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Kingscavil Quarry Tunnel

Kingscavil, Linlithgow, West Lothian.

Former (yellow) sandstone quarry with a tramway tunnel built to link the quarry with the Union Canal.

The quarry and both tunnel portals are completely infilled / buried.

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: Given coordinates are for the tunnel's southern portal, as shown on the OS 6" 1st Ed. The northern portal was located at NT 0280 7671 and still appears as an active drainage channel on the OS 1952 6" map (surv. 1948). The northern portal is absent (presumably buried) on the 1958 National Grid Map, suggesting burial beneath arable fields by this time. The SW face of quarry was still exposed at this time. Quarry marked as disused on 1897 map, but seems active in 1856 edition.

Tunnel was linked to the surface by a shaft and air shafts, possibly preserved in garden area of old smithy building. Tunnel may well still exist between blocked portals (accessible below capped shaft?).

OS namebook: "A very large quarry out of which is taken sandstone, of a superior quality. There is a tramway leading from it to the Union Canal, part of the tramway going underground; great quantities of the stone being conveyed to Leith for exportation"

Much of Linlithgow Palace was constructed using stone sourced from this quarry.

Given length for tunnel is an estimate, measured from maps.