The Courier and Almond Valley Heritage Trust have teamed up to take readers on a trip down memory lane.
The North Cobbinshaw mine was begun in about 1870 and followed the Fells shale seam into the ground from its outcrop at the surface.
A sketch of the mine, held by the British Geological Survey, provides the only detailed record of the workings, and includes some sketchy information.
This shows a winding engine house close to the mine entrance, an adjoining boilerhouse and chimney, and a loop of railway sidings. The mine was abandoned in May 1873, and the two grass mounds still protruding into the shallow valley provide testament to the relatively small volume of waste rock produced during a short working life.
The modest scale of the mine is in contrast with the railway branchline, over three quarters of a mile long, which linked the mine with the Caledonian railway at Cobbinshaw, where the oil works were presumably sited. The railway must have represented a major investment, and reflects the expectation that North Cobbinshaw would develop into a major mining centre.
A temporary village of eight huts were hurriedly constructed to house miners and their families. Fifty-two men, women and children were recorded as residents of Kipsyke Huts in the 1871 census but operations at North Cobbinshaw seem to have been wound down two years later.
The huts then lay empty but were leased for a brief period to coal miners employed by the Coltness Iron Company.
Both the Oakbank Oil Company and Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company subsequently explored shale reserves at North Cobbinshaw, but neither considered them worthy of further working.
Last year, the forest around the mine site were felled, once again revealing the contours of the land and the layout of the industrial remains. Holes dug to plant the trees have served like archaeological test pits, bringing to the surface debris that has been buried for the last 140 years.
