The Scottish Shale Industry |
 A waste bing at Winchburgh dominates the landscape |
The shale industry was founded by James 'Paraffin' Young who discovered that oil could be obtained from certain types of coal. The original plant was built near Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland to utilise a Cannel Coal ( Cannel - Candle, so called because of the brightness of its flame when burning) from the Boghead mine at nearby Torbanehill. This material proved expensive and limited in supply so attention turned to the use of oil shales which were cheaper and more plentiful. Like coal the raw mineral was obtained by mining and to reduce transport costs extraction works were built near each mine or group of mines.
The shale was heated in retorts and the crude oil extracted as a vapour. After the vapour had been washed and condensed the crude oil was shipped out to refineries. By-products of the retorting process were ammonia liquor and gas. The gas was recycled to heat the retorts and the ammonia liquor was treated with sulphuric acid to form sulphate of ammonia crystals which were used as fertiliser. The cost of mining made it difficult to compete against cheap imported oils and for many years it was the demand for this fertiliser that kept the industry profitable.
At the refinery all the usual products could be refined from the oil. Major products were lamp oil and paraffin wax; most of the UK's supply of this latter material came from the shale industry and not surprisingly candles were also produced. A product that was first produced here was washing detergents.
Originally made up of many small companies many of which only produced crude oil the whole industry was eventually owned by Scottish Oils, latterly a subsidiary of the British Petroleum Company. Following many years of decline the whole industry finally closed down in the early 1960's
The great bings, which still dominate parts of the West Lothian landscape after forty years are the residue after everything has been extracted. The red colour comes from weathering of the iron content, the original colour of both the raw material and the waste was black or brown.
