Mansgrove in the parish of Whitburn, near Longridge and Bents.

If you look at Roy’s 1755 Map of the Scottish Lowlands, we see a place to the South West of Whitburn, curiously marked ‘Mains Grave’. However, when we look at later maps, the name has changed to ‘Mansgrove’. So, what is this place? Who was Main, and How did they die? In fact, Where were they buried? Let’s have a look shall we?

Exploring ‘Mains Grave’ or Mansgrove

Above: We can see Mansgrove on this 1855 Parish Map of West Lothian.

The History of Mansgrove

The quiet land of Mansgrove lies empty in the West Lothian Countryside today. Just a field and the house is long gone. But the garden walls still remain. Like It’s surrounding area, it sits in tranquillity. Like it did 300 years ago.. Yet, in the time between then and now, it was the bustling heart of an Industrial playground. But who was ‘Main’ and where is this Grave?

The Name ‘Mains Grave’

Well, Im sad to say that as exiting as it may sound, there is No Grave. Nor is there anyone I can find associated to the place by the Forename or Surname ‘Main’. The name ‘Mains Grave’ was no more than a Mapmakers mistake due to the misreading of regional dialect.

You see the P Celtic word ‘Mean’ means Hill or Mountain and Grove means ‘garden’. So, the name of the place really means ‘Garden on a Hill. Of course, this naming for the place is very descriptive. Thats exactly what it was. A House on a hill with a Garden . In fact, the garden was a landmarked. A walled apothecary garden that was owned by the Reverend John Maitland who was Indeed the Moderator of the church of Scotland.