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Whitehill Colliery
Colliery (19th Century)
Site Name Whitehill Colliery
Classification Colliery (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Rosewell
Canmore ID 132549
Site Number NT26SE 71
NGR NT 2865 6205
NGR Description Centred
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/132549
- Council Midlothian
- Parish Lasswade
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District Midlothian
- Former County Midlothian
NT26SE 71 2865 6205
WHITEHILL Colliery (also known as Rosewell)
Location: Rosewell
Previous Owners: Lothian Coal Company
Types of Coal: Steam and House
Sinking/Production Commenced: 1850
Year Closed: 1961
Year Abandoned: 1962
Average Workforce: 562
Peak Workforce: 590
Peak Year: 1950
Shaft/Mine Details: 3 shafts, each 91m deep, and 1 surface mine
Details in 1948: Output 640 tons per day, 160,000 tons per annum. 495 employees. Campbell Binny washer. Baths (1936), first-aid room, canteen. Most electrcitiy DC and generated at colliery, some being bought from SE Scotland Electricity Board. Report date 15-07-1948.
Other Details: Possibly the first mine in Scotland to use coal cutters powered by compressed air. 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.
M K Oglethorpe 2006.
Whitehill Colliery Baths, Lothian, The scheme provides a prominent frontage onthe public highway. Opened in November ,1936.
Miners' Welfare Fund, 1937.
Desk Based Assessment (27 June 2013)
NT 28616 62644 GUARD Archaeology Ltd undertook an archaeological desk-based assessment of an area proposed for development at Rosewell, Midlothian. The aims were to assess evidence for the past human use of the proposed development area, its archaeological sensitivity and the potential impact of the development upon the archaeological resource.
This assessment indicates that the development area is not particularly archaeologically sensitive. There has been significant mining activity and associated road and railway lines traversing the site along the western, central and southern parts of the development area associated with the Whitehill Colliery.
Information from W Bailie - GUARD Archaeology Ltd.
OASIS ID: guardarc1-524759
Desk Based Assessment (27 June 2013)
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).
