Craigshill

Settlement in Midlothian

Scotland

Craigshill

Remnants of Pumpherston No. 6 mine The mine here, which was situated less than a mile South of the once sprawling Pumpherston Oilworks, had a very brief existence. So brief, in fact, that it doesn&#039;t appear on any old maps of the area; it was operational for just five years, between 1907 and 1912, when West Lothian&#039;s shale mining boom was nearing its peak.
According to ScottishShale, the online authority on these matters, the two thick brick walls are most likely to be the base of the engine house - the engine was used to haul the shale to the surface. The walls are each about 5 feet thick (measured) and about 25 feet long (estimated). There are two decent-sized square holes halfway up the interior of each wall - these would no doubt have been there to house the big beams that supported the engine. The only other evidence of the mine&#039;s former existence is a small but noticeable spoil heap, just to the Southeast of this shot. — Remnants of Pumpherston No. 6 mine Credit: Ian Dodds

Craigshill is a residential area located in the county of Midlothian, Scotland. Situated approximately 2 miles west of Livingston, it is part of the larger urban area known as Livingston. The neighborhood is bordered by the A899 road to the north, and the M8 motorway to the south.

Originally developed in the 1970s, Craigshill was designed to accommodate the growing population of Livingston. It consists mainly of post-war housing built by the local council, with a mix of semi-detached and terraced houses, as well as some high-rise flats. The area has experienced some regeneration in recent years, with improvements made to the local infrastructure and the construction of new housing developments.

Craigshill offers a range of amenities to its residents, including several primary schools, a secondary school, and a community center. The nearby Livingston town center provides additional shopping, entertainment, and leisure facilities. The location is well-served by public transportation, with regular bus services connecting to Livingston and surrounding areas.

The area benefits from its proximity to natural landscapes, with the nearby Almondell and Calderwood Country Park offering opportunities for outdoor activities such as walking, cycling, and picnicking. The park features woodland, riverside walks, and historical buildings, providing a peaceful retreat from the urban environment.

Overall, Craigshill provides a quiet and affordable residential area with convenient access to amenities, making it an attractive place to live for families and individuals seeking a suburban lifestyle within close reach of both nature and the larger town of Livingston.

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Craigshill Images

Images are sourced within 2km of 55.897613/-3.498849 or Grid Reference NT0668. Thanks to Geograph Open Source API. All images are credited.

Remnants of Pumpherston No. 6 mine

The mine here, which was situated less than a mile South of the once sprawling Pumpherston Oilworks, had a very brief existence. So brief, in fact, that it doesn't appear on any old maps of the area; it was operational for just five years, between 1907 and 1912, when West Lothian's shale mining boom was nearing its peak. According to ScottishShale, the online authority on these matters, the two thick brick walls are most likely to be the base of the engine house - the engine was used to haul the shale to the surface. The walls are each about 5 feet thick (measured) and about 25 feet long (estimated). There are two decent-sized square holes halfway up the interior of each wall - these would no doubt have been there to house the big beams that supported the engine. The only other evidence of the mine's former existence is a small but noticeable spoil heap, just to the Southeast of this shot.

Ian Dodds

Sculpture in Livingston - 'The Community'

Although most famous for its weird roundabout art, Livingston also has a number of more accessible publicly commissioned sculptures dotted about. This is one of the better ones, although aspects of it are slightly baffling after reading the artist's summary of his work. It is said to depict a family of four holding hands, and they are balancing in the main on a branched tree stump by the looks of it. It is meant to give the impression of a "celebratory dance". Nobody could actually move anywhere in this dance though, as both children are standing on their mother's leg, which actually looks as if it could be quite sore considering the size of the children. The dad seems to have got it easy - maybe there's some hidden symbolism going on there! If it is the dad that is; both males seem to be about the same size. It's pretty well done, nonetheless, and was made by Charles Anderson in 1996. It must have been a tricky one to do as he states he returned to painting after making this.

Ian Dodds

An Old Bit of Howden Park Centre

Howden Park Centre is Livingston's only proper arts centre. This provides food for thought. Livingston is a newtown and therefore a micromanaged inorganic council affair. It has a population of about 60,000, higher than both Perth and Inverness. Organic settlements have only been micromanaged after things have sprung up naturally, and their ruling councils are probably used to there being lots of things there anyway. In Livingston's defence, at least it has local shops situated at sensible regular distances from people's houses. But it was designed 50 years ago and things have deteriorated since. New suburbia generally arrives with no amenities other than a playground. If sufficiently big - ie huge - they are bestowed with a sterile square, generally located close to the school and surgery, containing a small supermarket chain store, a couple of takeaways, and a hairdressers. Whilst I do see the arguments against people setting up shops in their front rooms, which is how things used to develop, I think the house builders these days are missing a trick. Instead of bunging all their legally required 'affordable homes' in a far-flung corner of the development, just spread them throughout the new scheme, located next to premises earmarked for shops and pubs which would have naturally sprung up before things got so regulated. The centre is essentially an art gallery and a 300 seat auditorium. I had a quick flick through their website and upcoming events include lots of music tribute acts, a Moulin Rouge tribute, some folk music, a couple of plays, and a magician. The site is built around the former stables and coach house of the nearby recently renovated Howden House. On a sombre note, this is the site of the first mainland Scottish deaths in World War Two. In 1940 a bomb hit the coach house, which I'm pretty sure is the central bit of this block, in between the arches, killing a woman and her granddaughter. These were the only deaths in the whole of the war in West Lothian.

