|
Coal and iron, generally found in convenient proximity to each other, are the chief sources of the mineral wealth of Scotland. The principal coal fields are Lanarkshire, which yields nearly half of the total output, Fifeshire, Ayrshire, Stirlingshire and Midlothian, but coal is also mined in the counties (usually reckoned as forming part of one or other of the main fields) of Linlithgow, Haddington, Dumbarton, Clackmannan, Kinross, Dumfries, Renfrew, Argyll and Peebles, while a small quantity is obtained from the Oolite at Brora in Sutherlandshire. The, earliest records concerning coal pits appear to be the charters granted, towards the end of the 12th century, to William Oldbridge of Carnden in Linlithgowshire, and in 1291 to the abbot and convent of Dunfermline conferring the privilege of digging coal in the lands of Pittencrieff. The monks of Newbattle Abbey also dug coal at an early date from surface pits on the banks of the Esk. Aeneas Sylvius (Pope Pius II), who visited Scotland in the 15th century, refers to the fact that the poor received at church doors a species of stone which they burned instead of wood; and although the value of coal for smith's and artificer's work was early recognised it was not used for domestic purposes till about the close of the 16th century. In 1606 an act was passed binding colliers to perpetual service at the works where they were employed; and they were not fully emancipated till 1799. An act was passed in 1843 forbidding the employment of children of tender years and women in underground mines. In 1905 there were 402 coal and iron mines in operation, employing 109,939 hands (89,516 below ground and 20,423 above). The total output in that year amounted to 35,939,297 tons, valued at £10,369,433. The total quantity worked up to the end of 1898 was 1,514,062 tons, the quantity then remaining to work being estimated at 4,634,785,000 tons. The quantity of coal exported in 1905 from the principal Scottish ports was 7,863,511 tons, and the quantity shipped coast wise to ports of the United Kingdom amounts annually to about 2 1/2 million tons in addition. The rise of the iron industry dates from the establishment of the Carron ironworks near Falkirk in 1760, but it was the introduction of railways that gave the production of pig-iron its greatest impetus. In 1796 the quantity produced was 18,640 tons, which had only doubled in thirty-four years (37,500 tons in 1830). In 1840 this had grown to 241,000 tons, in 1845 to 475,000 tons and in 1869 to 1,164,000 tons, almost the height of its prosperity, for in 1905 the product of 101 blast furnaces only amounted to 1,375,125 tons, and in the interval there were years when the output was below one million tons. More than one-third of the iron ore (that chiefly worked being Black Band Ironstone) comes from mines which also yield coal. The iron producing counties in the order of their output are Ayr, Lanark, Renfrew, Linlithgow, Dumbarton, Fife, Midlothian and Stirling, the first three being the most productive. In 1905 the quantity of ore raised was 832,388 tons, valued at £320,875 and yielding 249,716 tons of metal. The imports of ore in that year amounted to 1,862,444 tons of the value of £1,420,379.
The oil shale industry is wholly modern and has attained to considerable magnitude since it was established (in 1851 and following years). Linlithgowshire yields nearly three-fourths of the total output, Midlothian produces nearly one-forth, a small quantity is obtained from Lanarkshire, and there is an infinitesimal supply from Sutherland. The mineral is chiefly obtained from seams in the Calciferous Sandstone at the base of the Carboniferous rocks.
|
