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Blairadam Blaes Mine

Kelty, Dunfermline, Fife.

Mines (Blaes, & Coal?), pre-1943.

The site of two neighbouring surface mines on/by the site of the now-demolished 'Blairadam Brick & Tileworks', at least one of which was a blaes mine complex that probably directly supplied the adjacent brickworks. Abandonment plans show the existence of two surface drift mines in a seam of blaes (overlying the Glassee Coal), both of which now have their portals buried below the un-named parkland between Main St & Beechbank Crescent (where the surface buildings for Blairadam Colliery No.1 Pit were also situated, immediately E of the brickworks).

The first portal at the given coordinates, which was situated immediately S of the brickworks, accessed a 1 in 4.5 gradient stone mine (mouth & tramway possibly depicted on OS map of 1952). This led to a small-scale branching complex in blaes with a N-S roadway extending S as far as residential grounds on the N side of Keltyhill Road (mine section surveyed Aug 1943). Perpendicular & branching from this roadway, ending at the line of the now-buried eastern face of the Blairadam Blaes Quarry [site #11526], are/were a series of short inclined (1 in 5) drift passages trending WSW-ENE. It is unclear whether these broke out onto (or were driven from) the quarry face, or whether the quarry incised into & obliterated what would have been more extensive pre-existing mine workings further W. The former is probably more likely, as the separate / comparable 1964 mine plan for the Glassee Coal seam shows solid lines across the ends of mine passages which are known to have been truncated, whilst the plan for the blaes seam does not.

Because the strata dips E (at 1 in 5), it is possible or likely that the mining was the preferred means of extraction to the E where overburden was thickest, whilst shallow quarrying was more effective at / closer to the seam crop. It is probably no coincidence that the southern extension of the of the mine is parallel to the strike of the blaes seam.

The second mine mouth site is situated a short distance to the NE at [NT 13845 94783] where a short inclined (1 in 3) passageway trends SSE, passing through a coal seam to reach the blaes. This mine was surveyed in March 1930.

See mine plans in refs for layout. See also 'Blairadam Quarry' [site #11526]

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Article in History of Cowdenbeath: "Uncharted Mine at Kelty - Several years ago an uncharted coal mine was discovered at Kelty in the vicinity of the present Blairadam Brickwork. It was found by workmen who were digging for clay for the brickwork at a depth of about 20 feet. They came across a narrow roadway about 3 feet broad and 3 feet high, along which it was quite apparent the coal was carried in the dark, the person carrying the coal being guided by a ledge of coal left for that purpose on the left-hand side, so that while he or she (probably he, if the coal was worked by the monks) carried the coal with his right hand and directed himself with his left. The shaft of that pit, if there was a vertical shaft, was never discovered. In all probability it was only an incline and emerged at the surface and, of course, was filled in during the course of time."

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: The Brick & Tileworks at Blairadam were owned by the Fife Coal Company Ltd by 1922, & the National Coal Board from at least 1947-69.

Blairadam Blaes Quarry is labelled as disused on OS 25" map of 1947 (surv. 1943). The 1915 edition (surv. 1913), on which the blaes quarry has not yet begun, shows the Brickworks operating alongside the adjacent Blairadam Colliery (No.1 Pit). The Brick & Tileworks were supplied with blaes from the No.1 Pit, as reflected by a tramway connecting the works. As the quarry both opened & closed at some point between 1913 & 1943, it is likely that the quarry was the replacement blaes source following the closure of Blairadam Colliery in 1924.

Blaes sequence: Upper Leaf 13'-thick, Lower Leaf 6' 6" (leaves separated by a ca. 15' interbedded interval of fakey blaes, nodular blaes, blaes, & coal). Overlap on the mine plan suggests that both leaves were wrought in the mine.

Given coordinates derived from BGS GeoIndex.

Hydrographic Feeds: None

Hydrographic Resurgences: None