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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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Broxburn, the centre of the solar system
The Kirkhill estate in Broxburn was home in the 18th century to an unusual project – a model of the solar system as it was understood at...
Editor
Jul 1, 20152 min read
The White Lady of Caputhall Bog
Caputhall today is the site of the busy Deans Industrial Estate – Caputhall Road loops around the estate and there are industrial units...
Editor
Apr 5, 20155 min read
Balancing Act: The main feeder for the Union Canal
As you're enjoying a walk, cycle or boat trip along the Union Canal, you may not be aware that its serene surface level is maintained...
Editor
Apr 3, 20154 min read
Letters Home - from a young Scots Guard
A nineteen year old lad writes home to his mother from the trenches in World War 1 France: “I have seen all the life I want to see.” A...
Editor
Nov 6, 20146 min read
John Newland Festival - What's it all about?
John Newland was one of the many Scots who sailed to the West Indies in the 18th century to make their fortunes out of sugar and slave
Editor
Apr 30, 20143 min read
Let's go fly a camera kite
Kite flying has timeless appeal ...but how many people realise that flying a kite can be used to discover what lies underground?...
Editor
Mar 3, 20144 min read
Benefits cuts: How West Calder reacted
Benefits cuts, austerity measures, local authority budgets stretched to the limit, households struggling to make ends meet, social unease...
Editor
Nov 2, 20133 min read
When Torphichen was the centre of Scotland
It's a long time since the wee village of Torphichen was a bustling busy centre, a destination for royalty, a stop-off point for...
Editor
Sep 5, 20135 min read
Henry Bell, Torphichen's unsung hero
Hardly anybody has heard of him, but Torphichen-born Henry Bell was the first man to successfully apply steam power to shipping so that...
Editor
Jan 10, 20134 min read
There's a coach coming in!
West Lothian’s varied travel history includes a 90 year period when stagecoaches ruled the roads. Between 1760 and 1850, stagecoaches...
Editor
Jul 4, 20124 min read
He founded the world’s oil economy, became a billionnaire and saved the whales
Just off the A71 through Polbeth there is a bucolic nook which seems worlds away from the hustle and bustle of the main road. In the...
Editor
Jul 2, 20124 min read
Hare Hill Crash
In 1943 Britain was at war. On a clear day, from the top of Hare Hill in the Pentland Hills, you could see a great deal of Edinburgh. You...
Editor
Nov 3, 20114 min read
The Abandoned Village of Bangour
Most locals are aware of the abandoned village of Bangour, an impressive collection of buildings on the hillside just north of...
Editor
Nov 1, 20114 min read
When Pumpherston had an empire
The sign welcoming visitors to Pumpherston says “Historic centre of shale oil industry.” This simple description belies the enormity of...
Editor
Sep 5, 20115 min read
Hatton House, the grandest of them all
These days you don't need Mons Meg, the giant cannon now at the top of Edinburgh Castle, to gain access to the site of Hatton House from...
Editor
May 4, 20114 min read
The canal builders
Hard labour went into cutting the earth in the first place for the canal, many years before powerful machines could help
Editor
Mar 2, 20114 min read
The Ratho murderer : last public hanging in Edinburgh
Delve into your family history and what will you find? Lives that were eccentric, funny or sad? But what if alarming family events jump...
Editor
Feb 2, 20112 min read
Do you know where this local mansion is?
Its rooms, which once echoed to the sounds of family and socialising, began to echo to the sound of shale dumped on the advancing bings
Editor
Mar 1, 20102 min read
When The Camps was a household name
''Here the pulse of life beat strong at one time, here large bands of young men were wont to assemble of a summer's evening to take part...
Editor
Nov 7, 20093 min read
Who was Lizzie Bryce?
Lizzie Bryce was born to William Baxter and his wife Margaret Wilson in the parish of Mid Calder in January 1776. She grew up like any...
Editor
Jan 5, 20092 min read
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