Addiewell is a small village in West Lothian, which alongside its close neighbouring villages of Loganlea and Addiebrownhill, is collectively known as “Dykes”. This little village was once the centrepoint of the Industrial boom in west lothian.
The History of Addiewell
In the mid Nineteenth century, the Industrial revolution was Booming and in west Lothian, a Glasgow chemist called James Young discovered a new type of mineral in West Lothian. “Cannel Coal” named so as it worked well as a candle when you lit it due to its oily substance was discovered on the Boghead estate near Bathgate. Young realised that he could distil this mineral and refine the oil extracted from it to form Paraffin. This made a new and far more effective type of Fuel for lamps, replacing Whale blubber which had been used up til then. That’s why he was so famously known as James ‘Paraffin’ Young.
This distillation process was done at the purpose built Durhamtoun Oil Works on the same estate and an even richer source of this Cannel Coal was found under the ground of the neighbouring Torbane estate. This mineral was so rich in oil they’ve never found it anywhere else in the world and was aptly named ‘Torbanite’. Before long, this oil was in high demand with Thousands of Gallons being exported worldwide every day. this was what is known as ‘The Black Gold Rush’.
However, these estates were only small and it didnt take long for this precious rock to be all eaten up. So Young would have to look further afield to find more. As it went, he didnt find anymore Boghead Coal or Torbanite. But right on the doorstep, he found a mineral with the same properties. It wasn’t just so rich in oil as the others but it still worked and whats more, there was in abundance. This mineral was called Shale and it soon became the First type of Modern Oil Refinement and where did they build their New Oil Works? None other than Addiewell.
Early Origins
The name of Addiewell is no doubt taken from a Well somewhere in the area at some point that is named such. However, besides the Village name, ther appears to be no record of this well. The earliest record of Addiewell was in 1818. This was recorded as a Toll settlement that operated on the Cluech Turnpike crossed roads with the Blackburn to Breich road. Although It was not until 1836 that it first appeared in a list of roups; the annual bids invited to operate toll bars.
However, it is believed to have been in operation long before this and probably situated in the right place for intercepting both traffic on the Turnpike and Droves coming over the ford at Burnhouse from Bathgate to west Calder. This cross in the routes would establish the Early Addiewells.
The Industrial Village
The Rows built for the Oil workers were first built in 1866 when Young’s Paraffin Company built the Addiewell Chemical works. The town sprung up pretty quickly as the Chemical works were brining in more workers from outside than there were houses to accommodate them. So the place grew into a bustling little industrial village. By the early Twentieth century, the Oil Boom as in full thunder. By 1913, production was at it’s height.
The village had over 360 terrace houses 70 of these were Single room tenements whilst the rest were double roomed. The houses had no running water and standpipes were installed out the back with the coal cellars.
One newspaper reports that the Two story Terraces of One and Two room Apartments were “Built of brick, which had become black with the fumes of the works”, It goes on to say “they look like so many rows of prison cells which had been dumped down anywhere”.
The Global Oil Capital
At the time of this ‘Black Goldrush of the Nineteenth and early twentieth century, Addiewell wasn’t just an oil Town. It was ‘The’ Oil Capital of the world. Remember, this was long before anyone had discovered crude oil in Arabia, America, Russia or the North Sea. This was the Oil of the day and it was right here in West Lothian it was mined. Addiewell was its new epicentre where all the shale oil from the whole areas mines would be brought, refined and shipped out to homes all around the globe who would use this sacred fuel to light their homes, fuel their cars, make soap, rubber, detergent, and much more.
Who’d have thought it that Addiewell was the Houston of the Nineteenth century? The Addiewell Oil works were built and opened in 1866 and the Industry employed over 12,000 people. This brought workers from all over Europe. stayed operational for almost a century until 1962 when they finally closed their gates forever.
Taking the Horse to the Well
Well, its all good stuff mining all this shale and distilling an abundance of Oil. But, if it was ever to be shipped out to the world, then it was gonna need some way of transporting it. Thats why the Iron Horse turned up just at the right time once again. The arrival of the Railway in Addiewell made it perfectly viable for all the shale oil to be shipped in to the Oil works from the Seven different Shale mines that supplied it. then the finished product could be shipped out by the boat load. Straight on to the main line leading both East and West. So it could be sent anywhere they wanted to ship it to.
the Train statio itself had no shortage of stories to tell too. It was a place where the drama was plentiful. It “saw elopements…to sudden deaths…it was even partly blown up in a bungled robbery attempt” One source reads.
A Modern Town
Today, Addiewell is No longer a village that runs on Industry. The Oil works are long gone and all the shale and coal pits in the area long closed too. Instead, most of Addiewells residents live in the village but will commute to work elsewhere. The Chemical works are long gone but places like the local Addiewell Bing are now a community Woodland and is home to numerous species of plants, trees and wildlife.
The Train station at Addiewell is still a busy one and is very much operational. It lies upon the Edinburgh to Glasgow Central line. So this gives Addiewells residents access to both Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as many lesser towns along the way like Livingston, Motherwell, Fauldhouse and Currie. But it’s not just residents who use the Train to go places. People also use the train station to come to Addiewell too nowadays.
This is because the village of Addiewell has indeed adopted One new industry. The Prison Industry. In 2008, HMP Addiewell, a privately run High Security prison was opened. It’s the Areas largest building and was built to hold almost 800 prisoners and is the villages biggest employer. What they call ‘a learning Jail’, it focuses on Education and rehabilitation of the prisoners.
Historic Buildings of Addiewell
although predominantly a Nineteenth century Industrial village, Addiewell does have some historic buildings such as the Old Thatched roof Toll House, The Free Church and School as well as the Catholic Church which also has a lot of history to talk of. So, lets have a quick look at some of these historic buildings.
The Free Church
The Catholic Church
The School
The Toll house
Sadly, all we have left of the Old Toll House today is Old Photos, records and paintings. The Old Thatched roof Tollhouse that Fist recorded in 1818 as am operational Toll House on the Cluech Turnpike
The Expansion of the Town
The People of Addiewell
In 1994, the West Lothian Herald and Post free newspaper published a front page article about Addiewell. However, the Front page was partitioned because it was a Tale of Two Half’s and it was concerning harassment in the village. On the Left hand column was the story of a Young Office worker who had moved up to Addiewell from nearby Livingston to bring his family up in a nice peaceful village surrounded by countryside. He explained that he had tried to participate in the community but was met with a cold shoulder. He went on to describe how his car tyres had been slashed, his door graffitied and stones thrown at his window .
Well, on the Right hand column came the Story of an Older guy who explained how he was born in Addiewell and had lived there all his life. He also went on to explain how he didnt think it was right that ‘outsiders’ should be coming into his town and so he was proud to be that very same person who had slashed the tyres, graffiti’s the door and threw stones at the window. He was determined that his town would be liberated at his hand from the foreign invader all the way from Livingston.
A Population in transition
Now, that was over Thirty years ago now. But it showed just exactly where the villages population was at this time. That Old guy represented the Old ways and life of Addiewell. It once was a village where its residents lived, worked and slept. They had no reason to go elsewhere and nobody else had any reason to be coming to their village either. Back in those days, Addiewell was a very territorial village like most of the mining villages and towns in west Lothian were.
however, the Young guy represented the New population of Addiewell which has become very cosmopolitan. It is a nice countryside village where people can come to stay whilst either commuting to work on the train or working from home online which has become a popular choice in this day and age. Like so many of its sister villages around the district, Addiewell has transitioned from being a Grey and Gritty Industrial Hub to being a multicultural dormitory village for commuters.