Open questions: Midlothian

Where sources disagree, MineArchive keeps both accounts rather than picking one; where a fact could not be settled, the record says so. 14 such claims on 10 records. All regions.

Arniston Colliery

• The Emily Pit was sunk in 1858. (disputed)
• The Emily Pit dated from the 1860s. (disputed)

Burghlee Colliery

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Burghlee' (catalogue S3952, No.1 Ironstone, Gas & Great, dated 1876); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Easthouses Pit

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Easthouses' (catalogue S675, Great Seam, dated 1971); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Eldin Colliery

• By 1896 the Polton mine at the same place was owned by the Lothian Coal Company Ltd, which existed at least until 1945. (uncertain)
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Eldin' (catalogue S2539, Splint, dated 1806); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Fordel Mains Colliery

• The Scottish Cave and Mine Database places the colliery at NT 363 669 beside Fordel Mains outside Dalkeith, with the site of No. 1 shaft between the Fordel filling station and the Cowden Bog woods. The Durham Mining Museum gives the location as Dalkeith but prints a grid reference, NT159894, which falls in Fife near Crossgates, some twenty miles away and close to the separate Fordell estate. The Dalkeith location is the one the company name and every other detail support. (disputed)
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Fordel Mains' (catalogue 13765, Alecks, dated 1944); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Mauricewood Colliery

• The pit was sunk by the Shotts Iron Company in the 1870s (reported as c.1875), initially for ironstone before working coal. (uncertain)

Newbattle Collieries

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Newbattle' (catalogue S3825, All Seams, dated 1900); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Niddrie Colliery

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Niddrie' (catalogue 9070, Peacocktail, dated 1926); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Roslin Colliery

• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Roslin' (catalogue S660, Browns, dated 1932); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)

Smeaton Colliery

• Historic Environment Scotland gives sinking and production as commencing in 1903. The Durham Mining Museum records a death at Smeaton Colliery on 10 January 1877, a quarter of a century earlier: Alexander Bennet, a collier of 21, killed by a fall of coal while shearing head coal. Nothing on record reconciles the two. (disputed)
• The BGS mine-plans catalogue holds a Mining Remediation Authority abandonment plan titled 'Smeaton' (catalogue S2949, Arniston Parrot (North), Splint, Jewel, Cowpits & Great, undated in the catalogue); the catalogue gives no location and the plan's details do not clearly tie it to this working, so it may belong to another of the same name. (uncertain)