Mining Museum) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Westwood No.1 & 2 pits (Scottish Shale, Museum of the Scottish Shale Oil Industry) — Almond Valley Heritage Trust

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