Faucheldean Shale Bing, Winchburgh Kirkliston, City of Edinburgh Council Area, Scotland, UK

Scheduled Monument Statement of Significance

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument is of national importance as one of the very few intact spent-shale bings left in central Scotland. The shale oil industry was locally important for about a century, and its pioneer, James Young, developed refining techniques still used in the oil industry. This bing, with its neighbour Greendykes Bing, gives a clear idea of the enormous volume of material processed in the extraction of oil from shale. In this case the works depositing waste was the Hopetoun Oil Works, which operated from about 1870 to 1935.

Scheduled Monument Description

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

The monument consists of a well-preserved shale bing. In form, the bing is flat-topped. It is a waste heap composed of residue from the destructive distillation of shale to extract oil. This process was the foundation of some of the earliest petro-chemical industries.

The area to be scheduled is irregular in shape, about 820m by 210m and as marked in red on the accompanying map. All modern boundary walls and fences are excluded from the scheduling.

Scheduled Monument References

© Crown Copyright text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland, reprinted under the Open Government License.

RCAHMS records the site as NT07SE 47.