Desk Based Assessment

Date 27 June 2013

Event ID 1186282

Category Recording

Type Desk Based Assessment

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1186282

NT 2856 6214 Whitehill Colliery (also known as Rosewell) was owned by the Lothian Coal Company. Production commenced in 1850 and closed in 1961. At its peak in 1950 its workforce was 590. There were three mineshafts, each 91 m deep, and one surface mine. This was possibly the first mine in Scotland to use coal cutters powered by compressed air. The National Coal Board (NCB) mechanised underground haulage as part of reconstruction in 1954. Associated brickworks operated from c.1870 until 1977. Rosewell village, which contains many brick terraces of miners’ houses, is one of the most important surviving mining villages in Scotland (Oglethorpe 2006, 231).