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Explore!
Explore! Our articles cover anything and everything to do with West Lothian, West Edinburgh and Falkirk.
A selection of what goes into print is published here.
Browse the archives below or use the archive menu to sort by category, or use the search bar to find a specific reference.
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From West Lothian to the Arctic Convoy
For four years, more than 1,400 merchant ships under the flags of 11 states completed their journeys to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk as part of 78 allied convoys, escorted by 441 warships
Editor
Nov 35 min read
The Commonwealth War Graves – what do you know about them?
Despite being set up over 100 years ago our work is still relevant today as we amend records, search for missing names, build new memorials and where historical inequalities in commemoration are found, ensuring all those who fell are equally remembered.
Editor
Aug 103 min read
Belvedere: an exotic name for a Bathgate housing estate
The Bathgate housing estate is named after a viewpoint deliberately incorporated into an 18th century designed landscape, likely part of the (long-since lost) Ballencrieff House estate
Editor
Jul 145 min read
Inchgarvie Island: on-again off-again
Long since uninhabited except by wildlife, it’s likely that the island has been used in one way or another by people for almost as long as people have been rowing across the Forth here.
Editor
Feb 34 min read
The Water of Leith: a source of high fashion and clear thinking?
Anyone walking along our local river, the Water of Leith, cannot fail to see remains of countless sluices and areas where water driven...
Editor
Oct 3, 20234 min read
The vanished village of Oakbank
Oakbank had a life-span of 120 years, from 1864 as a working village for the Oakbank Oil Works, til the last resident moved out in 1984
Editor
Jul 5, 20224 min read
The Lang and Winding Whang
Little more than a dirt track for millenia, the Lanark Road has seen plenty of action, at times on the edge of momentus events
Editor
Mar 16, 20224 min read
The Battle of Rullion Green
The battle was sparked when an elderly man was beaten by soldiers for being unable to pay a fine for failing to attend an approved church
Editor
Feb 9, 20224 min read
Captain John West - the salmon king
John West canned fish products are known world wide, but how many people know that the founder of the company was born in Linlithgow?
Editor
Apr 7, 20213 min read
Peter McLagan, MP Linlithgowshire: Scotland’s first non-white MP, and “suffragetist in trousers”
Peter McLagan MP, was an extraordinary local character, and the longest-serving MP (next to Tam Dalyell) that this area had in 300 years....
Editor
Oct 7, 20204 min read
Alderstone: Plague-watching duties, muster and civil war
A time-travelling resident of the Livingston area from the 15th century would recognise almost nothing if they visited today; it would be...
Editor
Mar 8, 20204 min read
What do the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow have in common with East Calder?
Many of us who have visited Glasgow will call in at the Willow Tea Rooms in Buchanan Street for a cup of tea and one of their delicious...
Editor
Mar 5, 20202 min read
How Dynamite came to Scotland
The Nobel Prizes are announced annually; world-famous coveted prizes for those who confer “the greatest benefit on mankind” in sciences,...
Editor
Feb 7, 20206 min read
A Victorian Vision – the Almond Valley Viaduct
Star of paintings, countless photographs, West Lothian Council’s logo and a striking feature in the landscape for 170 years, Almond...
Editor
Jan 11, 20205 min read
The Irn-Bru Fleet
January 1937 – a huge Clydesdale horse lies stricken on the frosty ground of the Cow Wynd in Falkirk, having slipped on the ice. His...
Editor
Dec 10, 20195 min read
Craiglockhart Estate - the last private owners
It’s a relatively well-known fact that the body of notorious 18th century body-snatcher William Burke was dissected at Edinburgh Medical...
Editor
Nov 22, 20194 min read
The Laird o' Livingston's Legacy
In return for military service, de Leving, a Flemish nobleman invited to Scotland by King David 1, was given a grant of land. In what is...
Editor
Nov 8, 20194 min read
Our Own X Files
Rounding a corner of a woodland path on Dechmont Law, a forester going about his job in November 1979 entered a clearing and came upon a...
Editor
Nov 1, 20195 min read
The Calders Witches
Cunnigar Hill, Mid Calder; when Mid Calder was gripped by the witch hunting craze of the 1640s innocent women were dragged up this hill...
Editor
Oct 4, 20195 min read
Dunmore: "If you like piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain.”
Well, it’s not quite piña colada, but it is a pineapple and you may well get caught in the rain. This month we visited what is described...
Editor
Aug 12, 20193 min read
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