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Hugo Tunnel [S Portal]

West Wemyss, Fife.

Railway / tramway tunnel, 19th cent.

Construction of a southwards-inclined tunnel with a double hutchway began in 1875 with the purpose of allowing coal to be transported between the Wemyss Colliery's Hugo & No.7 pits (the latter eventually renamed the 'Victoria Pit').

Coal was transported S from the Hugo Pit [site #11771] on the S side of Coaltown of Wemyss to the Victoria Pit [site #11772] where coal from the latter was exported by ship from the adjacent West Wemyss Dock up until 1915. After this, reversal occurred whereby the tunnel was then used to transport coal from the Victoria Pit to the Hugo Pit, which by then had become the 'Hugo Depot' following the ceasation of coaling there ca. 1904. Coal from the Victoria Pit (& also Lochhead Pit to the N) is known to have been stockpiled at the Hugo Depot.

The southern portal at the given coordinates has been bricked up after a group of children became lost in the tunnel in 1973, & the northern portal(s) has been backfilled. Holes have apparently been made in the former to allow for the movement of bats roosting inside.

The location of the N portal is inconsistent on OS maps, hence the tunnel may have had two northern portals/branches. The OS map of 1956 shows a railway portal beside the Hugo Pit at [NT 32221 95446], whilst the 1920 & 1931 editions instead show one at [NT 32192 95464] (35m further NW). On the 25" ed. of 1895, the Hugo Pit is shown as having E & W tracks leading to these points, & the E (mineral railway) track is also shown as continuing north & connecting the Hugo Pit with the main North British Railway's Methil Branch at the Lady Lilian Pit (later renamed Lochhead). This crucially gave the Hugo Pit the added option of exporting it's coal via Methil Docks instead of simply West Wemyss Dock via the Hugo Tunnel.

cf. one branch being used for stockpiling at Hugo Depot when required, & another allowing the Victoria Pit to permanently access the Lochhead Pit and Methil railway / docks. Alternatively, it is possible that the SE point was simply the terminus of the mineral railway & that the 1956 ed. map mistook this as being the tunnel's entry point?

Alternative Names: West Wemyss Tunnel

Notes: "The shipment of coal at the Wemyss Colliery during the month of May amounts to 8495 tons, the greatest month's shipment that has ever taken place there. The new wet dock is a great inducement for vessels, especially foreign ships, to which the trade of the port is now almost wholly confined. At present an underground tramway is being constructed at an estimated cost of between £2000 and £3000 to connect the Hugo Pit with the harbour." [The Scotsman, 1875]

The Victoria Pit at [NT 3217 9471] was sunk ca. 1824 & was worked until the 1960s when coal was brought to surface at Lochhead [site #10986].