Big Wood

Lidar data available on the National Library of Scotland website (https://maps.nls.uk/) has revealed the widespread remains of coal mining and quarrying in woodland (Big Wood) at the western edge of Pencaitland parish. The data (LiDAR DTM 50cm-1m – Eng, Scot, Wales) also shows the fugitive remains of coal mining in what was formerly woodland but is now pasture in the adjoining parish of Ormiston to the W. Overall the area covers some 8.1ha (21.25 acres) and contains at least forty-five features that represent either exploratory trenches or actual extraction sites. The majority of the features are located within standing woodland on the E side of a burn gully that separates the wood from the pasture. This gully forms the boundary between the parishes of Pencaitland and Ormiston. Whilst the mining remains in Big Wood are all plainly visible as upstanding features, those within the pasture are not, having been largely levelled when the woodland was removed, and the ground converted to grazing. The slight remains of workings can, however, be seen on lidar.

The largest feature (NT 42100 67878), which may be an adit, lies within the woodland 30m NW of the prehistoric enclosure NT46NW 181. It measures 12m from NE to SW by 5.2m transversely and no more than 2m in depth within a low spoil-tip that encloses the excavation on all sides except the SW. Relatively shallow excavations and limited spoil are characteristics that are common to most of the delvings, and this is probably a good indication that they were relatively short-lived. They have an apparently random distribution and may well represent exploratory workings, dug to establish whether coal was present and, if so, whether it was commercially viable to extract. If this is the case, they could in theory date to any time from the medieval period to the early 19th century. That said, the lack of erosion to the sides of the excavations would suggest a later rather than earlier date. There is a local tradition that during the Great Strike of 1926 men from Ormiston (most probably miners) would visit Big Wood for the purpose of gaining coal. This practice is likely to have seen them salvage coal from previously abandoned workings rather than opening up of new ones.

An interactive map (Interactive Map Viewer | Coal Authority (bgs.ac.uk) available on the Coal Authority website notes the presence of several adits in the area, but shows only a relatively small fraction of the actual number of workings that are either visible on the ground or on the lidar data. That website notes two seams beneath the W end of Big Wood being worked, probably intermittently, between 1916 and 1940. There is an adit at NT 42213 68021 which could be associated with the 1940s workings, but the date of most of the workings is not recorded.

Quarrying has taken place on the steep E side of the stream gully with the largest (NT 42094 67798) measuring some 50m from NW to SE by 32m transversely and at least 6m in depth. Its excavation saw the removal of a 35m long section of bank and ditch on the W side of the prehistoric settlement. A smaller quarry lies 23m to the NNW at NT 42070 67846.

Visited by John R Sherriff, 8 January 2024.