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Roscobie Mine

Roscobie, N of Dunfermline, Fife.

Limestone mine (20th century), flooded.

A large elongate quarry with multiple entrances leading into a pillar and stall mine complex, well-known to the mine diving fraternity. The extensive passages are present along the E side & N sides of the old quarry into which the passages appear to have been driven (as opposed to opencast destruction of pre-existing passage). A separate, minor mine was located at the quarry mouth (near the road to Saline), again on the quarry's E side.

See abandonment plan (in refs) for detailed mine layout.

"The site features a shallow open water lake with several visible and many more hidden entrances. The visible entrances to the northern end open into a sizeable, shallow chamber whilst the hidden entrances in the east side descend quickly to around 18m depth in an area that is silty and littered with hazards such as wire fencing, making for more challenging dives." [UKMCDE]

Alternative Names: Roscobie Limestone Mine, Roscobe Mine

Notes: Mine closed in 1954. Cause of abandonment was termination of lease.

Given location is for one of the northern entrances.

The Roscobie Quarry GCR site reveals an outstanding section of the biohermal Charlestown Main Limestone (Lower Limestone Formation, upper Brigantian) and of the fossiliferous shale and sandstone sequence immediately above it. This is a classic locality, famous for its crinoid fauna, but yielding an abundance of other taxa of great taxonomic, palaeoecological and stratigraphical interest. In addition to its fauna, the site exhibits sedimentological features of major significance, including the transition from bedded limestone into the massive limestones of a carbonate buildup within the Charlestown Main Limestone. [Whyte, 2004]