Coal, Collieries and Petershill Limestone

Coal, Collieries and Petershill Limestone.

H. M. Cadell – From a paper read before the Institute of Mining Engineers: Trans., vol. xxii, p. 372. (1902):

The Bathgate coal-seams are probably unconnected with those of the northern or Bo’ness coal-field.

South of Linlithgow the lower limestones are unusually thick, and were formerly mined along a line of quarries extending southwards to the vicinity of Bathgate, but these workings have all been closed for half a century or more, and limestone-quarrying in the Bathgate Hills is now practically abandoned….

At Kipps the Bathgate coal-seams begin to appear, and one was worked at a small colliery more than two centuries ago, and again for a short time in 1846, but it has long ago been abandoned, in consequence of the number of faults intersecting the coal. The coal-seam in the north mine was 33 inches thick with 3 inches of parrot below, but every few feet a fault or dyke was found to intersect it, so as to render the little coal-field unworkable.

At Hilderston Hills, 1½ mile south of Kipps, we find a coal under the Index limestone reappearing in increasing dimensions. A small colliery was carried on here for many years, but the coal was not of the best quality, and the field was abandoned. A report by David Landale in 1853, gives the following section of seams in the pit, which was 300 feet deep, to the Parrot Coal:-

Description of strata	Thickness
Description of strata	Feet	Inches
Red Coal Seam, with Dirt Rib in middle	1	9
Strata	36	0
Black Coal Seam	1	8
Strata	42	0
Two-foot Coal Seam	1	4
Strata	4 to 10	0
Fiddle Coal Seam	4	10
Strata	24	0
Parrot Coal Seam, including stone ribs	6	0
Strata	42	0
Main Coal Seam, with Stone Ribs	3	0

The coal-seams at best are not of great value, on account of the dirt and stone associated with them.

A diamond boring was made in 1900 to the west of Hilderston Farm to test the beds to the dip of the coal-field, and the following is an abstract of the section. The bore-hole apparently passed through the coal-bearing strata and entered the top of the thick volcanic series below. The thickness of the underlying volcanic rock is probably not less than 900 feet at this part of the field, and the coal-bearing section at the top not more than 150 feet. At the base of this zone of trap-rocks lies the Great Limestone (Petershill Limestone) formerly quarried on a large scale at the Silvermine, so named from a small vein of argentiferous galena that traverses the limestone, and was mined in the reign of James VI. The section in this and other quarries farther south varies considerably.

Strata	Thickness		Depth from surface
Strata	Feet	Inches	Feet	Inches
Surface, Whin boulders	54	0	54	0
Sandstone	1	5	55	5
Fireclay, &c	20	9	76	2
Fakes [A Scotch miner’s term for fissile sandy shales, or shaly sandstones.]	1	0	77	2
Levenseat Limestone	4	2	81	4
Blaes, Fakes, Sandstone	13	9	95	1
Coal	0	6	95	7
Sandstones, Blaes, Fakes, Ironstone Balls, Lime	125	2	220	9
Calmy Limestone	1	6	222	3
Blaes [A Scottish term for grey-blue carbonaceous shale. Dark bituminous shale. I have heard miners talk about faky-blaes.]	0	4	222	7
Coal	0	4	222	11
Fireclay, Limestone, Fakes, Sandstone, Green Whin, Blaes	216	5	439	4
Coal	0	2	439	6
Fireclay, Fakes, Sandstone, Blaes	21	9	461	3
Parrot coal	0	4	461	7
Coaly blaes	0	8	462	3
Coal	0	4	462	7
Fakes, Ironstone Balls, Blaes, Limestone, Lime	56	8	519	3
Index Limestone	4	11	524	2
Blaes, Ironstone balls, Fireclay, Sandstone, Fakes	75	6	599	8
Balbardie Coal Seam	1	7	601	3
Fakes, Sandstone, Ironstone Balls, Fireclay, Blaes	38	0	639	3
Coal, foul	1	3	640	6
Fakes and Blaes	4	9	645	3
Coal, foul	1	10	647	1
Coaly Fireclay and Ironstone Balls, Limey Fakes, Sandstone, Volcanic Ash, Conglomerate, Fakes and Coal Ribs.	151	6	798	7

In the North Silvermine Quarry the limestone, when worked a century a century ago, was, according to James Bald, 25 feet thick, with 2½ feet of coarse rock below it. In the South Silvermine Quarry the section given by Mr. Forsyth is as follows:

