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Dysart Day Level

Dysart, Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Drainage Day Level (built 1749).

Constructed to drain coal seam(s) in the local area, following the strike of the Dysart Main Coal with an outfall at Dysart Harbour where this coal seam outcropped. Given coordinates are for the day level mouth, now blocked by tidal muds.

Route of level shown on mine plan 16316 & the Geological map of 1931, although the latter only shows it extending as far as the site of Bogleys Farm (just N of what is now Kingslaw Avenue, Kirkcaldy). The level skirts the western margin of the Randolph Colliery's Dysart Main Coal workings, & mine plans show it extending N past the Balbeggie Surface Mine [site #11028] and below the workings of a Stair Pit to a point just SW of Ore Bridge, Thornton [NT 2900 9682].

Alternative Names: Dysart Level, Dysart Day-Level, Dysart Main Day Water Level

Notes: Given coordinates generic for harbour area.

Length on Fife Pits website stated to be "4840 yds (4360 m).

OS namebook suggests that the Alum Well [NT 3010 9269] to the SW of the harbour is the mouth of a day level - "Alum Well: natural outlet for the water from the Parrot Coal waste, technically called a day level. The water issues from the sand 1 1/2 chains below High water mark N [North] of the Harbour." [OS Namebook]. However, MRA map places the mouth of the Dysart Day Level further E, consistent with mine plan 16316.

Hydrographic Resurgences: Dysart Harbour