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D'Arcy Limestone Mine

Westhouses, Midlothian.

Mine (Limestone), late 19th Century to 1913.

Mine entrance (marked D'Arcy Mine) and nearby shaft (36 ft deep) indicated on 1892 OS map at Mayfield Quarry now woodland east of West Houses (Westhouses Road) indicated as Workings (disused). There is now no trace of this adit owing to infilling following an incident involving schoolboys getting lost c.1970-80s.

Modest-sized pillar-and-stall complex was driven below and E / SE of the track that borders the adjacent woodland N of Watt Grove, extending NW-SE for c.370 m (from approx [NT 3567 6448] to [3567 6415]). These workings were accessed via a c.150 m drift tunnel that extended E from the given coordinates, from within Mayfield Quarry. The main workings connected with a N-S-trending pre-1890 northern passage that extended from ~[NT 3577 6458] to ~[3582 6484], along which is/was an air shaft (marked on 1894 OS map at [3577 6461]). See abandonment plan (in links) for detailed layout.

Alternative Names: D'Arcy Mine, Easthouses Limestone Mine, West Houses Limestone Mine

Notes: Operated by Lothian Coal Co., abandoned in 1913.

"The bed of stone worked is the No.1 limestone of the Carboniferous Limestone, and it marks the base of the workable coal seam of that series. The bed is won by an adit-drift, and the depth from the surface to the workings is 22 fathoms. The No.2 and No.4 beds have been worked to some extent opencast but are of inferior quality. The inclination of the bed is 1 in 5. The working is stoop and room, the level course being east and west. The stoops are left 6 yards by 6 yards. The width of the places is varied according to the condition of the roof, but the places are usually driven about 6 yards wide. In some instances, double this width has been driven without danger.

The seam is characterised by very marked backs or fractures running across the level course and by less marked cutters running through the level course. The backs are frequently open to the extent of about 12 inches and filled with clay, which has washed down from the mine surface. The backs and cutters are of material assistance in working the stone, but are a source of danger, and when they extend through the stone roof-limestone (3 feet 3 inches), frequently require to be wedged by timber to prevent part of the roof from dropping in. In working the bottom blaes layer it is taken out by blasting with gelatine-dynamite, the holes being drilled to a depth of 6 feet by ratchet drills. The bottom stone is then drilled at the parting to a depth of 3 and a half to four and a half feet and a heavy charge of powder (2 to 3 pounds) is fired. Usually the stone does not come down with the first charge and if not, the hole is recharged and fired and the stone comes down. It is probably worthy of note that the miners consider it advantageous not to bring the stone down with the first charge as the second charge seems to work more to the advantage owing to the shock of the first charge. A similar method is pursued with the bed above and the upper stone, below the roofstone, which is invariably left untouched, is left on until the stoop is formed, when it comes down more easily and in larger quantities. In bringing the top stone down, the principle of firing the same hole with charges insufficient to bring it down in the first instance is adopted, the same hole 3 feet deep being fired sometimes with half lb, one lb and then one and a half lb of powder.

The limestone is conveyed from the faces to the kilns by means of hutches carrying 10cwts of stone, the hutches being taken to the rise places by self-acting inclines and along the level by horses. Ventilation is effected by the use of a furnace in summer and natural means in Winter. It may be useful to mention that the quantity of stone turned out per man per day from some of the mines referred to in this paper amounts to 4 tons per man employed at the working face, a quantity which will compare favourably with a good quarry." [J. Morison, 1894]