Strata	Thickness		Depth from Surface
Clay	7	0	7	0
Shale, Blaes	7	0	14	0
Slatey Sandstone	10	0	24	0
Shale	30	0	54	0
Freestone	8	0	62	0
Fireclay	3	0	65	0
Limestone	8	0
Limestone, with Balls of Flint	2	6
Limestone	8	0
Limestone, red	3	6
Limestone, brittle	3	0
Limestone	2	6
Limestone, very good	11	6	104	0

Under the limestone Mr. Bald states there are 18 feet of inferior rock, making the total thickness of limestone 57 feet. The volcanic rocks come on immediately above the shale at the top of the quarry, and the limestone rests on anash-bed not many feet above above another massive basaltic lava-flow, probably about 500 feet thick. This lower trap rests in turn on a lower bed of limeston apparently representing the Hurlet Limestone, situated here some 1700 feet below the Index Limestone. As we follow the outcrop one mile or so southward towards Balbardie and Ballencrieff, the volcanic rocks diminish in thickness. And the coal-seams increase in quality and number. The Ballencrief Colliery has been worked from an early date along the outcrop of the coal-seams. The section in the engine or pumping pit, on the high ground, one mile north of Bathgate, which was in operation a century ago, was described as follows:

Strata	Thickness			Depth from Surface
Strata	Feet	Inches		Feet	Inches
Surface and Strata	102	0	102		0
Coal, the Red Coal Cubic	1	11	103		11
Strata	48	0	151		11
Coal, the Two-foot Coal Cubic	2	0	153		11
Strata	30	0	183		11
Parrot Coal Seam	4	6	188		5
Strata	66	0	254		5
Main Coal Seam	5	2	259		7

The upper workable seams are now exhausted at Ballencrieff, and the deeper part of the coal-field to the west is being worked from the new shaft of the Balbardie Colliery, which is 1032 feet to the pavement of the Balbardie Gas Coal Seam. The strata here dip westward at an average angle of 12 degrees. The upper part of the shaft is in the Millstone Grit , and as the details of the higher strata are not of great importance, it may be of sufficient interest to record here only the general nature of the Balbardie section above the Index Limestone, as found in a borehole by Mr. Wood near the site of the shaft, and the full section below that horizon, the details of which Mr. Thom (the manager} has kindly given the writer. Section at Balbardie Colliery:

Strata	Thickness			Depth from Surface
Strata	Feet	Inches		Feet	Inches
Surface and Millstone Grit to Levenseat Limestone 4½ feet thick	338	7	338		7
Levenseat to Calmy Limestone	162	0	500		7
Strata	90	0	590		7
Balbardie Whinstone Bed	115	0	705		7
Strata	225	0	930		7
Sandstone, Blaes	49	6	980		1
Index Limestone	4	0	984		1
Blaes, soft	4	3	988		4
Coal	0	6	988		10
Whinstone	35	0	1023		10
Sandy Fireclay	4	4	1028		2
Balbardie Gas Coal Seam	4	5	1032		7
Fireclay, Sandstone, Fakes, Blaes	11	6	1044		1
China or Shaley Coal Seam	2	11	1047		0
Fakes, Sandstone, Rocky Plies, Blaes, Ironstone, Cement Bed, Fakey Blaes	17	3	1064		3
Coal	0	4	1064		7
Blaes, soft, Sandstone, Fakes, Coaly Parting, Blaes	11	5	1076		0
Coal	0	1	1076		1
Sandy Fakes, hard, Blaes, Fakes, Sandstone	34	7	1110		8
Coal	0	6	1111		2
Fakes, Sandstone, Blaes	13	8	1124		10
Coal	0	2	1125		3
Blaes, Hard	0	2	1125		5
Coal	1	9	1127		2
Fireclay, Rocky Plies, Sandstone, Fakes, Blaes	9	1	1136		3
Coal	1	4	1137		7
Fireclay, Fakes, Blaes	11	11	1149		6
Coal	0	4	1149		10
Blaes, Sandstone	2	2	1152		0
Jewel Coal Seam	3	2	1155		2
Fakes, Sandstone, Blaes	6	10	1162		0
Coal	0	3	1162		3
Fireclay, Fakes, Blaes	4	8	1166		11
Coal	0	6	1167		5
Fireclay, Fakes	12	0	1179		5
Craw Coal, foul	1	8	1181		1
Rocky Plies, Blaes	9	5	1190		6
Main Coal Seam	5	11	1196		5

The principal seam worked at the Balbardie Colliery is the cannel coal which although thin is shown by the following analysis to be of high value as a gas producer. The Balbardie Gas Coal Seam has a total thickness of 4 feet 5 inches.

