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Newbattle 'Caves'

Newbattle, Dalkeith, Midlothian.

Tunnel(s) / mine (?)

At Newbattle the monks are credited with the introduction of coal mining to Scotland. [HES]

On the banks of the South Esk about 500 yards from the Abbey College there is an old mine... this is an elaborately built mine, the entrance arch is beautifully built... you can make out the doorway leading into the mine, there are two niches in the doorway for candles. On entering the mine at first there is a prayer cell, this is where the Monks (Lay Brothers) would pray before actually entering the main part of the mine, several years ago the Miners from the Lady Victoria Mining Museum at Newtongrange entered the mine to test for the presence of gasses, thankfully the tests proved that there were none. [article from skt.org.uk]

One day my father discovered a large coal seam, but when he started to dig the coal he broke into a large chamber. He found that all of the coal had been dug out, all that was left was a honeycomb of chambers, my father was amazed at the technique which he had never seen before, whoever had dug out the coal had dug out room size chambers leaving pillars of coal to hold up the roof. He also found tools, braces and baskets which appeared to very old, he took them to the local museum and they identified them as medieval Monks tools, I was told it created quite a stir in the village and it was mentioned in the local paper, my father told me the artefacts were donated to the museum. [I. Jamieson]

The first workers of the mineral are supposed to have been the monks of Newbattle Abbey. A vein of coal which crops out on the banks of the Esk was worked by the latter, not as a mine, but in the fashion of a quarry. Though the monks appreciated the value of coal thus early, it does not appear to have found favour with the people generally until several centuries afterwards. [D. Bremner]

Mining in the district of Newbattle was conducted over a period of nearly 800 years. The Bishops of Newbattle Abbey had mined coal in the are of Newbattle since the 12th century. In 1560 the lands on which coal was being worked in the Newbattle area passed into the possession of the Lothian Family who continued to develop and expand the operations as a private enterprise for 330 years. Until the acquisition of the site of the Lady Victoria Colliery, coal pits were comparatively shallow. [A. Thomson]

Alternate Names: None recorded.

Notes: No cave at given location. Past descriptions suggest a site may exist nearby on the bank of the River S. Esk.

A 'shaft' is labelled to the south of Newbattle Bridge (at NT 3329 6547) on the 1854 OS map (Edinburghshire Sheet 13, 6 inch to the mile), although this is probably from a separate/younger mine.