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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ONLINE LIBRARY

Editor

Mar 8
4 min

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 a disorientating ex...

Editor

Mar 5
2 min

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 homemade scones, but ...

Editor

Feb 7
6 min

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, literature, economic...

Editor

Jan 11
5 min

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 Valley Viaduct strides pu...

Editor

Dec 10, 2019
5 min

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 massive bulk makes it im...

Editor

Nov 22, 2019
4 min

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 College, in an ironi...

Editor

Nov 8, 2019
4 min

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 now Eliburn South’s ...

Editor

Nov 1, 2019
5 min

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 large dome-shaped me...

Editor

Oct 4, 2019
5 min

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 and put to death. At ...

Editor

Aug 12, 2019
3 min

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 as “the most bizarre...

Editor

Jan 3, 2019
3 min

Livingston Mill

The noise of mill machinery grinding grain, of water from the River Almond swooshing over a huge waterwheel and of the periodic tap-tapping of the millstone ...

Editor

Jan 2, 2019
2 min

Newyearfield

With the new year I decided it was a good time to look into the meaning of the Livingston place name “Newyearfield.” Does it have anything to do with a new y...

Editor

Dec 29, 2018
3 min

Medieval history & a mystery on your doorstep

Most people think the only medieval structure in Bathgate is the scant remains of the 14th century castle that Walter, High Steward of Scotland was given upo...

Editor

Oct 22, 2018
4 min

Calders Soldiers

In 1914 the majority of the Hearts first team, then sitting at the top of the league and favourites to win the Scottish Cup, received a white feather in the ...

Editor

Oct 20, 2018
5 min

The Ratho Poet

A time of political movement; big questions and strong feelings over Scotland and England's relationship; plus ça change. But a character from Ratho made the...

Editor

Aug 1, 2018
4 min

James Gillespie, the snuff maker of Colinton

A few Edinburgh streets (Gillespie Crescent, Place, Road and Street) and ‘James Gillespie’s High School’ bear the name of a well-off and kindly figure known ...

Editor

Jul 1, 2018
5 min

Gibson-Craig, Riccarton and Abolition: “old letter found in a box”

In 2015 the UK government finally finished paying off the massive borrowing it undertook in 1833 in order to compensate slave-owners when slavery was abolish...

Editor

Feb 5, 2018
5 min

Marvellous Merchiston

If your home was garrisoned by soldiers and under threat of bombardment, you might pick somewhere else to get married. But 22 year old John Napier, namesake...

Editor

Feb 1, 2018
3 min

Dougal Haston: From Currie to Everest

Up, always up. Currie lad Dougal Haston went from rambling around the Pentland Hills to being one of the first British climbers to conquer Everest, choosing ...

Editor

Nov 7, 2017
3 min

Edwin Lucas - Scottish Surrealist

The young man from Juniper Green who painted a mural in the scouts' “den” on Belmont Road in the early 1930s - to make it look like the camp site in a wood -...