*Balbardie Gas Coal Seam –*	Thickness
*Balbardie Gas Coal Seam –*	Feet	Inches
Wild Gas Coal	0	3
Cannel Coal	0	7
Ironstone	0	3
Fireclay	1	10
Free Coal	1	6

One ton of the Cannel Coal produces 14,150 cubic feet of gas of 36 candle-power, and 1094 pounds of coke of fair quality.

Volatile Constituents of Balbardie Cannel Coal	Weight percent	Weight percent
Gas, Tar, &c	49.2	51.14
Sulphur	0.36
Water at 212^o Farhenheit	1.58

Non-Volatile Constituents of Balbardie Cannel Coal
Carbon	42.9	48.86
Sulphur	0.17
Ash	5.73

The portion of the Balbardie section below the Main Coal Seam is only approximately known from surface measurements. The Great Limestone of Petershill, corresponding to that of Silvermine and Sunnyside quarries farther north, is about 60 feet thick, with beds of volcanic rock above and below. The West Kirkton Limestone lies beneath the lower layer of basaltic volcanic rock. The strike of the strata in the Balbardie Colliery is regular, but as we move southwards into the Boghead and Durhamtown district, a powerful fault – the so-called Heatherfield Dyke – is crossed, which has a downthrow to the south and several branches, and interrupts the continuity of the strata between the two coal-fields. In the Durhamtown area, a deep boring was made by Ronald Johnstone from the outcrop of the Boghead or Torbanehill mineral (which is taken as the local base of the Coal Measures) down to the position of the Index Limestone, and we are thus enabled to measure accurately the thickness of the Millstone Grit series. The Index Limestone appears to have been replaced by whinstone in this borehole , but the record of another deep boring made by Henry Walker, 2100 feet farther east, near the Boghead Pit, supplies the part of the section from the Calmy to the Index Limestone. The lower part of the section showing the depth and thickness of the workable in the shaft, which is 900 feet deep, to the Main Coal Seam, has been kindly supplied by the manager of the colliery.

Section at Boghead from the Base of the Coal-Measures

Strata	Thickness			Depth from Surface
Strata	Feet	Inches		Feet	Inches
Boghead Coal 2 feet 9 inches (base of Coal-Measures)
Shale, Blaes, Sandstone, Red Sandstone Balls, Bastard Gray Sandstone. Base of Millstone Grit	338	6	338		6
Levenseat Limestone	7	1	345		7
Shale, Sandstone, Blaes	247	6	593		1
Calmy Limestone	4	2	597		3
Sandstone, Fakes, Kinglestone (hard sandstone or cement stone).	103	7	700		10
Basalt, soft above	36	6	737		4
Fakes	4	8	742		0
Basalt	40	1	782		1
Fakes	2	4	784		5
Coal, foul	0	4	784		9
Sandstone, Fakes, Blaes	100	6	885		3
Index Limestone	4	4	889		7
Blaes, Fireclay, Fakes, Sandstone	35	3	924		10
Balbardie Parrot Coal-Seam	6	10	931		8
Strata	15	8	947		4
Shaley Coal Seam	2	4	949		8
Strata	98	5	1048		1
Jewel Coal-Seam	3	7	1051		8
Strata	52	10	1104		6
Main Coal-Seam	7	2	1111		8

In the Boghead and Durhamtown section it will be observed that the volcanic rocks (Basaltic lava) are dwindling away to the south, and the sedimentary rocks are thickening out as we recede from the Bathgate Hills. The Balbardie trap-bed (Basaltic lava) above the Index Limestone , which is traceable all the way from Hilderston Hills, where it is 136 feet thick, and represents the last of the volcanic eruptions of the Carboniferous Limestone age, is only 115 feet thick at Ballencrieff. It splits up into two parts here, whose joint thickness is 76½ feet, disappearing a short distance farther south.

In the Foulshiels and Blackburn district to the west of Addiewell, the Balbardie Gas Coal, though represented, is not of value, and the Main and Jewel Coal Seams are the chief workable seams. The Main Coal Seam runs into Lanarkshire, and is extensively worked at Wilsontown.

