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Urquhart Day Level [Mouth]

Urquhart to West Baldridge, Dunfermline, Fife.

Mine Drainage Level.

"An excavated level, made through the Urquhart Estate, for the purpose of draining the Elgin Colliery. There are [air] shafts or pits along the line, indicating its course." [OS namebook]

"The Urquhart Drainage Level starts near West Baldridge at levels 40 ft. above the Pitfirrane Level and 190 ft. from the surface, or roughly 160 ft. above Ordnance Datum. It flows south for over a mile to Urquhart farm where it emerges on to the alluvial flat south-west of Dunfermline, at a point over a mile north-east from the mouth of the Pitfirrane Level. A considerable volume of water constantly flows from each of these levels, and their courses may be noted at the surface by lines of air shafts." [Fife Pits]

The Balmule level, a branch of the Pitfirrane Level, joins the Urquhart Level c. 0.5 km north of Urquhart Quarry that existed at c. NT 074 878, now infilled.

An image / description of the level mouth in Stephen (1975) shows an 18"-diameter arch, suggesting that this level is has somewhat tight dimensions, although the interior may well be larger due to driving occuring from the base of various shafts. Stephen also states that the level burst 150 yds N of the level mouth. Much of the passage is likely to have silted up as it was noted that maintance was difficult even during its use, never mind after c.200 years of abandonment.

Alternative Names: Urquhart Level

Notes: Path of adit shown on OS 6" map (1856).

NT 08031 86966 [AS1], NT 08016 87019 [AS2], NT 0794 8718 [AS3], ~NT 0791 8735 [AS4], NT 0789 8743 [AS5], NT 07874 87519 [AS6] & NT 07802 87597 [AS7]. AS4 appears to be completely lost (no surface expression), whilst AS5 is absent from the OS map.

Given coordinates are for the mouth of the Urquhart Day Level, SE of the Urquhart farm cottages.

Hydrographic Resurgences: Tributary of Lyne Burn