Whitehill Colliery

Overview

Whitehill, leased from the Earl of Rosebery in 1856 by the self-taught mining engineer Archibald Hood, became the making of the man who would go on to found the Rhondda Valley's coal industry — Hood used its profits to build Rosewell's model village, an oil works and a brickworks before moving on to South Wales, leaving Whitehill to work on for another century under his successor company.

History

Whitehill Colliery at Rosewell had been worked since at least 1850, then owned by Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery. In 1856 the Scottish mining engineer Archibald Hood — the son of a colliery foreman, who had gone to work in his father's pit himself at the age of thirteen before qualifying as a mining engineer — leased the colliery and began expanding it, sinking a new shaft in 1878. Hood built well-designed housing for his workers, each with its own garden, founded a co-operative retail society for the village, and extended railways to serve his growing operations, which came to include the neighbouring Carrington and Polton pits. He also put a portion of the colliery's coal to use manufacturing bricks and tiles, running an oil works at Whitehill from around 1866 and an associated brickworks from around 1870.

In 1890 Hood arranged the amalgamation of his Whitehill colliery with the Newbattle pits owned by the Marquess of Lothian, forming the Lothian Coal Company; he left for South Wales soon afterward to develop collieries in the Rhondda Valley, where he became a still more prominent figure before his death in Cardiff in 1902. The National Coal Board took over Whitehill from the Lothian Coal Company at nationalisation on 1 January 1947. The colliery reached peak production in 1950 before closing around 1961-62; its associated brickworks continued separately into the late 1970s.

Geology

The mine worked Carboniferous Coal Measures of the Midlothian Coalfield, the same seams later worked at the neighbouring Carrington and Polton collieries Hood also developed.

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

Workings

A new shaft was sunk in 1878 under Hood's ownership; a portion of the colliery's own coal fed an on-site brickworks and, from around 1866, an oil works.

Closure

The colliery reached peak production in 1950 and closed around 1961-62 (sources differ on the precise year); the associated brickworks continued separately until it closed around 1977.

What remains

The colliery site is now given over to housing; no colliery structures have been confirmed surviving.

Recorded claims

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

• Archibald Hood, the self-taught son of a colliery foreman who had worked in his father's pit from the age of thirteen, leased Whitehill Colliery from the Earl of Rosebery in 1856 and built worker housing with individual gardens, a co-operative retail society, and railway extensions to his growing operations. ¹
• In 1890 Hood arranged Whitehill's amalgamation with the Newbattle pits owned by the Marquess of Lothian to form the Lothian Coal Company, before leaving to develop collieries in South Wales's Rhondda Valley, where he became a still more prominent figure until his death in Cardiff in 1902. ¹
• A portion of the colliery's coal was put to use manufacturing bricks and tiles on site; an associated oil works operated from around 1866, and the brickworks continued independently until around 1977, well after the colliery itself had closed. ²
• The National Coal Board took over Whitehill from the Lothian Coal Company at nationalisation on 1 January 1947; the colliery reached peak production in 1950 before closing around 1961-62. ³

Sources

1. (secondary) Archibald Hood — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Whitehill Collieries and Brickworks, Rosewell, Midlothian — Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing Industry
3. (secondary) Whitehill Colliery — RAILSCOT

Record created: 27 August 2026 · Last researched: 28 August 2026