Robert W. Dron – The Coal-Fields of Scotland (1901):

The coal seams of the Upper Coal-Measures, as found in the Armadale district, are all of second-class quality, and the fact that they have been so extensively worked is mainly accounted for by the presence of the famous Torbanehill Cannel Coal. The value of this coal was an inducement to sink pits, which have since been used for working the other seams. At the same time as the Torbanehill mineral was being worked, a seam of coal-shale known locally as the Upper Cannel was also worked as an oil-producer. It is about thirty years since the workings in this upper seam were abandoned, but the recent increase in the value of oil shales offers some prospect of its being reopened. A test made this year (1901) gave the following results from this seam as found in one of the shafts at Bathville Colliery:-

Crude oil (Specific Gravity 0.958) 29.70 gallons per ton

Sulphate of Ammonia 34.48 lbs per ton

Here is a section of the Armadale Coal-field:

Strata	Thickness
Strata	Fathoms	Feet	Inches
Upper Cannel Coal	0	2 to 4	0
Strata	6	0	0
Mill Coal	0	1	10
Strata	9	0	0
Ball Coal and Ironstone	0	2	6
Strata	7	0	0
Main Coal	0	3	10
Strata	10	0	0
Colinburn Coal	0	2	9
Strata	1 to 2	0	0
Torbanehill Gas Coal and Ironstone

The Colinburn Coal is from 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet thick, and of second class quality. Underneath the coal there are 2 to 3 feet of fireclay. This fireclay makes a high-class refractory firebrick, and is extensively manufactured at the Bathville Brickworks. At a distance varying from 6 to 12 feet below the Colinburn Coal is found the Torbanehill Gas Coal. In working the Colinburn Coal it is customary to put down boreholes to the Gas Coal position, and wherever an area is found exceeding 3 inches in thickness, a mine is driven down to work it out. Very little of the Torbanehill Gas Coal is now left to work.

John Landale – Paper read before the Royal Scottish Society of Arts (1861);

The Boghead Gas Coal is a most erratic deposit, occurring only in small patches and islands, and these vary much in thickness and quality. This gas coal like most of the other first-class cannels, has the peculiarity of thickening and thinning, sometimes gradually tapering off to a half, a third, a fourth, and not infrequently disappearing altogether over considerable areas, and sometimes changing into common coal. I have given here eight different sections from the Colinburn Coal. The Boghead Gas Coal has often been worked as low as 3 inches, and at that rate the colliers’ wages is 18s. 6d. per ton, diminishing to 10s. 6d. when it arrives at 8 inches in thickness, and so on down to 2s. 6d., according as the thickness increases. It is, perhaps, the most expensive coal to produce in Scotland. The present selling price is 30s. per ton, and for a short time it reached 44s. In the first jury-trial – Gillespie v. Russel – it was attempted to be made out that this was not a coal; that action signally failed. The yield is 128 gallons of oil per ton.

Colliery	Strata	Thickness
Colliery	Strata	Feet	Inches
Ballencrieff	Fireclay Gas Coal Fireclay Fireclay Fakes	1 0 0 6	2½ 9 9 5
Boghead	Fireclay Gas Coal Blaes Fakes Blaes and Coal Blaes Slatey Black-band	6 0 2 0 1 3 1	11 4 4 2 2 0 1
Boghead	Fireclay Cement Gas Coal Fireclay Gray Ironstone Coal Slatey Black-band	2 0 0 0 0 1 0	10 2 8 6 6 0 6
Torbane	Fireclay Cement Gas Coal Fireclay Coal	3 0 0 0 0	10 2 7 7 11
Torbanehill	Fakes Gas Coal Fakes	7 1 0	2 6 7
Ballencrieff	Sandstone Gas Coal Fireclay and Coals Coal	6 0 0 0	3 1 11 11
Torbanehill	Sandstone Daugh (soft, coaly fireclay) Gas Coal Fireclay	12 0 0 2	5 2 2 8
Barbauchlaw	Sandstone Fireclay Cement Cherry Coal (position) Fireclay Ironstone	18 0 0 0 0 0	3 1 1 4 9 6

Here is Dr. Penny’s analysis of Boghead Coal (1853):

Constituent	Weight percent
Carbon	63.936
Hydrogen	8.858
Nitrogen	0.962
Sulphur	0.320
Oxygen	4.702
Ash	21.222