The Highland and Lowland Clearances – Which Impacted more
So, most of us are well aware of the Highland Clearances. A dispersing of the Scottish Highland Clans with the eviction and evacuation of hundreds of the Glens that were their homes. These 19th century clearances left the highlands a vast unpopulated land mass. However, It’s far less often, if ever, that we her about […]
Dedridge Rows
Burngrange
The village of Burngrange on the South East side of West Lothian was One of the areas many ‘Ghost Villages’. ‘Lost Villages’ that sprang up in the Nineteenth century but are long gone now. Sadly, the Village of Burngrange is probably best known for its mining disaster. The Burngrange mining disaster happened on the 6th […]
The Lost Village Cappers
So, today, were going to be talking about a place that Literally just vanished from the map. This is the story of Cappers, a village that was built by Industry then almost just as fast,, was completely erased by time. It is a real ghost community. But it has such a powerful story to tell […]
Woodend – The Lost Village near Armadale
If you have a look at West Lothian’s colourful history, you will see that the area has over Twenty ‘Lost Villages’. These were originally miners settlements constructed by the Nineteenth Century Mining and Oil companies to house their fast growing workforce during the ‘Black Gold’ rush of the Nineteenth Centuries Industrial Revolution. Amongst these lost […]
Mossend
Oakbank – West Lothian’s Prosperous Company Village
You know sometimes, when youre walking through a park or nature reserve, you feeling like youre walking through history? well, today we’re going to be discovering a place just like that. The Vanished village of Oakbank in West Lothian is a story about a lost community. yet its hidden right there in plain sight. If […]
Gavieside – The Village That Vanished without a Trace
Gavieside is One of West Lothians Lost Villages near Polbeth. It was built in 1863 to house the workers of the shale mine of the same name. The village was abandoned in 1939 after the sudden decline of Shale mining due to foreign production taking over. Gavieside – The Village That Vanished Without a Trace […]
Pumpherston – The Blueprint of a Boom Town
When we think of the First of the global oil industries, we often think of the sprawling deserts of the Middle East or the dusty plains of Texas. But, for a brief window in the Nineteenth century, the worlds ‘refined oil’ capital was actually located in the cold, windswept lowlands of Scotland. This dominance relied […]
Seafield
On the Western edges of Red West Lothian, just before it meets the Black, up on the ridge that overlooks the Almond valley, sits the little village of Seafield. Seafield This was a village that was initially built as One of West Lothians many ‘Company Villages’ of Miners Rows. These were usually One or Two […]