Ian Dodds

Howden House and Steadings

Very few people are aware this hidden gem, tucked away at the top of Howden Park, actually exists. It was completed at some unspecified date in the late 1700s - though it was important enough to be marked on Roy's Military Map, surveyed in the 1750s - and was occupied by a succession of wealthy people until the Ministry of Agriculture took it over, along with the grounds, immediately after the Second World War to test farm machinery. It passed to the council (or Livingston Development Corporation as they were then officially called) in the 1960s. It isn't clear how long it was used for but eventually it sat idle and fell into a very sorry state - it is fairly easy to find pictures of this online. A private developer bought it about 10 years ago, and as can be seen, did a very good job. The house is now split into four separate properties. The steadings fooled me, being so in keeping with the house. They were, though, only built at the same time the house was getting refurbished.

Ian Dodds

United Presbyterian Church, Midcalder

As seen in Winter 1973/4 when it was disused and semi-derelict. In May 1854 it replaced the original 1765 church on the site, which was becoming unsafe. It was subsequently demolished and the stone used to build a new house that incorporated a cottage on Pumpherston Road, which had been a post-medieval Toll House.

M J Richardson

East Woods, Craigshill, Livingston

I don't think it would cause much argument to describe Craigshill as an unglamorous area of an unglamorous town. However, as with all of Livingston, it is close to a good network of leafy paths, and due to the town sloping down from North to South, has stunning views of the Pentland Hills from certain spots, including an open section on this linear woodland route. There is easy access to the wood via a tarmac path leading from Nasmyth Square, a dead-end road leading to lots of small industrial units with lots of parking space. Presumably the name arises from the woods being on the East side of Livingston, and the main mostly tarmacked path swings round Craigshill's NorthEastern corner, with access from various residential streets and the Mid Calder to Pumpherston road. Like most of Livingston's many small woodlands it is managed by the Woodland Trust, who have enormous exhaustive files available online about all of their sites. The only gripe I have with these reports is that they generally split up these suburban woodlands into 'compartments', with no accompanying map to determine where these compartments are on the ground. This time though it was easy enough to figure them out. This Northern section is mixed, and was originally planted in the mid 1800s. The Southernmost section though, in the neighbouring grid-square, is thought to have been planted during the building of Livingston, which mostly started with Craigshill in the 1960s. I mention this because the Woodland Trust report mentions problems there with various species of conifer having got too tall and therefore blowing over a lot. I wonder if they aren't present in the older section because these tree types weren't readily available at that time, they have already all blown over and/or been felled, or whether it is just a case of humanity becoming increasingly more stupid over time?!

Ian Dodds

Pond Outflow joining Caw Burn

This muddy burn looks man-made to me, though it has followed the same course for at least 200 years, judging by old maps. The 1850s OS naming book says that it was "formed by the drainage of several fields," which kind of validates my theory that it is, in effect, a large drainage ditch, in its early stages at least. It eventually reaches the Brox Burn, which drains into the River Almond. It used to start somewhere in what is now Livingston, though it is hard to say exactly where, as it used to form some kind of administrative boundary, which always makes the old maps harder to decode. Today, though, it flows underground from an indeterminate point and only appears overground about a hundred yards from here. There is a Cawburn Inn in Pumpherston (which seems to have changed from a normal pub to a major darts and pool venue at some point in the twenty years or so since I was last there) just West of here - an indication of the burn's original course The water joining it on the left comes from a smallish pond that must be the result of some remedial works to part of the vast former mining land around here, as it is not shown on any of the older maps available online (which stop in the late 1960s at present). The pond is shown on modern mapping, but the water leading from it to this spot is not.

Ian Dodds

Old Tracks from Pumpherston Oil Works

The photograph only shows three tracks but a fourth, off to the right, was visible on the ground, though it may only have been obvious when further along from the camera position. A large-scale OS map, surveyed in 1962, shows five tramlines here, but these surviving ones definitely match up with them from the grid references. Pumpherston Oil Works was a mainstay of West Lothian's shale mining industry throughout, and was the last man standing - it diversified into detergents after the last of the mines closed and outlasted the industry by around 30 years. The diversification may or may not have something to do with the fact that the tramlines only appeared on maps just before it stopped being a proper refinery in 1964. There is no sign of them on a 1948 map. They start near a railway line leading from the main part of the operation, which is also not present on the 1948 map, and disappear into one of numerous buildings unhelpfully just titled 'Works'. It seems very likely that waste was taken here; this was always the dumping ground for the oilworks, and the 1962 map shows a 'refuse tip' at the far end of the building. It seems odd, though, that the waste needed to go through a building to get there. Spent shale was just taken as far as it could be mechanically, then usually tipped by men, so there may have been some non-shale dumping happening here. After the works did finally close this site was a 'quarry' for the masses of spent shale dumped here over the years, probably for use in road foundations.

Ian Dodds

Old milestone

On the B7015 near Almondvale Park is another of the typical Calder District Trust milestones. This one has had its own paved area set around it. The stone had a very deep slot in its top which has been repaired.

John Riddell

Old milestone

This shows how wide the slot was in the top of the milestone near Almondvale Park. This has now been repaired with lime mortar to prevent further deterioration.

John Riddell

Don't

Dystopian vibes from the Covid posters along Howden Road West, outside St John's Hospital. At the time there was policy (especially marked in England) of pretending there was no dangerous respiratory virus while many hundreds of people died every day.

Richard Webb